Prototyping solutions · September 11, 2026
Back to school: ProtoMat systems in vocational schools and colleges
It’s back-to-school time at INOVEOS too. Who doesn’t remember the small joy of new school supplies, the pencil case you got ready and the new tools that would see you through the year? As our crates of machines head out, we think of the students in French vocational high schools and two-year technical programs (BTS), especially in the CIEL electronics track, who will find a very fine tool in their kit this year: an LPKF ProtoMat circuit board plotter.
“It doesn’t work”
About ten years ago, a teacher told us he never wanted to hear about mechanical PCB milling again, “because it doesn’t work.” In fact, he had struggled for years with a machine that was as unfriendly as it was underperforming: under those conditions, it is hard not to end up doubting the process itself.
We convinced him to give it another try with an LPKF ProtoMat S63. Ten years later, he still uses it, and he is still a satisfied customer.
A good teaching tool must be capable enough to let students go far, and simple and reliable enough that they want to use it.
Design, build, test… and start again
With a ProtoMat, you go from CAD file to printed circuit board right in the lab: structuring, drilling, depaneling, with no chemical etching bath. Enough to design, build, test, make mistakes, correct and start again. And that is exactly what learning is.
Have a great school year, all you teachers and students who will discover these machines in your workshops and labs!
