Label maker of choice?

[Photon]

I forgot to mention an advantage of my econo labels is I can print them in various colors and fonts, all at essentially no cost.

I bought a variety of diameters of clear 3M heat shrink in 4' lengths here: https://www.tselectronic.com/3m/301h.html Very fast service, but then again, they are close.

 

[WayneW]

there is a hack to use Panduit tape in a p-touch to get same nylon.

What is this hack? I couldn't find it.

 

[upstatemike]

I have a Brother labeler and would also like to know about this "hack".

 

[wuench]

I have a Brother labler and would also like to know about this "hack".

I have a PTouch but the labels eventually came off on all my cables. I now also own a Rhino and so far so good. I do prefer to use heat shrink when possible, but in the middle of a run or after the cable is terminated I use the self adhesive labels. I do still use the pTouch for labelling patch panels etc, as I like the glossy look better and they do seem to adhere ok in that case.

 

[tmbrown97]

Based on the opinions here, I picked up a Rhino 5000 to keep everything labeled as I install my M1G... I'll have to report back if I have any issues, but this looks much better than my old labelers. Seems like the heat-shrink tubes are hard to find - I got one roll, but it probably won't be enough.

 

[AceCannon]

What do people use to shrink the heat shrink tube? Solder iron? Seems inconvenient.

 

[Sacedog]

What do people use to shrink the heat shrink tube? Solder iron? Seems inconvenient.

A heat gun, which can be had at a Scrapbook store for about $12. The cheaper way, if you are married, is to use your wife's hair dryer (of course , she might not like that). This would also be an option if you are not married, but have a mullet. :angry:

 

[db-us]

I have a Brother labeler and would also like to know about this "hack".

I also have a brother labeler and would be interested in the hack to use the nylon labels. Anyone willing to give us some hints?

 

[Steve]

Ok, so I discovered by fluke that the green Panduit tape actually fit into a p-touch and worked with a few mods. I will create a how-to with the detail and post it. I just need to gather some stuff. Hopefully I will have the info on by next week. But so you know, the only non-laminated tape is the Panduit 3/4" LS7-75NL-1. The how to will show how to make that tape work in a P-Touch TZ machine.

 

[slipnfall]

I have the Rhino 3000 as well. It certainly has it's up sides: very wide variety of tapes/heatshrink, battery powered, somewhat rugged, and widespread support.

However I'm still in the air about it. For the price you pay, it should be able to do a *lot* more. For instance you can't set the character spacing. You can't add any type of bordering to the labels. The label cartridges seems ungodly expensive, and you waste a lot of 'test' labels. The output print size will never seems to be what you expect; it's just all very quirky. Certainly don't buy this as your one-and-only, 'general purpose' labeler, as it is not. Maybe that was the mistake I made. Take off the rubber case and it has a cheap feel to it.

Oh and to the poster about the labels not centering: I had this problem too, until I realized I wasn't seating the cartridges fully. I cringe every time I put one in, because it make a loud, plastic-on-plastic SNAP.

Anyway, sorry to rant, but other than now being able to print on heatshrink, I'm not impressed. I think this labeler is hyped way more than it should be, only because it has the market for the moment.

 

[Steve]

Yea, I generally found the Brother better at overall layout/format. IMHO the only real edge Rhino had was the tape selection. And I was also not too impressed by Rhino support when I called or the people at Ehx that did not follow up on a promise there. Otoh, I have had great support from Brother. Brother has announced new machines as well. Check out the PT7600.

 

[db-us]

Ok, so I discovered by fluke that the green Panduit tape actually fit into a p-touch and worked with a few mods. I will create a how-to with the detail and post it. I just need to gather some stuff. Hopefully I will have the info on by next week. But so you know, the only non-laminated tape is the Panduit 3/4" LS7-75NL-1. The how to will show how to make that tape work in a P-Touch TZ machine.

I am still curious about the Panduit labels. Have you had the chance to create the how-to for the label hack?

 

[murphy]

IMHO the printer is not the problem, - but the tapes are.

Until now I used a Dymo-labelprinter from Walmart. It looks like the D1-cartridges are also usable for Rhino (?). But for labeling wires, the tapes are too stiff. After some hours they are peeling off again. Those labels are only good for cases and flat surfaces. Another shortcoming of the Dymo-labelrolls are: there is not a too big collection on colors and qualities.

So I bought a Brother-Labelprinter @ Sam's. Something like PT-1880 desktop item. I bought this labelprinter because it was a sale ($ 29.88) and I can handle labels from 5/64" (ca 4mm for CD-cases) wide up to 3/4" (=19mm, at Brother the 3/4" are only 18mm ;-( ). And there are also very special rolls of labels available: extra flexible, extra UV-resistant, more colors than Dymo etc. Now this is my "main label printer".

But for labeling wires, the idea with clear shrinking tube sounds even better! For shrinking a heat-gun of course. I'm afraid if a hair-dryer is not hot enough. Don't you need 170°C = 310°F as a minimum ?

And for wide labels up to 2" (54 mm, - at Brother only 50 mm usable) I have a Brother QL500. This little machine acts as a printer on a PC. And is able to print also (black & white) grafics from your pictures or designs on the monitor-screen in any scale. But I need this machine only in rare cases. And buying a QL500 makes only sense when you are mass-printing, - or you have to print very special label-signs (as in your airplane: usually white letters on black background etc). Also the QL-500 software for the PC is not too userfriendly, more a little confusing and out of some standards.

 

[dem5867]

I gotta be different :blink:. Had a Rhino 5000 and is printed horrible. Did not center properly and wasted 'width'. So I went with a Brother P-Touch 1650 and its worked great. Rhino's have more stuff for pro's p-touch as more formatting. Rhino nylon tape i nicer but there is a hack to use Panduit tape in a p-touch to get same nylon. Either was you go Provantage.com had the best prices on labelers that I've found.

Where can I find info on the hack ???

 

[tmbrown97]

on another interesting note... my house was wired for an alarm when it was built 25 year ago... They labeled the wires with handwriting on thin white strips of paper held on with scotch-tape... They are still legible and well secured - they hung on through the panel changeout and M1 install...