where to get a placard maker

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Electron_Sam78

Senior Member
Location
Palm Bay, FL
Does anyone have one of those placard makers for labeling panels and such? The ones I'm talking about engrave letters and numbers into a plastic plate that sticks onto the item to be identified. Where would one go about getting something like that?
 

BJ Conner

Senior Member
Location
97006
Google lamicoid Engraver

Google lamicoid Engraver

Google Lamicoid engraver. They are not cheap.
You can't pay for one doing your own labels.
The best thing to do is set your wife, girlfriend, brother-in-law, teenage kid etc. in business and sell tags and labels to everyone.
Get the computer driven machine and sell them over the net. The market may be saturated. There are quite a few people doing this now.
 

petersonra

Senior Member
Location
Northern illinois
Occupation
engineer
they are pretty cheap these days.

personally, I prefer printed labels to engraved ones.

a bunch of people make printers that can be hooked up to any normal computer for printing plastic labels.

you can even get some plastic labels that you can print in a normal ink jet printer. i think you have to buy special ink cartridges though.
 

John120/240

Senior Member
Location
Olathe, Kansas
I have used the local sports trophy supplier. This guy engraves everything for the bank, schools,

city, electrican, etc etc. 1 1/2 X 4, black phenolic, two lines of text $4.50 ea
 

Fulthrotl

~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~
Does anyone have one of those placard makers for labeling panels and such? The ones I'm talking about engrave letters and numbers into a plastic plate that sticks onto the item to be identified. Where would one go about getting something like that?

the higher end bradys print on oiltight plates... but it's not engraved, just ink....
 

goldstar

Senior Member
Location
New Jersey
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
What you're looking for is a pantograph engraving machine similar to this one on U-Tube. If you do a Google search you'll find more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUtkz5Z-pBA

Frankly, unless you plan on making a lot of labels it probably doesn't pay to buy one. IMHO, you'd be better off finding an engraver in your area and have them make the plates as you need them. Otherwise, you're going to have to buy and stock the color phenolic that you plan to use along with 3M self adhesive tape if you plan to stick them onto whatever you're labeling. I wish you were closer to me - I'd sell you the one I have. It's been sitting in my basement for about 20 years now and still in the crate - haven't used it once.
 

petersonra

Senior Member
Location
Northern illinois
Occupation
engineer
we have a number of local customers that we engrave nameplates for. we bought a new machine not long ago. it can import graphics and cut the nameplates to size too. pretty slick.

there is bound to be someone nearby who can engrave a few nameplates for you. it is just too costly to buy and set it up unless you use it enough to make it worthwhile.
 

stevenj76

Senior Member
I was going to say trophy shop too.

My problem is that some inspectors want them mechanically attached, so I carry some tiny stainless hardware for the outdoor ones.
 

John120/240

Senior Member
Location
Olathe, Kansas
I attach the labels with pop rivets. Had some made with name, phone #, city. Attach to

your tool case for cordless drill, sawzall, Fein tool. Looks more professional than magic marker.
 

renosteinke

Senior Member
Location
NE Arkansas
Wait a minute ... are you talking about just the address tag for the meter can? Visit PetSmart!

That's right, get a dog tag engraved. There are even simple rectangular ones now, with rivet holes on either end, meant to be fixed solidly to the collar.
 

Stevenh

Member
Location
Tualatin, OR
As others have said, if you need the engraved plastic, then a trophy store is a good place to go. The one I go to does everything from pin-on name badges to large placards.

But, if there is a reason why you prefer having your own machine, then looking at a label printer may be the better option. The number and types of labeling materials have expanded greatly over the past few years, and you can get some incredibly strong and tough labeling supplies. Plus, there are vendors who will give you a label printer free when you buy supplies. That cuts the costs tremendously. In addition, a good label printer can be used to do many other labeling and sign making jobs. And a good label printer will come with free database software that will keep a record of your arc flash labels.
 
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