Every year, the Lycée polyvalent du Dauphiné in Romans-sur-Isère trains around 80 students in leather professions through BTS courses in footwear, leather goods and glove-making. The substrates worked on in the workshop are neither flat nor stable: leather, vegetable-tanned leather and technical textiles impose very specific constraints and demand real versatility of processes.
Faced with these needs, the technical team was looking for a direct printing solution capable of working on these substrates, to replace the transfer film they had been using until now. Philippe Thiry, teacher in charge of the leather technology platform, opted for Plateforme Imprimeur's PIA3 Plus UV printer.
Equipped with Epson i3200 heads and featuring white, varnish and fluo, this UV CMYK printer was installed last November by technicians from the Bouches-du-Rhône-based supplier.
Printer platform: installation completed in less than two months
The machine arrived less than two months after initial discussions with Christophe Bader's Plateforme Imprimeur. "Right from the start, Plateforme Imprimeur was very responsive, recalls teacher Philippe Thiry. He took into account our budgeting deadlines. And being a public institution, we are obliged to use Chorus. Unlike another supplier, Christophe saw no disadvantage in using this platform for transmitting electronic invoices. And even though we're a very small company, they're always there when we need them!
Once in the workshop, the PIA3 Plus flatbed table quickly found its place.
"With this machine, we can now print on transfer films or directly on leather and other materials. And the fluo option is just right for today's fashions, he appreciates. For the time being, we use direct printing."
But using a direct-printing solution raised a technical question: "My fear was to find inks that would accept the elongation of leather. Christophe immediately suggested flexible inks and varnishes adapted to the bending constraints of this material."
QR codes printed on leather with the PIA3 Plus UV printer
Since November, the technical teacher has been testing the machine for customizing sneakers. He will be writing the lessons for the 80 students in the new school year. He is also preparing for future requests from companies for industrial projects, notably around process development and test phases.âeuros¨
At present, tests are being carried out on the adhesion and stability of the layers after flexing, on different leathers, and also on 3D meshes. Initial observations confirm very good behavior and precise printing.
"The Epson i3200 printheads allow printing at 1200 DPI. We can even print QR codes on leather, and mesh printing lets the texture show through, which is exactly what we're looking for."
From leather to metal, through finishing without changing equipment
Next, the teacher will get down to the business of doming, to create textures and tactile effects.
Philippe Thiry would then like to "having fun pIA3 Plus scanner. The printer is capable of automatically recognizing objects positioned on the platen. "During the training provided by Plateforme Imprimeur, we had scanned a round Plexiglas key ring. Although it was a transparent material, the machine had registered the object correctly."
Then, when parts are placed on the machine table, they are recognized and printed without the need for adjustment.
Before operating the scanner, he must wait for : "My leather goods colleague can't wait to try out the âeuros printer! Then he'll have to leave the machine to the teachers in the metal stamping workshop.
"What's interesting is that we can work on very different materials with the same machine. We go from leather to mesh, tomorrow to metal. This opens up a lot of educational possibilities. And it's just as relevant for the companies we work with on process development and fine-tuning projects."
