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Label maker suggestions for cables and cords.

RickWoodall

RickWoodall

Well Known Member
I have millions of cords and chargers etc with all our toys and two kids. Wondering if anyone can suggest one of the label makers that would be ideal for making a quality long lasting tag you could put on wires. Eg...when wiring your plane, did you label each wire?

I have ipad and stratus and gps and back up comm power cables and chargers. Would love a way to tag them with a quality and long lasting label that doesnt break the bank. Any suggestions? I had looked up one called the rhino during my build but the label material was crazy money and i never followed through.

If you have a good one you like, a pirep would be much appreciated.

cheers,Rick
 
Labels

Rhino makes a good one. It prints on shrink tube so you just slip it on and heat shrink it in place.
The cheaper option is to print the labels, cut the strips and slide them under clear heat shrink tube.
The cheapest is a Sharpie!:D
 
Some (all?) of the Rhino printers can also print a "wrap label" is has a portion that is printed and the rest is clear. You peel the backing and wrap the label around the cord. The clear portion will overlap but not obscure the print.

Here is an old write up I did on labeling wires -
http://thesalmonfarm.org/blog/p/3514
 
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Dymo Rhino

I used a Dymo RhinoPro 5000 for all if my wiring labels, all of my parts and tool bins, and lots of other stuff. You can print on heat shrink tube, or for other cables you can print on an adhesive label and roll it around the cable. Works great and has lots of other uses around the hangar, the shop, and home.
 
White heat shrink. Label with a pen and shrink down. Cheap.
We labeled our plane wiring this way. Do not have to worry about it falling off.
 
I went with the Brother P-touch label maker and then trimmed them down and slid it underneath the clear heat shrink. Very easy and inexpensive. I does require a bit of care though, because the labels turn black with heat (I believe this is the process for printing) so if you get the heat shrink too hot it will turn the label completely black. There seems to be just enough difference in temperature to shrink the heat shrink, just before the label turns black:eek:
 
I have the Rhino 5000 and use the yellow heat shrink but I have not been too pleased with it. As has been mentioned before, if you print only one label at a time, you waste quite a bit of heat shrink. I try to minimize that by printing multiple labels at a time, but mine is prone to jamming so I lose a lot of heat shrink all at once. I bought it online in one of those deals where the printer was free if you bought X amount of cartridges. I use a Brady IDXpert at work along with the wrap around labels like Glen mentioned above and it works flawlessly. If I had it do all over again, I would have gone this route.
 
I used clear heat shrink. Printed off labels from my PC in a small font. Cut strips slipped the heat shrink ?ber the wire and label and heated. No need for a special printer.
 
Observation

We work in heavy industry. We have found that shrink wrap labels printed by machine (thermal transfer) can be smudged off quite easily with simple handling. This takes a long time (years) but that's when you'll need to read them. We prefer the wrap style.

Rick, check your PM.

YMMM,
Michael
 
Jams

8CW said:
I have the Rhino 5000 and use the yellow heat shrink but I have not been too pleased with it. As has been mentioned before, if you print only one label at a time, you waste quite a bit of heat shrink. I try to minimize that by printing multiple labels at a time, but mine is prone to jamming so I lose a lot of heat shrink all at once. I bought it online in one of those deals where the printer was free if you bought X amount of cartridges. I use a Brady IDXpert at work along with the wrap around labels like Glen mentioned above and it works flawlessly. If I had it do all over again, I would have gone this route.
Click to expand...


I had that trouble with jamming, and I found it was my problem by not pushing in the cartridge hard enough - when the instructions say "click" they actually mean push really hard. :)

Since I discovered that I've had no more jams and wasted $30 tape cartridges.
 
Brady

I have been working on adding a g3x touch to my -4…and with some help essentially re-wiring the whole range airplane in the process.

I have been using the bRADY bmp-21 plus with its permasleeve heat shrink cassettes, expensive but indispensable to someone like me (forgetful).

This model also has a rubber back and side bumpers, goes on the wing and never falls off. :D

[Edit: I have been shrinking the heck out of these things with a butane solder iron and they hold up great, no 'blacking' or melting, worth the money for me]
 
az_gila said:
I had that trouble with jamming, and I found it was my problem by not pushing in the cartridge hard enough - when the instructions say "click" they actually mean push really hard. :)

Since I discovered that I've had no more jams and wasted $30 tape cartridges.
Click to expand...

Thanks Gil, I'll give that a try.
 
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