B

bkthomps

Well Known Member
What's everyone using for settings on their heat shrink labelers? Any tips/tricks? These cartridges are $30 a piece, so I figure ask VAF than screw up a lot testing

any pictures of your finished products?
 
That looks awesome and would have saved me a lot of time! I used a brother label maker and then clear heat shrink tubing over the top of it onto the wire.. Took to long for each wire, but I wasn't in a hurry.

I'm curious how this works on for you.
Christopher.
 
I learned very late in the build that if your are doing multiple labels at one time, type them all out and put a few spaces between them and then print, this way you waste a lot less material on the front and back end. Once they are printed cut them by hand and your done.

I think i used a total of 3 cartridges to do mine. its well worth it just very expensive.

-david
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Use 3/8" for labeling your two and three lead shielded twisted wire. It can even do the 5-6 lead servo runs. It also works if you are adding in a power lead. The

1/4" is viable for single leads and pairs of small wires (such as 20+ AWG). It will slide off single lead small wires because it cant shrink enough.

Big stuff is not very useful.

I picked up some really big (30mm) white for doing bundles. You write on it with a fine point sharpie before shrinking.
 
humptybump said:
Use 3/8" for labeling your two and three lead shielded twisted wire. It can even do the 5-6 lead servo runs. It also works if you are adding in a power lead. The

1/4" is viable for single leads and pairs of small wires (such as 20+ AWG). It will slide off single lead small wires because it cant shrink enough.

Big stuff is not very useful.

I picked up some really big (30mm) white for doing bundles. You write on it with a fine point sharpie before shrinking.
Click to expand...

this is the kind of info i need, any pics?
 
Deja vous!

I was at Lowes today looking at the Rhino printers and researching the heat shrink labels as well.

Bob, did you use the 1/4 for your wiring harness for the VP?

David, great tip in the spacing and printing.

Thanks

Don
 
20130116-202757-575x431.jpg
 
I have used 1/4" Panduit tube for most if not all of my new panel's wiring. Works good for most everything except the big fat wires like #8 and up.
 
Don Patrick said:
Bob, did you use the 1/4 for your wiring harness for VPX
Click to expand...

Yes. Glen articulated very well about where to use which size.

1/4" on most single wires and 3/8" on twisted pair. The 1/4" worked well on 22 awg too.

There are a couple Internet vendors that sell these at a much better price than any of the local big box stores.

Yes, the shrink is expensive and I went through quite a few of them on my RV-10. But much neater and more professional looking. If I hand wrote them, I would never been able to read them again.:eek:

Bob
 
Brady BMP 51

Another label printer to check out is the Brady BMP 51 or the BMP 53
A friend of mine has the BMP 51 he uses for work. He showed me how it works and is very happy with it. Brady offers many different types of labels inside, outside, self-laminating wire markers, reflective, flags and so on. The biggest difference between the BMP 51 and the BMP 53 is the 51 is a stand alone self contained unit and the 53 is just the printer part that you would need to use your computer with. You can connect it by USB or Bluetooth.
www.BradyID.com/bmp51

Let me know what you think. I haven't bought mine yet but this is what I am planing on doing soon.
 
Brother P-Touch

I looked online and didn't find any heat shrink tapes for the Brother unit. I bought it early in my build so I could label storage bins for the hardware without knowing about putting labels on the wires. Has anyone found a way to make it work - other than just printing the label and then clear shrink tape? I wonder if it is possible to use one of the other brand shrink tape in the brother unit? I haven't seen the Rhino tape to know if it could be put in a Brother unit. Im heading to Lowes, so I will give it a look.

Jerry, I looked at the BMP units and they are expensive. The BMP 21 is reasonable and looks like it would do everything needed for a build.
 
Last edited:
Brady BMP21

Rockwood
This is what happens when you?re in a hurry running out the door in the morning before work. I agree with you 100% my friend has the BMP51 and he showed me how it works. But he recommended the BMP21 for what we are doing on the plane. I was in too much of a hurry that I did not put the BMP21 as the one I plan on getting. It does cost a little more than the Bee or Brother but it is ?commercial grade? The guy I know uses it for work and says the labels do last even in some not so good environments. Based on that these labels should last protected in the airplane for a very long time. Hopefully some day the plane will get passed on to my son and he will still be able to understand what is what. He may not understand why I did it that way :confused: but at least he will know what the wire is for. To make a long story short the Brady BMP21 is what I plan on using.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.