LPKF ProtoMat® S100

The S100 is one of LPKF's top-of-the-line rapid circuit board plotters, ideal for all in-house prototyping applications, including multilayer and RF applications. The S100 features the highest spindle speed possible -- resulting in the precision circuit geometries today's high-frequency and microwave applications demand -- and a pneumatic working depth limiter, for the most surface-sensitive substrates. The S100 is an indispensable component of any development group where speed, precision, and simplicity are absolutely required.

This compact high-speed plotter provides unequalled precision and performance for quickly and easily milling and drilling circuit board prototypes in a single day. In-house PCB prototyping eliminates production delays and the high cost of outside vendors, reducing a product's development time and time-to-market dramatically. Design data also remains securely in-house and under control.

Precision and speed

The ProtoMat S100 delivers unmatched precision with system resolution as fine as 0.25 µm (0.01 mils). Each system is carefully calibrated at the factory for unsurpassed overall accuracy. As a result, the plotter can mill and drill all types of PCBs with extremely fine traces, specializing in the precision trace geometries required by RF and microwave boards. Its milling head travel speed of 150 mm (6”) per second and high-performance 100,000 RPM spindle motor makes it the premiere high-speed performer for producing quality PCBs in-house with clean, nearly perfect traces.

No-Contact Working Depth Limiter

The ProtoMat S100 features a fully pneumatic working depth limiter. This allows the S100 to mill, drill, and depanel an entire circuit with nothing but the tools touching the work surface. The pneumatic working depth limiter is good for delicate or surface-sensitive substrates, such as polished metal, soft plastics, flexible substrates, etc.

Multilayer Circuit Boards

The ProtoMat S100 is ideal for mutilayered circuit boards, especially when coupled with a fiducial recognition camera for absolute precision alignment.

Convenience and easy handling

The ProtoMat S100's rich featureset and simple, automatic operation are quick and easy to master. Board production begins within minutes of switching on the machine. A standard USB or RS-232 cable connects the S100 to any Windows-compatible computer.

Automatic tool change

Advanced features include a 10-position tool changer that automatically replaces milling and drilling tools while the board is being produced. This significantly reduces setup time, and allows for unattended operation.

Integrated head lighting

Shadow-free illumination of the milling area from integrated head lighting makes direct quality control faster and easier.

Silence and security

An integrated acoustic cabinet reduces system sounds and acts as a protective cover. The plotter can safely operate in any work environment.

CAM software included

Each plotter comes with comprehensive LPKF CircuitCAM and BoardMaster software for importing PCB data from any CAD package and for controlling the operation of the plotter. This easy-to-use software, developed by LPKF, processes the same data that would be sent to a PCB manufacturer.

Three-dimensional operation

With its unique motorized Z-axis drive, the ProtoMat S100 is ideal for machining instrument front panels and housings, as well as pockets in microwave boards. It can also mill around mounted PCB components, simplifying board rework and depanelization jobs.

Options

There are various options available for the S100 to improve productivity and convenience. These options can be factory mounted or retrofitted.

Vacuum tabletop

This option holds the work piece tightly against the work surface, eliminating any substrate irregularities such as twisting or warpage. The tabletop also prevents the material from slipping without the need for masking tape.

Fiducial recognition camera

Improve the ease-of-use and the precision of front-to-back registration of multilayer boards by using a Fiducial Recognition Camera. The accompanying driver software integrates seamlessly with LPKF's BoardMaster software and provides automatic recognition and alignment to existing fiducials in the circuit board. The fiducial camera option requires one additional USB 2.0 port in the host computer.