Patent ID: 7718920

Claim:
A method of machining a sheet-like flexible printed board by rolling out the flexible printed board wound in a roll and by holding a part of the flexible printed board on a flat mounting plane of a table, said method comprising: mounting the flexible printed board on the flat mounting plane of the table; adjusting a pressing member having a curved pressing surface so that the curved pressing surface faces the table and protrudes toward the flexible printed board mounted on the mounting plane of the table, the pressing member being made of a resilient elastic material; pressing out wrinkles of the flexible printed board by lowering the pressing member to contact and press a side of the mounted flexible printed board opposite the mounting plane of the table so as to remove the wrinkles, said pressing out the wrinkles comprising contacting the protruding curved pressing surface with the flexible printed board and pressing to increase an area of contact between the curved pressing surface of the pressing member and the flexible printed board by elastic deformation of the curved pressing surface of the pressing member made of resilient elastic material; retaining the flexible printed board on the mounting plane of the table by applying a suction force to the flexible printed board while pressing the flexible printed board with the pressing member to maintain a state in which the wrinkles have been removed from the flexible printed board; releasing the pressure applied by the pressing member against the flexible printed board while retaining the flexible printed board on the mounting plane of the table by the suction force; drilling holes in the flexible printed board using a drilling device while retaining the flexible printed board on the mounting plane of the table by the suction force; and releasing the flexible printed board from being retained on the mounting plane of the table by lowering the suction force so as to allow the drilled flexible printed board to be taken up by a take-up reel while also allowing a non-drilled portion of the flexible printed board to be supplied to the flat mounting plane of the table by a supply reel.