IN Brief:
- Merlin Flex has installed an oil heated vacuum lamination press with a 1,800 × 750mm bonding area.
- Standard continuous long flex production increases from 1.5 metres to 1.8 metres, while its dual bond process can reach 2.0 metres.
- The press is the third production system installed with Viking during 2026 and has completed production qualification.
Merlin Flex has expanded its UK flexible circuit manufacturing capability with an oil heated vacuum lamination press that increases the length of continuous flex circuits supported through its standard production process.
The new machine provides a bonding area of 1,800 × 750mm and raises standard continuous long flex capability from 1.5 metres to 1.8 metres. Merlin Flex can already manufacture circuits as long as 2.0 metres using a dual lamination bond process, but the new equipment closes much of the gap without requiring that additional production route.
The extra 300mm is significant because long flexible circuits are often used to remove connectors, cables and intermediate rigid boards rather than simply to make a larger PCB. Extending the length available through normal production can therefore change how electronics are routed through an aircraft, vehicle or other mechanically constrained system.
Lamination becomes increasingly demanding as the circuit grows. Copper conductors, dielectric layers, coverlays and bonding films have to form a stable structure while pressure and temperature remain sufficiently uniform across the complete panel.
Any variation can affect registration, adhesion or surface condition, while trapped air and process volatiles can create defects inside the laminated structure. A vacuum press helps control that part of the process by removing air while heat and pressure are applied to the material stack.
The challenge is compounded by the behaviour of flexible materials during processing. Thin dielectric films and copper layers expand, contract and distort as they pass through thermal operations, making dimensional control across a long panel more difficult than on a smaller rigid PCB.
Handling between production stages creates another constraint. A long flexible circuit can be damaged through creasing, contamination or mechanical stress before it reaches final assembly, so a larger lamination capability only produces useful manufacturing capacity when imaging, processing, inspection and handling can support the same dimensions.
Merlin Flex supplies customers in defence, aerospace and high end automotive markets, where long flexible circuits can provide a direct electrical route through complex mechanical assemblies. Removing an intermediate connector can save space and assembly time while eliminating another potential failure point.
The trade-off is that a defect in one section of a long circuit can affect a much larger and more valuable finished part. Process stability and manufacturing yield therefore become increasingly important as panel dimensions rise, particularly where the circuit contains fine features or has to survive repeated mechanical movement.
The lamination press is the third production system Merlin Flex has installed with Viking during 2026. Earlier installations included a Pluritec Ecospray DS and a Microcraft CraftPix digital inkjet printer, and all three machines have now been installed, commissioned and qualified for production.
Taken together, the investments cover several stages of PCB manufacturing rather than a single isolated process. Digital printing can reduce dependence on physical artwork and tooling, while spray processing and lamination affect how accurately the circuit pattern and finished stack are transferred into production.
That matters on long flex because dimensional errors introduced during one operation can become more difficult to manage later. A small percentage movement across a conventional PCB may be tolerable, but the same proportional movement over 1.8 metres creates a much larger absolute error.
Production qualification is consequently more meaningful than delivery of the machine itself. Equipment has to reproduce the required thermal and pressure profile, integrate with surrounding production processes and generate circuits that survive electrical and mechanical inspection before its nominal dimensions become a usable customer capability.
The new press does not replace Merlin Flex’s 2.0 metre dual bond process, leaving that route available for designs beyond the standard 1.8 metre envelope. It instead increases the range of circuits that can be produced without introducing the additional bonded section required for the longest designs.
For an equipment designer, the result is a larger continuous routing area within an established manufacturing process. In applications where a few hundred millimetres determine whether a connector can be removed or electronics relocated, the additional manufacturing length can have consequences well beyond the dimensions of the PCB itself.
