This was PRINTING United Expo week — September 23–25 in Las Vegas — and the news that came out of it was unusually printhead-centric. The single biggest technical announcement was a head itself: FUJIFILM Dimatix introduced the STARFIRE PhaseMaster, a hot-melt industrial printhead rated to 125 °C. Around it, Vanguard Digital launched the Cumberland flatbed on a three-row Kyocera array, Durst confirmed 50 systems sold of its 5-metre P5 500 TEX iSUB sublimation line, Procolored put a dual-XP600 A3 DTF machine on the floor at $2,999, Epson handed North American distribution of CONTOURJET to Engineered Printing Solutions, and Media One bought Premex Solutions to round out its digital textile offer. For a print shop, the week reads as one message: throughput, ink chemistry and uptime claims all resolve back to the head and how well it is looked after.
PRINTHEAD TECHNOLOGY · SEPTEMBER 24, 2026
FUJIFILM Dimatix introduces the STARFIRE PhaseMaster, a hot-melt head rated to 125 °C
FUJIFILM Dimatix unveiled the STARFIRE PhaseMaster, a hot-melt inkjet printhead for high-speed industrial systems that can be run with or without ink recirculation. The published specification is squarely industrial: 400 dpi native resolution, drop sizes from 30 to 200 picolitres depending on configuration, a fluid viscosity window of 8–20 cP (optimal 10–14), operation at temperatures up to 257 °F / 125 °C, multi-pulse jetting to 30 kHz, line speeds beyond 60 metres per minute and ink laydown of nearly 57 g/m². It carries Fujifilm's VersaDrop binary and greyscale jetting with editable waveforms, REDIJET Dual Recirculation, and bulk PZT actuators insulated from fluid contact. Target work is marking and coding, packaging, screen printing, additive manufacturing and printed electronics including photovoltaic etch-masking. Shane O'Neill, Director of Business Development, said PhaseMaster “reflects our commitment to delivering robust, cost-effective solutions that provide reliable performance.” Worldwide availability is set for early 2027.
PhaseMaster extends a family already working in the field — we stock the StarFire SG1024/MA printhead.
PRINTHEAD ANGLE: Read this spec sheet as a chemistry sheet. A head that runs at 125 °C exists because the ink is solid at room temperature — hot-melt and wax fluids are jetted molten and freeze on contact, which is why the drop sizes go up to 200 pL instead of down to 4. That changes the entire maintenance picture: the failure mode is not settled pigment, it is fluid solidifying in the manifold or on the nozzle plate during a cool-down, so shutdown and warm-up discipline matters more than purge volume. Note also that Fujifilm says recirculation is optional, and that the PZT actuators are insulated from the fluid — both are longevity design choices. Thermal cycling is what kills big-drop heads, so the practical advice on any hot-melt machine is to keep it hot and idling rather than switching it off between short jobs.
INDUSTRIAL UV · SEPTEMBER 24, 2026
Vanguard Digital launches the Cumberland flatbed on a three-row Kyocera array
Vanguard Digital, a Durst Group company, introduced the Cumberland flatbed at PRINTING United (booth C1514), quoting up to 6,588 sq ft per hour and 164 boards per hour. The output comes from a HyperVQ printhead array carrying up to three rows of Kyocera printheads, running CMYK with optional white and varnish channels and variable-drop technology down to 4 picolitre drops. Around the array Vanguard has built the handling to keep it fed: a multi-board mode, magnetic linear drives on both X and Y axes, a nine-zone vacuum table, redesigned control software, and optional integration with the Durst Produce Automate RIP and the Harpeth Automation System. Pricing was not disclosed. The pitch is “advanced automation, easy and quick media handling and reliable performance” for shops trying to add capacity without adding operators.
Kyocera's KJ4 series is the array behind most high-speed UV flatbeds — including the UV-specific KJ4A-RH printhead.
PRINTHEAD ANGLE: “Up to three rows” is the whole story, and it is worth understanding before signing anything. Nobody has made a single head fire three times faster; they stack rows so each pass lays more ink, and the square-footage figure scales with the row count you actually buy. So a rated 6,588 sq ft/hour and a real 6,588 sq ft/hour are two different machines with two very different head counts — and a three-row array means three times the heads to purge, wipe, align and eventually replace. Ask for the head count per colour, not just the speed. The second thing to check is 4 pL variable drop on a UV machine: small drops mean small nozzles, and small nozzles are the first to drop out when UV ink is allowed to sit and partially cure in the nozzle plate under stray light.
TEXTILE & DYE-SUB · SEPTEMBER 22, 2026
Durst's 5-metre P5 500 TEX iSUB passes 50 systems sold worldwide
Durst Group confirmed that the P5 500 TEX iSUB has reached 50 systems sold worldwide since its introduction at FESPA Global Print Expo 2025, with the strongest uptake in North America and Europe. The machine prints at 5.2 metres wide on water-based sublimation inks, and its defining feature is iSUB — inline fixation that folds printing and fixation into a single continuous process rather than a print step followed by a separate calender. An optional 5-metre Hasler cutting system completes the line. Target work is soft signage, exhibition graphics and other high-volume large-format textile applications. “Reaching 50 systems sold in such a short period is a clear confirmation that the market shares this vision,” said Johann Strozzega, Director Global Sales Graphics at Durst Group.
PRINTHEAD ANGLE: Inline fixation puts a heat source a short distance from the heads, and that is the detail to plan around. Water-based sublimation ink is the most evaporation-sensitive fluid in wide format — raise the ambient temperature at the carriage and the meniscus at each nozzle dries faster, so a machine with integrated fixation depends more heavily on circulation and capping than a print-then-calender setup does. Fifty units in roughly a year also means a growing installed base of 5-metre carriages, and width is unforgiving: on a 5.2-metre pass a single deviated nozzle draws a banding line metres long across expensive fabric. Daily nozzle checks and clean capping stations are not housekeeping on this class of machine, they are the difference between a good roll and scrap.
DTG & DTF · SEPTEMBER 23, 2026
Procolored brings a dual-XP600 A3 DTF machine to the show at $2,999
Procolored showcased the F13X, an A3 direct-to-film printer built on dual XP600 printheads, at PRINTING United Expo 2026. It is quoted at up to 27 A4/Letter-size prints per hour and a maximum 1440 × 1440 dpi, and the feature list is aimed squarely at unattended reliability in a small shop: camera-assisted nozzle checks, automatic printhead moisturising, and Windows and macOS support with no hardware dongle. Procolored is targeting print-on-demand businesses, apparel decorators and small print shops at $2,999, with an official launch date of October 15, 2026.
The XP600 is the head this whole class of DTF machine is built on — we stock the Epson XP600 printhead FA09050.
PRINTHEAD ANGLE: Two of the three headline features on this machine are printhead-maintenance features, which tells you exactly where the risk sits in entry-level DTF. Automatic moisturising exists because DTF white ink is titanium-dioxide-loaded and heavy — it settles in a parked nozzle faster than any other fluid a garment shop handles, and an idle weekend is what takes out a head. Camera-assisted nozzle checks matter for a different reason: they catch a deviated nozzle before it prints fifty transfers with a white gap you only see after curing. The real budgeting point on any dual-XP600 machine is that the heads are a consumable, not a fixture. Price the machine, then price two replacement heads, and treat white-channel circulation as a daily habit rather than a monthly one.
DISTRIBUTION · SEPTEMBER 24, 2026
Epson names Engineered Printing Solutions its North American partner for CONTOURJET
A week after launching the platform, Epson named Engineered Printing Solutions (EPS) of East Dorset, Vermont as its North American partner for CONTOURJET, the robotic direct-to-object system it developed over nearly ten years. CONTOURJET uses robotic motion to present a part beneath independently articulating printheads, following the contour of the object and reaching geometries a fixed-head machine cannot. EPS brings four decades in industrial direct-to-object printing and an established North American customer base. “EPS brings deep application expertise to industrial direct-to-object printing,” said Epson COO Shunya Fukuda. “We are confident this partnership will bring CONTOURJET to manufacturers across North America.” Availability is expected in Q1 2027 through EPS.
PRINTHEAD ANGLE: Distribution announcements are usually business news, but this one has a service dimension worth noting. Direct-to-object machines put the head in the worst environment inkjet ever sees — open air, moving parts, dust from the products being decorated, and a head-to-substrate gap that changes continuously as the robot follows a curve. Anyone buying into that class of machine is buying a maintenance relationship as much as hardware, which is precisely why Epson went looking for a partner with forty years of direct-to-object experience rather than a general dealer. If you are evaluating one, ask what a head swap looks like in practice: who does it, how long the line is down, and what the lead time is on a spare sitting on a shelf in North America rather than in transit.
BUSINESS & ACQUISITIONS · SEPTEMBER 22, 2026
Media One acquires Premex Solutions, filling in the fabric half of digital textile
Media One acquired the U.S. business and assets of Premex Solutions, a supplier of digitally printable fabrics and the U.S. arm of family-run UK manufacturer Premier Textiles, founded in 1981. Financial terms were not disclosed. Media One is a full-service integrator and distributor that already owns Fisher Textiles and Hyperflex Vinyls; adding Premex's print-ready and pre-treated fabrics lets it sell substrate, printer, ink, finishing and technical support as one package into the home décor and apparel markets. “Premex has developed best-in-class print-ready and pre-treated fabrics… that complements our own printing technology,” said Media One CEO Jake Feldman.
PRINTHEAD ANGLE: Pre-treatment is a printhead variable, not just a fabric variable. The coating on a print-ready textile controls how far a drop spreads and how much fluid the surface accepts, which is why the same file on the same machine can look sharp on one roll and soft on another — and why shops chasing that difference often over-correct with heavier ink limits, pushing more fluid through the head than the job needs. When substrate, ink and machine come from one supplier, that guesswork shrinks and nozzles work less hard for the same result. The flip side of consolidation is the one to watch: as these bundles tighten, keep your own sourcing for the wear parts — heads, dampers, capping and wipers — so a single vendor relationship never dictates how quickly you get back into production.
Whatever equipment you run — or are thinking about running next — the printhead is the heart of it. If you ever need a replacement head or a hard-to-find component, browse our full range of printheads and printer spare parts and accessories — our team is always happy to help you find the right fit for your machine.
