Re: Re: Re: [MLUG] printing barcodes

[Mike Miller <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On Sat, 18 Nov 2006, Jonathan King wrote:

> On 11/18/06, Mark Rages <EMAIL:PROTECTED> wrote:
>
> > You can buy ex-UPS Zebra printers on ebay for less than $50.  They use 
> > thermal labels, so ink supply and maintenance is not a problem.
>
> That's a cool idea, but you (Mike?) should check to make sure these 
> labels would survive in a -80 C freezer. (At least, I'm assuming that's 
> a possible scenario here for Mike.)

You are exactly right to the nearest degree!  ;-)  That is on our list of 
things to look up -- which labels can handle -80 without coming loose, 
breaking or smearing?


> They do otherwise make special printers to do labels for small tubes and 
> such. It would be awesome to be able to save money on this part, but if 
> not, I think this is the one part of the system that would be worth 
> putting something into if you had to.

It is very important that the labels work.  There is no point in labels 
that fall off!

True Story:  My old professor at UW-Madison used to tell the students to 
use a certain kind of label on boxes.  This type of label had to be 
moistened and applied to the box.  Some students didn't think this made 
any sense and they used mailing labels of the kind that we used with our 
printer.  The mailing labels stuck just fine, so the students thought they 
were smarter than the professor - not wasting time licking labels or using 
a sponge on them.  Believe it or not, the professor knew what he was 
doing.  After 6 months or a year, all of the students' mailing labels 
started to dry up and fall off of the boxes.  The professor knew that 
after 20 years, his stupid, time-wasting, lick-and-stick labels were still 
holding tight.  In fact, after 20 years, you still had to scrape them off 
with something because they could not be torn off of the boxes.

I will also say that some kinds of ink will fade with time, but I have 
seen notebooks written in pencil that were more than 100 years old and 
looked fine.  Because of that, if I want my notes to last, I will use a 
pencil.  I think maybe ballpoint lasts well too, but the ones I have seen 
fade badly (after just a few years) were either felt tip or rollerball. 
It's like vanishing ink with some of those things.

Mike

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