--- In
Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, Erik Knise <elknise@...> wrote:
>
> My brother just bought a silk screen setup to do shirts. Has anyone
> ever screen printed onto a circuit board? I figured the only
> difference would be the ink
Silkscreening is used widely in PCB industry. Yes, the ink is special and it is thermaly cured.
The most advanced and useful method for overlays (which is named "legend ink" in the business) is LPI. The same as soldermask. You just silkscreen you PCB with a mesh without any artwork in it. That is, a blank mesh. You get a PCB silkscreened entire in white ink. You bake the PCB for a determined time, and then you place your legend/overlay artwork above the blanked PCB and image with UV. You then develop and only the overlay patterns end on the PCB. You bake again and there is your finished PCB.
The company that sells the AQ-3000 also sell LPI green soldermask and white legend ink.