What Is the Difference Between Pad Printing Machine Vs Screen Printing Machine?

Are you looking for China Pad Printing Machine at reasonable rates from authentic sellers? If you own a printing business, there are two different printing techniques. We mostly use pad printing and screen printing for a wide range of products and on a wide range of materials.

Textiles, ceramics, wood, glass, metal, paper, and plastic are all printed on screens. You can also use it for fabrics, apparel, medical equipment, product labels, signage and displays, balloons, decals, garments, and printed electronics. On plastic, glass, metal, rubber, and wood, pad printing is common.

Moreover, use it for clothing like t-shirts, sweets, pharmaceuticals, cosmetic products, caps and closures, hockey pucks, TVs, computers, and keyboard letters. Well, there are two processes we are describing in detail below, along with a comparison to suppliers, distributors, and readers to determine which could be the best option.

What Is Pad Printing?

Pad printing is an indirect offset, gravure printing technique that uses an image transmitted from the cliché via a silicone pad onto a substrate to transfer a 2-D picture onto a 3-D item. We can use it to print on items that would otherwise be challenging to print on. It includes those in the medical, automotive, promotional, fashion, electronics, sports equipment, and appliances. Also, it is more common in the toy industry. Additionally, it can deposit useful materials like adhesives, lubricants, and conductive inks.

Over the last 40 years, pad printing has been progressing swiftly to become one of the most crucial printing techniques. Since silicone rubber is easily deformable, ink-repellent, and ensures excellent ink transfer, its use was essential to its success as a print medium.

The first step in pad printing is the etching of the design’s artwork into a base plate. We fill the cliché’s base plate’s engraved region with ink. Furthermore, we do remove any residue or extra ink on the surface by closing the ink cup.

Printing on three-dimensional objects and items of different sizes and forms is one of the key benefits of pad printing. Due to the minimal setup expenses, many businesses operate their pad printing departments internally. A pad printing machine also has the benefits of being space-efficient and having a straightforward, uncomplicated process that is simple to learn.

While pad printing is excellent for obtaining accurate results, one drawback is that it is slow. You must apply the colors separately, due to which the registration is a small risk. The pad, plate, and productivity of the pad printer also place a limit on the size of the motive.

Screen Printing: What Is It?

In order to produce a printed design, screen printing entails forcing ink through a mesh screen using a stencil. It is a common method in a variety of different sectors. Serigraphy, silk screening, and silk screen printing are other names for the technique. Hence, they all essentially describe the same thing. You can utilize almost any material for screen printing, even substrates with irregular or rounded surfaces.

During screen printing, the machine stretches a piece of mesh over a frame to create the screen. In the process, we commonly use silk. Nowadays, screen printing is typically done using synthetic threads like nylon or polyester.

Moreover, we use a blade or squeegee to move across the screen during the comparatively easy process of screen printing, filling the open mesh holes with ink. The screen is then made to temporarily make contact with the substrate along a contact line by a reverse stroke. As the screen bounces back after the blade passes, the ink wets the substrate and pulls out of the mesh holes since only one color can print at once; for multiple screens, you need to produce a multicolored image or pattern.

Which One to Choose for a Better Outcome?

Large images on flat surfaces, two-sided images on cylinders, and opaque images on light, dark, or transparent substrates are the greatest applications for screen printing.

You can complete screen printing in a single pass, and printing prices rise with each successive pass; it is more economical. Additionally, it works well for pictures that simply need one color.

On the other hand, the pad printing method works best for images that need to print on complex materials like polypropylene and cover raised or recessed areas. Moreover, they follow complex curves like concave or convex. We place them close to a vertical wall or other obstruction, have small image requirements, or need to print on smaller, metal parts. It also works best for images that need to print in multiple colors.

Do you require an affordable printing machine for your business? Get a free, no-obligation quote from DSTAR for pad printing or screen printing machines.