Heat Shrink Labels

[Bill Jermyn]

OK, totally off topic, mods feel free to delete.

I'm doing a fair bit of legend plate work for electricians, and I'm getting queries about doing heat shrink labels for them (to identify wires).

Anybody had any experience with this? It doesn't seem to be overly expensive to get into, but I don't know what the market is like, and what type of printer is best - there seem to be dedicated printers for this work, as well as dot-matrix setups using a standard printer (if these can still be called standard anymore).

[Scott Shepherd]

I was responsible for reviewing these things several years ago and helping the electrical department find the one that worked best for them. I don't recall all the specifics, or even any brands, but I do recall some very slick systems out there and most of them were not the one's where you have to print each thing. I looked at it from a manufacturing engineering standpoint and which one made the most sense. The electrical department supervisor looked at it from the angle of what he's been doing for years. The end result was one that printed on the items, but it used to kill me every time I walked by his office. He'd spend hours and hours sitting down typing in all those things, day after day, after day.

From our analysis, the one's you bought as individual numbers and letters and you "put together" were much much faster and saved time. However, sometimes logic doesn't always win when looking for new tooling, especially when working with old timers.

[George D Gabert]

Brady makes several types of label marking systems that we use for wire marking.

It is a self contained setup that types the info on different types of labels. The electrician can make his own as needed.

Regards
GDG

[Bill Jermyn]

I would have thought they would make their own as well, but I've had inquiries if I can do them for them, that's why I asked if it might be worthwhile getting into, and if anyone here has had any experience with the various methods (dot-matrix or thermal) and the benefits/drawbacks of each.