I have a Brother P-Touch label maker. Everything in my life is labeled. The cat is rather annoyed with his labels . . . "tail", "right front paw", "left ear", "belly", etc.

Why did I spend 30 minutes watching a video on a product I have no interest in? Because Big Clive is so likable and entertaining as hell.

Ah yes, ripping open old cartridges to see what people have printed at the office. Like passwords behind locked doors.

Remember - Brother printers like this are made for all different industries, not just electricians. They are also set up for general purpose for no particular industry at all... like a regular keyboard that prints quality labels. I've been using Brother products since before PCs or laptops were ever considered for normal use (1982) and they have never let me down. I'm quite satisfied with their products.

I like to come here just to listen to a calm voice make sense of this chaotic world.

Brother is still one of the best brands for all kinds of printers. Great after sales support and durable products at a reasonable price. Something that most companies forgot. It’s all ‘build cheap, sell expensive’ with limited time support on hardware, drivers and consumables.

Me 30 mins ago: I don’t need a label printer Me now: *buys label printer*

ProTip™ for cable flags: Fold the label around the cable without it actually touching the cable, line up the ends (perfectly, of couse!), then pinch your fingers together and slide them towards the cable. If the ends are well aligned, all the rest will just fall into place and if you're not completely off, it will also be perfectly centered.

Tip for using great shrink labels, taught to me on harness building course at Raychem, heat the none print side of the tube first and obtain maximum shrinkage before moving round to the printed side. That way you are shrinking the printed side and hence the text less than the back side meaning more legible labels.

This is how you do a product review. Zero shill factor. Nice.

still have an ancient handheld manual label maker where you have to select each letter in turn then squeeze a handle to impress it into the plastic tape

There is only one channel on KZfaq that could possibly EVER get me to not only watch a video about a label machines but to ENJOY a video about label machines. Big Clive does it again! When will I ever learn?🙂

Fully expected Clive using the printer, to make a label for the charger: WARNING: OUTER PIN POSITIVE. For Brother Label Printer Only. Use on other equipment will set the magic smoke and electric pixies free.

i have zero use for a label printer whatsoever but you've made it look so interesting and fun that i want one for absolutely no reason other than to print useless little messages and stick them everywhere. Thanks!

Tip/center-negative power supplies are extremely common in older Japanese electronics because you can make a portable device with batteries or external DC input and the switch that isolates the two power sources is built-in to the standard barrel jack. Japanese electronics often didn’t even include the adapter, especially for battery-operated devices, so you were expected to use your own. The Family Computer Disk System likely uses batteries just to save money and sell the adapter separately, but this trend wasn’t just limited to battery-operated devices. This is why you see Family Computer power supplies bundled with used Super Famicom and Sega Mega Drive consoles in Japan (all center-negative!). For the Super Famicom, Nintendo’s logic was that customers likely already had a Family Computer with power supply, so you could use that. Nintendo stopped including the charger with the Nintendo 3DS XL in the UK and with the New Nintendo 3DS XL in the USA. People in the US, including me, made a big stink so the US was the only region they included a USB power brick with the Nintendo Entertainment System Classic Edition in 2016. My complaint was that the NN3DSXL played all the games as the previous system and, thus, the previous system would get handed down or traded in. Ultimately, someone had to buy a charger, so the excuse that it wasn’t needed for a large portion of their customers who already own a DS lite/DSi/3DS with the same charger doesn’t hold water. So, yeah, that’s how center negative became the standard in Japan but the reasons for Japan relying on DC and portables goes back further. Because some Japanese prefectures are 50hz mains and some are 60hz, it made sense to engineer more devices that would work with universal DC power. Those devices could then also be run from batteries or a power plug the consumer already had. For example, I saw an old Japanese alarm clock with a switch for 50/60hz because it derived it’s clock from the line frequency. A DC clock with an internal oscillator would not need this switch and would also be able to use batteries. They had incentive to improve the power efficiency of these traditionally wall-powered devices and, thus, Japan’s portable electronics boom began.

I work in the cell tower industry and I have banned the use of Dymo labels via contracts. The Dymo being a thermal printer, any outdoor labels will always turn dark and become un-readable whereas the Brother is a thermal ink transfer printer and therefore is not nearly as susceptible to the thermal fading that occurs on the Dymo labels.

i come from an era when, if we wanted them to last, we had to specify labels as layered plastic (outside black, core white) with text machine-cut deep enough to reach the center core. and also specify screw or rivet fasteners or you would go out on a renovation survey and find that the switchboard labels (in the room everybody was afraid to enter) were all in a neat pile on the floor below where they were stuck on. [ of course, one label always managed to hang on . . . the one on the huge circuit breaker at one end of the substation labeled "Main Circuit Breaker" ]

I love this label maker. I use it for patch panels. I can use the serialization feature to generate an entire panel of numbered labels, then immediately hit another button and have it generate wall plate labels to match those same patch panels.

I bought one of these a couple of years ago. Mine talks to my mobile 'phone through WiFi and does the cutting itself (get me) - it went on the tax return as a business expense. Amazingly useful, especially when rewiring Land Rovers. All of my drawers have labels now. And, of course, the PSU has a label that says "Label Printer Only". Thank you for explaining how the thing works.

I'll say this about the quality of Brother's labels -- they stick to plastic bins and other things with low surface energy that adhesive labels normally fall off of. I also use these to label junction boxes in my 130F / 55C attic, and after 3 summers, they're still attached and look great.

I never realised I needed a label printer before this...

LOVE that owners manual design. There should be more of those. Excellent review. Regards Mark in the UK

I have the exactly same model as my daily label printer at work(I'm a telecommunications technician and I label cables with it). We use that empty printed piece to go around the cable, so it won't go to waste.

22:57 "Wow, I've been a great salesman for this labelmaker." I've been considering buying a labelmaker. So, Yes, Yes you have, thank you. =D

I have the "desk" model of one of these that uses their USB label printing software. It is great for printing IT asset tracking labels with QR codes for the ID number. It can also run on batteries in a stand alone mode which is great when I'm working on wiring jobs.

I have the PT-8000 When it was discontinued years ago I immediately went to staples to stock up, they were $.99 ea. A week later I saw they had clearanced them out at $0.01. I still have a couple dozen of the cartridges, including a couple of the refillable ones. edit; I want to make it clear that I was talking about the cartridges that were $.99 not the machine. Sorry for any confusion.

I've used one of these models for many years, so much that I wore it out (well, the plastic frame disintegrated that held the print frame). So I purchased a second one because they work so well. I am very happy that you explained why the printer 'wastes' about 1/2" of tape each time it prints. I have an older Brother label printer model that uses the same type of cartridge and it 'wastes' the same amount which affirms your discovery that it's 'all in the cartridge'. While troubleshooting why my well used printer for not 'recognizing' my 3/4" tape cartridge, I found the switch matrix that it uses to identify the cartridge, was out of alignment because all the screws holding the print 'deck' down were broken free from the front faceplate and it wasn't activating the microswitches and thought there was no cartridge inserted... The manual cutter is the way to go, the 'automatic' cutter models will fail much sooner than this type of model. I use mine all the time labeling equipment that I integrate at work. There are tape cartridges available that have the 'strong adhesive', which I use since they really do stick well but they also gum up the cutting blade over time so you need to keep that clean if you do as much as I do. Fun times :)

Three awesome things about these cartridges: they're heatproof, meaning they'll tolerate everything up to the point a label burns or melts without any loss of quality or darkening; also, the Chinese clones are a fraction of the price of the OEM ones and are of very decent quality. They also come in a huge range of colours.

You have a print preview button (mag. glass icon) next to the print button... You can see how the print will look without the need to print it out...

I really prefer the printers with USB and automated blade, using the P-Touch editor software: you can create all your labels and insert cut lines between them, that way you don’t loose the 2cm peace of ribbon every time at the beginning of the print. You can also use all your computer fonts and insert images. I really like these labels, laminated, won’t fade and a vast selection of colours and width.

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.

As always a great in depth video. Reveals an interesting data security issue that I'm sure many office managers are not aware of! I remember fax machines that used this kind of thermal film deposition printing and the lengths certain institutions went to in order to destroy the "hidden second copy". I had no idea the technique was still in use, and certainly not in such a ubiquitous but innocent machine.

I have the PTE550 and love it. It gets used all the for time labelling anything & everything. The printed labels in bold colours are far nicer than any written labels, and being able to print directly onto the special heat shrink tubing is awesome.

Looks great Clive! So glad you enjoyed your label printer and found it useful 🙌

Hi Clive, I used your lesson to fix a broken and tangled tape (saved $$). You don't show how it dissassembled but just for the rest of the viewers, there are about six little clips in recesses around the tape case. Also see a couple inside the cavities under the tape path etc. The side is springy and not brittle so as you press a clip then lever the side you can see where the next one is.

I have etiquette like this on my letter box in the street . 12 years ago and the letters are like new ! Very solid and reliable !

You should print off lables for the printer and the power supply to remind of the polarity reversal :-)

Thank you Clive for this video. I have just received one of these label printers for Christmas so rewatching this video has helped me to know how to use the thing. Many thanks!!

I am in no way technical but I do enjoy these educational videos.

Worth noting the label glue and durability. Most original labels are actually dishwasher safe, yet the label can be peeled off without residues. Tamper free labels, iron on cloth labels, paper labels also available. Truly brilliant!

Given the print technology these units should offer an "inverted" printing mode (e.g. white on black using white label), I then wouldn't have to buy separate black labels.

I bought a similar one after seeing David Savery's review of it. I found it to be a very good label printer. One drawback is that sometimes you get a label tape where the clear print layer is misaligned with the backing layer, so the labels you print have a tiny strip of uncovered adhesive along the top or bottom of the label face, which attracts dust and debris over time. It seems to be more prevalent with the cheap Chinese tapes but even the official ones aren't perfect. It's most noticeable with the 6mm tapes. I've had to disassemble a couple to try to fix the alignment as it was so bad, but it's very hard to get perfect. I've had the most success with using a hot air gun to soften the plastic housing and nudging it into place, but even that involves a lot of trial and error. I also had a similar Dymo label printer before this one, and where I am in Australia the sun is harsh enough that the Dymo labels all fade and peel after a year or two even indoors. But even the cheap Chinese tapes for the P-touch are UV-stabilised, so they can be out in the direct sun and they don't fade which is excellent. I've had one outdoors in direct sun as a test for over six months now and it's still as good as new. The only drawback I've noticed is that if the cable wrap is used in a warm environment like an equipment rack (here warm means above 28°C/82°F) they tend to unstick and unwrap themselves after a few weeks, so Clive's suggestion of using clear heatshrink isn't a bad idea if possible. Sometimes I have also used clear adhesive tape (sticky tape/sellotape/etc) over the top and that works well too. This happens even with the official tapes so it's not a problem with the cheap ones, although I haven't tried a cable wrap with the 'strong adhesive' tapes yet. I'm not sure the strong adhesive version would help though as sometimes it's the clear print layer that unsticks from the coloured backing, but 'strong' refers to the backing adhesive used. If anyone is interested in buying one of these, I'd also recommend watching the review from David Savery Electrical (search KZfaq for "david savery label") as his covers the next model up (E550), which has wifi and lets you print images onto labels from a computer or a phone. Lastly, you can get cheap label tapes with white text on red/green/blue backgrounds however I'd recommend against these as the white pigment they use is very poor, and the labels come out with terrible contrast. It's more like light red on dark red, so they're not easy to read. I'm not sure why this is the case, because you can also get a tape with white text on a clear background, and that version isn't too bad at all.

I love that your unit comes with metric units. Like something practical and worth using.

I liked this video, right after you said "Let's take this to bits".... I've had a P-Touch connected to my computer for about 20 years, great machine. Can't use labels outside. The sun washes out the printing after a short while. I used to sell this stuff. One time a customer came in and complained the cartridge didn't last long. My boss took it apart and saw it was used up. When he showed what was typed, the customer said it looked like his kid got a hold of it. :) About 55 years ago, my uncle gave me one of the mechanical embossing label makers. It was my favorite gift. The uncle who gave it to me died last summer at 98 years old. Made me think of this gift.

With this brilliant device, you too can label everything - just like in the original batman TV series!

I just 'inherited' a few hundred valves (vacuum tubes) most of them wrapped loosely in paper. I've ordered up lots of boxes for them and was considering how to label each one. This looks like jut the thing so I've got one ordered. Mind you, in my neck of the woods it costs considerably more than £50! Thanks Clive..

Wow, that wire-wrap function looks handy!

I didn't need a label printer until I saw the cable flags!! As a retro gamer and collector keeping the spaghetti junction of cables identified would help immensely.

The white on clear tapes are *great* for labeling black or dark items. They're shiny which is a bit out of place on matte textures like ThinkPads, but that's a small price to pay for clear labeling.

This was actually too interesting for me considering I work in an OfficeMax in America

its like a handheld assembly line, i didnt expect this much intricacy

That just triggered major flashbacks back to the old days at the office when we had to be careful how we disposed of used ink ribbons because they obviously had the text on the used up ribbon and they could've been used to print sensitive information

There was an old lady called Mabel, Who only wore ermine of sable, To label a cable she danced on the table, The doc diagnosed her unstable.

I got one of these like 5 years ago...changed my life! So many things to label! Comes out looking totally professional. The easiest way to get at the backing with no nails is to bend it in half, grab one corner that pops up and then pull that about 3/4 of the way off. Now put your finger on the little bit of backer still stuck to the label, flex it, and rip off the entire second piece. Now the last little bit of paper is just barely attached, use it to hold and position, then grab it off. I've printed hundreds of little tags that say "Property of" with my name and phone number. I stick them to everything I own. Expensive stuff like laptop gets additional labels inside at places like the hard drive. I like the "tamper evident" tape they sell, makes a very big mark where a label gets removed and the label cannot be reused. The chinese label tape seems to last pretty well, although the glue is definitely not as sticky as the OEM stuff.

For wrap-around cable labels try the original Brother P-Touch Flex-labels. I use 18mm white flex tape for my cables and they are pretty stable if you do not bend the cable too tight. Also I always set the diameter several mm bigger to get more overlap, especially on H07RN-F and H07BQ-F, as these cables are pretty much non-sticky with labels. Label on label (wrapping around 1.5 times) won‘t come loose anytime soon.

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

The TZe tape have two kinds of recognition for the label printer: The one shown in the video and a second one on the backside of the cartridge. It's for the older P-Touch models and it use 3 or 4 pins for detecting the tape

Good news: These are not blown up by using a center positive by accident. My PT-E500 did not go bang and still works fine.

I have the older PT-9500 printer, and I think it's strange that even this e-300 do not have a USB interface, enabling it to use the p-touch editor software. (Which is awesome!) My co-worker put a label on his coffee mug, and it went through the dishwasher numerous times without the label even wrinkling. Impressive!

Made me reminisce about a old Rotary Label maker my dad had, also thanks for the Ionizer information in your other videos. Gonna add one to my shop for air quality and dust localization, it is a small shop so every little bit helps.

Print off a new "bigclivedotcom" to stick on the work bench

So, you don't want to print sensitive information with this device, since the information is retained within the cartridge forever for anyone to read after breaking open the cartridge after finding it in a landfill

I think my favorite videos you make are you showing off your new toys

I just dug out my Casio KL-100 that I got for christmas almost 20 years ago just to lable my HDMI cables. I never even thought of doing this ever. Thanks Clive!

I love these label makers so useful. That being said, when I worked for Radio Shack it was very common for people to call coaxial power connectors "Standard", meaning center positive; however, there is no such standard, it's the wild west and one needs to be handy with a meter or know to check labeling for the polarity marker...if it has one. Good times!

Hi Clive. Great as usual. Just a FYI that outer positive (annoying as it is) is super commonly used for guitar pedals, astronomy and camping gear. Seems isolated to 12v 5.5mm outer, 2.1mm inner. No idea which party f**d it first, but now we have to live with it. Cheers

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.

I have one of the smaller ones that has 9 aaa batteries to power it.I bought it to label plants in the garden and amazed how long the labels last, so far 6 years and still readable no degradation at all. I did not realise how complex the tape was and how reliable it is for the complexity.

These are superb printers. I have the 550 , as an other reviewer said I bought the PT touch 550 on the strength of David Savery's review. Just cannot fault the printer in anyway. Hundreds of labels have gone thru and all of 'em perfect. Got mine from Labelzone in the UK. Fantastic company to deal with. I have not used the heatshrink tubing "tape" yet but will try it out one day. I never use 6mm tapes so cant comment on that aspect. The brother android apps do work but at times establishing the WiFi connection between the printer and the router can be a wee bit of a hit and miss. But... you can also connect the printer to a PC via the supplied MINI (take note !) USB cable. All in all ? A brilliant piece of kit !

This video made me think of the time I was in school and my buddy showed me how to spell BOOBS on the calculator.

Amendment to the price. The basic model PT-E110 is £49, the one that Clive is demonstrating, the PT-E300 is just over £100 from Screwfix, and the bells and whistle model, the PT-E550W, is £125 at the moment from Toolstation! All models are excellent, just choose the one that suits your needs.

I used the proper Brother heatshrink variant to do a whole panel. It looked amazing but cost around £200 in reels. Brothers ‘cut off a bit before printing’ really hits you when you’ve only got 1.5M per £20 roll!

Interesting. Thanks! One thing that I do to my older Brother printer is to alter the "tape size" recesses to trick the machine into thing that the tape is larger. That allows me to print to the full width of the tape. Useful.

LOL, I remember those old ones with a wheel, that punched the label.

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.

For cable labels, you might find the Panduit Turn-Tell labels interesting, they break free of the adhesive and can be slid and spun around the cable so you can have the contents of a flag label but in a more compact package. They ARE super expensive, though.

Oh wow. I've had one of those Dymo printers for like.... 15 years. I used it for the first time in probably 5 years just last month. I somehow had the crocodile border selected? I just went with it because I thought it was funny. I'm suddenly feeling like I need one of these Brother printers...... for some reason.... hahaha.

Replace your bigclivedotcom decal on your bench

Labels are dishwasher resistent, even in our professional Miele machine which eats away a lot of things. Very impressed!

I bought the PT-D600VP unit last year and it has been very versatile for labeling everything as needed.

I read the title "How the Brothel label printers..." The video seemed a bit less exciting after I read it correctly.

So you're telling me it's *not* magic?

Thank you VERY MUCH Big Clive! What a BRILLIANT machine, answers all my "needs and wants" for labeling. Most importantly, it has "backward capability", for the TXE tapes! Wonderful. Just ordered one of these, looking forward to putting it to good use - LOVE the barcode function, and standards they are using, 100% compatible with everything I've done so far. Hi to you from the tropics, Phuket Thailand. All the very best, regards, Mark

I bought the same kit a few weeks ago from Toolstation, overall very impressed with it.

Thank you, I'm replacing mine tomorrow. I would advise staying away from the super flexible from eBay. It's rubbish

When testing things like this, always use the phrase “TEST IT CALLS”, especially when it needs to be confirmed out loud within earshot of someone else.

Had a H500 at a previous job, that one could also be hooked up to a pc to use as a printer! There was also a chain mode for larger print runs that would print continuously without leaving the little nubbin of extra tape.

Thanks for this! Fascinating. I love my Brother label makers!! I currently have three, but I use my PT-D600 the most - and I use it all the time. I only buy the knock-off cassettes (from Amazon). I actually like that yours snips the bit at the beginning. All of mine have wide ears on each side of the label that I always have to cut off.

I guess I'll have to remember to destroy the tape in my spent cartridges, then.

Nearly *3am* on a Tuesday morning and here I am 🤣

The 550 is even more satisfying to use, it puts half cuts in the tape automatically, really useful when you have to print a big roll.

I got one of these after watching this video (for £49.50 and the cost of a 15 minute drive to Toolstation!). Not being a tradesman (tradesperson?), I don't think I'd have understood half the functions if I hadn't watched the video. After beautifully labelling up my consumer unit, I now mainly use it for labelling lockdown lunches in the freezer (using cheap knock-off labels, not the good Brother stuff). A huge step up from my £12 Dymo!

I have one. I've been tempted to hack it to allow me to print whatever I want but it gets used too much for the downtime. Maybe if I see one used or something. The metallic labels don't do well in damp conditions FWIW.

mine have usb on it for printing from the PC, so I can use custom pictures

That's a very nice bit of kit. Proper QWERTY keyboard and dual power option are my favourite. But the resolution and multitude of options are superb too.

Awesome, went and got my Brother TZ printer and took a longer look at it, a ton of options I’d never even bothered to look at 👍

First print job is to label the power supply Brother PTE300VP Only

Make your second label “Icles...”

I like the Brother tape printer a lot for its great printing options. I've the smaller Dymo Tag that is similar to yours. Which I have been using faithfully over the last 7yrs to label items. Useful to have for many ID'ing, Info Notices, and Naming labels on various surfaces.

After having a few of the cheaper Dymo and Brother labellers all die for no reason, I bough the P-Touch E550WVP which is the bigger brother of this one (has auto cutter, WiFi, etc). Apart from the waste due to the laminating design, it is absolutely brilliant. Pity the heatshrink isn't cheaper. I also use the bench top Brother label printers for doing serial number labels for production runs of PCBs. I run them via a linked Excel sheet, or from my own Windows app that drives the test jig and programs firmware & serial number.