Silkscreening is often used to create circuit boards.
Silkscreening and pad printing are both printing methods that reproduce a design onto different surfaces. While printers use silkscreens on flat surfaces such as clothes, paper and glass, pad printing transfers a design onto three-dimensional surfaces such as keychains and tools.
Silkscreen Transfer
Silkscreening works like a stencil. The artist presses pigment through a screen with a design on it. Pigment seeps onto areas that aren't covered by the design.
Pad Printing Transfer
Pad printing deposits a design onto a three-dimensional object using a silicone pad that lifts the ink off of a printing plate. It works much like a stamp.
DIY Capability
For home projects, silkscreening is much easier to do than pad printing. Silkscreening requires only a few simple tools and some, such as the frame for the screen, are easily made by hand. Pad printing, on the other hand, requires a variety of specialized mechanisms.
Industrial Use
Companies widely use both methods of printing. They use screen printing for shirt designs, window displays, and posters and pad printing for bar codes and labels.
Limitations
Silkscreening can transfer adhesives and circuit patterns as well as inks, paints and enamels whereas pad printing is used almost exclusively with ink. On the other hand, the flat nature of a silk screen means that it cannot print on a three-dimensional object.
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