It was time to get a new label printer, so I decided to get the popular Brother PTE300VP unit.
This is often on offer from prominent suppliers like Screwfix and Toolstation in the UK.
The list price is usually over £100 but on offer it can be bought as a kit for around £50. Here's link to the toolstation (UK) page I bought mine on:-
https://www.toolstation.com/brother-pte300vp-handheld-label-printer/p77444
It comes in a huge plastic powertool style case that is almost twice the size it needs to be. When you have a van full of tools and materials, space matters. The case has the printer, one roll of black on yellow 18mm tape, the full instructions and the VERY good mini-instruction book, a lithium battery, wrist lanyard and a 12V 2A charger with a standard barrel connector with REVERSE POLARITY!!! So the first label you print should be a warning one to make sure the PSU doesn't get mixed up with others, as it could damage other equipment. A test with a current limited supply suggests that the printer does appear to have polarity protection on its own input.
The label cartridges generally contain about 8m of tape and the heatshrink sleeve cartridges contain just 1.5m of sleeve. (Ordinary heatshrink can also be used over a tape based label.)
The cartridge widths available are 6mm, 9mm, 12mm, 18mm, 24mm and 36mm, but not all tapes/sleeves are available in all sizes and this printer has a maximum tape size of 18mm.
The labels are automatically laminated so the text is underneath a clear front layer. The system for doing that is simple, clever and works very well.
The official cartridges tend to be quite expensive, but there is a huge market of 3rd party cartridges on eBay from £3.00 shipped versus £15 to £25 for an official cartridge of 12mm black on white tape. The advantage of using the official cartridges is getting a known quality of adhesive and print stability. The copy unit I took apart sounded a bit "tight" in the video because I had misaligned the tape when I disassembled it. (It was smooth again when I fixed it.)
You can get a wide range of tape colours and styles, both official and unofficial. That includes clear tapes, metallic tapes, security tapes that will leave a checkerboard pattern when removed and other novelty tapes with patterns and images on them.
It's a very good label printer. Loads of good features well suited to marking of electrical cables and equipment.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
http://www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm
This also keeps the channel independent of YouTube's advertising algorithms allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.
This is often on offer from prominent suppliers like Screwfix and Toolstation in the UK.
The list price is usually over £100 but on offer it can be bought as a kit for around £50. Here's link to the toolstation (UK) page I bought mine on:-
https://www.toolstation.com/brother-pte300vp-handheld-label-printer/p77444
It comes in a huge plastic powertool style case that is almost twice the size it needs to be. When you have a van full of tools and materials, space matters. The case has the printer, one roll of black on yellow 18mm tape, the full instructions and the VERY good mini-instruction book, a lithium battery, wrist lanyard and a 12V 2A charger with a standard barrel connector with REVERSE POLARITY!!! So the first label you print should be a warning one to make sure the PSU doesn't get mixed up with others, as it could damage other equipment. A test with a current limited supply suggests that the printer does appear to have polarity protection on its own input.
The label cartridges generally contain about 8m of tape and the heatshrink sleeve cartridges contain just 1.5m of sleeve. (Ordinary heatshrink can also be used over a tape based label.)
The cartridge widths available are 6mm, 9mm, 12mm, 18mm, 24mm and 36mm, but not all tapes/sleeves are available in all sizes and this printer has a maximum tape size of 18mm.
The labels are automatically laminated so the text is underneath a clear front layer. The system for doing that is simple, clever and works very well.
The official cartridges tend to be quite expensive, but there is a huge market of 3rd party cartridges on eBay from £3.00 shipped versus £15 to £25 for an official cartridge of 12mm black on white tape. The advantage of using the official cartridges is getting a known quality of adhesive and print stability. The copy unit I took apart sounded a bit "tight" in the video because I had misaligned the tape when I disassembled it. (It was smooth again when I fixed it.)
You can get a wide range of tape colours and styles, both official and unofficial. That includes clear tapes, metallic tapes, security tapes that will leave a checkerboard pattern when removed and other novelty tapes with patterns and images on them.
It's a very good label printer. Loads of good features well suited to marking of electrical cables and equipment.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
http://www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm
This also keeps the channel independent of YouTube's advertising algorithms allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.
"I'll save the original expensive yellow labels" proceeds to demo every feature with the premium labels
3 years later and I'm sold on this. I'm sure there's a newer version, but I'll be shopping for one now
If you ever do a follow-up try and get hold of some electro-etching stencil tape. It's pretty handy stuff to have a roll of ….can use it to etch letters/words, symbols, bar & QR codes, etc. into unpainted metal surfaces. 12V DC using white vinegar & salt as an electrolyte worked pretty well.
Shame you didn't pick up a 550 model. It can take the wider 24mm tape and can partially cut just the top layer so the backing remains intact (a 100% must have feature when chain-printing lots of labels). Also makes it much easier for peeling off the backing.
hello, I would like to use TZe ribbons to make labels for climbing gear in my climbing club. This means it would be applieds on curved, metal surfaces and subject to rock stripes, for exemple : on ice-axe handle or on a carabiner. Would you recommend this type of labels? specially regarding the rock stripe abrasion.
The Epson labelers are nice because they don't do that waste bit at the beginning. I'm not sure how they figured out how to laminate it without a cut first
I purchased a Brother P-Touch H101TB without a tape cartridge inside, Could someone please post a link or let me know which is the correct cartridge to buy please.
This used to be a good deal.
Wow thank you, this was a great explanation. Just got myself a Brother P Touch Cube.
Fab video, thank-you. My wife just bought me a PT100R, but I learnt a lot about how the cartridges work and found this video very useful despite having a different model.
We use the Brady labeler but the brother is ok
Just bought one of these so great to chance upon your deep dive into how it all works and its features. At first glance, out of the box, it looks really complex but in fact it is easy and intuitive to use. Thanks for making the video.
Adding clear heatshrink tubing over the top of the label is a no-no! Heating the heatshrink will start to darken the label: it has been created using a thermal printer head, after all. (ask me how I know……)
Labels are dishwasher resistent, even in our professional Miele machine which eats away a lot of things. Very impressed!
Oh Brother…
Wow thank you, much better than all the generic product reviews out there. Big fan Big Clive
I have a couple of these. Great little machines.
Lots of household uses, especially with schoolchildren's belongings.
I use the cheapie compatibles and they are indistinguishable from the branded ones. Unfortunately though, even though the cassettes are mostly ABS, they aren't easy to recycle. That's not acceptable in my opinion.
Update: Now with the new pink/purple units (P-Touch Series) the purge step is skipped, seemingly by over-laminating some length of the tape!
When I was a kid, I used to take things apart to see what's inside. Now I can make repairs, or build things from scratch, from the knowledge I gained by destroying those poor machines. They made the supreme sacrifice.