Thermal label printers

[Not your average framer]

I thinking about getting a thermal label printer for the shop at some point in time. Possibly a Dymo, a Brother personal label printer, by I'm wondering if the printing will fade in the sunlight like supermarket till reciepts do, if I use the labels in my shop windows, or for pricing things which may be in stock for a while.

Can anyone who uses one of these let please me know, what to expect?

Thanks in anticipation,
Mark

[JohnMcafee]

A very interesting and timely question, Mark.

I’ve recently acquired a Dymo 450, a brilliant little thermal label printer, and I am also interested to discover the life expectancy of the labels it produces.

Our pricing software now interfaces with this printer, producing address labels, price labels and, frame labels, so we should soon find out how well suited the labels are for these purposes.

I expect that price labels will have the shortest life, exposed as they will be to both shop lighting and daylight, though replacing them from time to time on slow moving items shouldn’t be such a big deal. I would be most concerned though about the longevity of the frame labels as, even though protected from light exposure to a considerable extent, they do need to last for years.

Maybe the technology is too new for a definitive answer to the frame label question though.

[exeter framer]

Hello Mark

I have also been thinking along the same lines. There have been posts on FF about the same thing in the past, and I was very interested in the comments. One member said he has one and finds he can't live without it now. I remember people saying that the ink does fade, and on price tags etc., we will just print another one. I think the back of the frame label may be more problematic. I even considered coating the label with a liquid UV matt varnish - but have not got a sample to try.

There must be some way of overcoming the fading issue, because I really like the idea of personalizing the back of frame label to each customer and job.

Interested to hear if anyone else has any further information on fading issues.

[fusionframer]

Hi Mark,

I have used a Zebra lp2844 for printing labels, seemed to have a good life and not faded. I have one surplus to requirement which has been sitting taking up space. More than welcome to send to you FOC so you can experiment yourself. Mark can have first shout, if not, welcome for any forum member to have it. I had a sort out last week and need to get rid of things I don't have a use for.

Cheers

[Jonny2morsos]

I would like it if Mark doesn't want it.

Thanks - John.

[fusionframer]

PM me your address John and I will send it to you in the next day or so.

Cheers

Nick

[Not your average framer]

Hi Nick,

Thanks for the offer, I was not about yesterday and John was so fair do's!

But good still came out of this for me, as having just googled the printer in question, the TLP2844 is a thermal transfer printer, which means it transfers the printing from a ribbon onto normal paper. This means that the printing won't fade like the direct thermal printing onto thermal paper. The TLP2844 cost about £50 more than the LP2844, but as least the labels won't fade!

I hadn't heard of Zebra printers before so I was not looking at them, but now I am and the price is good too! When I'm ready I will be looking more closely and perhaps buy one!

Thanks for putting me on the right track!
Mark

[Richard Photofusion]

I use a couple of the little Brother P-Touch units for labelling data cables and the like.
After three years in a warm server room (which now has A/C), most of the labels on the cables have jumped. So, no light exposure, but heat lead to failure.

The labels on the cables weren't as stable as was fabled.