If you ever wanted a basic, low-cost label maker........

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480sparky

480sparky

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......... head to Home Depot. They have a Brother P-Touch PT-6100 priced-dropped ten clams to $29.99.


Label%20Maker.jpg


Not as fancy as a $400 Brady, but it does 99% of what I'd need one to do.

Label%20Maker%202.jpg


Don't bother buying the refills there... they have 'em for $18. You can buy them online for a whole lot less.
 
Fulthrotl said:
sorry. consumer injet printers are far and away in first place, with safety razors
a distant second.
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The business model is actually called the 'razor and blades' model.

Gillette used to give the razors away free and made all their money on blades.

Printer makers use the same strategy, but still sell the printers at a profit, albeit small, then mark up the ink. You don't get inkjet printers for free.

Gillette is still King (pun intended) of that business model, although he did not invent it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razor_and_blades_model
 
480sparky said:
3rd party. And just about everything is made in China these days, so even the OEM would be too.
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I was going to say I have never seen a genuine Ptouch label cartridge for a low as $3. Maybe $5 for some of the narrower tape cartridges.

I have a PT 9700, it needs connected to a PC, prints on same tapes as those like pictured in OP, up to 1-1/2" wide tape. Has much bigger character and symbols abilities and can even import images - monochrome is all that is do-able on the PT tape line though. Can scale text or image to fit a defined area on the tape, hand held machines generally only have limited font sizes and types and may not show you actual layout on the tape before you print.

I do have a hand held (not sure which model) but only use for a simple label here and there in the field, otherwise new projects I print all the labels needed on the project on the 9700. I don't fill out panel directories anymore, I print labels.

They do make a "flexible ID" tape for the series that they claim will work for wire marking. I haven't had great luck with it as stand alone, but just using standard tape and then putting clear shrink tube over it works pretty well. I usually do this with networking or coax cables, not so much with power and control conductors, wire marker booklets and cards still seems to be fastest with those unless you want more complex markings then just number or letter codes.
 
K8MHZ said:
That's why I wrote OEM. I have found that the OEM versions of products are much better than the knock offs, even when both are made in China. ..........
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And some times, they're both made in the same factory. Just the labels are different.
 
480sparky said:
And some times, they're both made in the same factory. Just the labels are different.
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There may be other differences though, even when coming from the same factory. When I worked for Siemens, they contracted with a Chinese mfr to make their DP contactors, a business unit they inherited when they bought Furnas. Prior to going to China, the contactors had been made in Kentucky, then Furnas moved it to Mexico, then Mexico got too expensive so Siemens moved it to India, then India was too expensive vs China, so they moved it to China to stay competitive against competitors who had moved to China. Siemens had a policy with contract mfrs that Siemens employees were always in charge of QC, but what the Chinese did was turn the production lines back on after they went home, then used lower quality materials to make the same products even cheaper and zero quality control to increase volume, then flooded the market with them at even lower prices. Siemens found out and killed the contract, then got out of the DP contactor business because it couldn't make money any more. But the cheap Chinese crap is still being produced and sold, sometimes even with Siemens name on it. As big and powerful as Siemens is, they can't force the Chinese govt to protect property rights.
 
480sparky said:
......... head to Home Depot. They have a Brother P-Touch PT-6100 priced-dropped ten clams to $29.99.


Label%20Maker.jpg


Not as fancy as a $400 Brady, but it does 99% of what I'd need one to do.

Label%20Maker%202.jpg


Don't bother buying the refills there... they have 'em for $18. You can buy them online for a whole lot less.
Click to expand...


Thanks for sharing the blue light special with us.
 
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