What’s keeping you up?

So I get ragged a bit about how excited I get about label makers. I guess I’ve just paid the consequences of things not being labeled and some of those insistences were costly. But the right label that looks nice can make a simple project look really professional.

It’s sound guy 101 as a matter of fact or production 101. Yet, it surprises me at how many times I witness things in production unlabeled.

My current tools of the trade are these models. If you are serious about doing it right, then multiple machines will be necessary:).

Brother P-touch 2700
Cream of the crop portable/hand held.
Back-lit display, USB port for Mac or PC control (absolute must for video patch bays), up to 1″ tape, a lot of color options, and it looks cool:). The p-touch editor software gives you complete design freedom with logos and fonts. $100 unit / $19 per cartridge.

Rhino 6000
This beast has all of the same features as the Brother but adds some key features for installation. This machine is best for wrapping cables.  You can select the type of wire you are labeling and it knows how big to make your wrap. Plus you can serialize your printouts to keep those repetitive jobs consistent and efficient. This model has limited tape options but adds self laminating and heat shrink tubing you can print right onto. It has limited fonts and the software is OK, but really adds nothing that you can’t do straight from the machine.

One feature that is kind of cool is that it has filing on it. You can save and recall any design you have previously saved. $300 unit / $27 per cartridge. (pricey I know but it’s the real deal)

I also have several other machines around.  I have a small p-touch at my desk for file folders and stuff in the office.  I also have a Brother 1500PC at our tape station.  This model is computer controlled only but we have a template file on the Mac sitting right next to it and it’s really easy to put a label on the tape as it comes out of the deck!

So I’m a lable nut.  But I like things when they are done neatly and these tools make that possible.