We need to step it up on our labeling. We normally use white electrical tape and hand write in the label. We'd like to find a really nice labeler with labels that actually stay on no matter what. In the past all labelers we have used the labels didn't stick that great and always wound up coming off.

Can anyone recommend a great labeler with labels that will not come off?

Thanks.

A previous company used something like this. And it allowed different tapes.

[Link: newegg.com]

Unfortunately I do not recall which tape worked the best. We did at some point used crappy tape that would come off over time.

I have also seen some tape that the "ink" was printed on the white part. You would put the white part on the cable first. Then continue to wrap the tape around the wire and it'll turn to clear. So that it would cover the "ink" and white part. But that was an other vendor that had that machine, whether this one will have that ability or not, I don't know.

KOT

How serious are you about it?
Do you want to print your labels in the office or in the field?
Does price per label matter to you?
Do you want to use bar code or QR Codes?

Paper, plastic, metal?

I used to use some Brady labels that were inked part on top with a clear wraparound part on the bottom. This was in the mid 80s; I bought sheets of page width, 8 up left to right, and printed them on an Okidata dot matrix. Windows killed that.

However, those same labels were available in books, i think four labels across and two high per page, for writing on. Ballpoint worked fine! They had several choices of label size and of wraparound size.

Oh yeah, Ernie reminded me of something. Some tapes takes ball point ink very well, while others do not.

Most printers now a days are thermo though. So the tape may or may not take ink very well.

KOT

And, KOT, sometimes sharpies work great on those labels, but the ink slowly spreads over the years until unreadable.

Look at LabelMark 6.0
I use LAT-17 for small wires and LAT-18 for RG6, Cat-X, etc.
They have many other sizes.

I love the Excel integration as I can take any file dump, turn it into .CSV and then import it into LabelMark software.

We had discussion (several actually) about it on IP.
There are other sources for label sheets that don't cost as much as Brady and still work with their software.

Yes, you can use both LAT-17 and LAT-18 with regular ball point pen.

We just want something we can do in the field that does not come off and looks good.

[Link: dymo.com]

i have this. it's decent. not amazing or anything but does the job and one of the nicest handheld ones out.

Get self laminating labels. I print most at the office and handwrite some in the field. They dont come off.

I use one of the Dymos, a 5000, for a bunch of labels, or for panels.

For a few quick wires, use ScotchCode - [Link: amazon.com]

Write on white, the rest of the tape is clear to cover the writing and protect it.

Yes, self laminating laser labels from Panduit are the best. You will have to put in the effort to build your print template. We link our excel data to a custom access template, but there are lots of ways to do it.

Which label stock are you using? I've had some trouble with the adhesive liquefying after a year or two and falling off or creating a big mess.

We've only ever used Dymo. Right now all of our trucks have the Rhino 5200. We use the 18489 Flexible Nylon Labels. They don't come off. If it's exposed outdoor wiring we print on heatshrink.

Every now and then they will run specials. If you buy so many labels (15-25) you get a free labeler kit. There's actually one running right now.
[Link: cableorganizer.com]

For a low cost solution, I keep this on the truck and have been using it for cable wrap labels the last 6 months. Low volume use, not sure I'd use this one if doing a ton of labels.
[Link: amazon.com]

And these labels:
[Link: amazon.com]

Way cheaper than dymo labels and so far everything is working fine.