An ink jet nozzle arrangement formed on a substrate comprising: a nozzle chamber having an ink ejection aperture in one wall thereof and an actuator interconnection aperture in a second wall thereof; an external thermal bend actuator interconnected at one end with an internal ink ejection paddle through the actuator interconnection aperture and, at a second end, affixed to the substrate; and a moveable internal ink ejection paddle, moveable under the control of the external thermal bend actuator for the ejection of ink out of the ink ejection aperture; wherein the external thermal actuator further can comprise a series of layers and preferably can include a planar conductive heating circuit layer which preferably can include a first portion adjacent the second end which forms a conductive circuit of heating the thermal bend actuator, and a second portion forming a portion of the ink ejection paddle, the second portion being electrically isolated from the first portion by means of a slot traversing the planar conductive heating circuit layer external to the nozzle chamber.