Board tape ??

len

Well-Known Member
How do you write neat, clean and legibly on a board that you plan on leaving the tape semi-permanently? Board tape, then something printed on top of it? Label maker? Ask the wife? My handwriting is terrible, and made worse by the difficulty of writing on the board, with faders and encoders in the way.
 
Write on a flat surface then transfer it. Otherwise... get a label maker. I find that board tape fades after a few uses anyway.
Unsuccessful to this point. Especially the stuff that goes vertical. Time for the wife. She's the artist in the family.
 
Practice. Clever abbreviations. Fine tip Sharpies (or even chiseltip markers). Depending on the permanency of the label, a label maker, or computer-printed label.

Generally, some combination of the above. ;)
 
Brother P-Touch. They work with a variety of tape widths, type and background colors. And they'll print vertically, too. They aren't cheap, but a very worthwhile tool for any technician to have.
 
For semi-permanent situations, I've found that a label-maker-made label on a magnet works great. The only downside is someone else can easily mess up your magnet positions.
 
At one of the schools that I work at, the board is labeled on 1 inch white gaff with a black fine point sharipe (very detailed, the other tech is very OCD), and then we put two strips of scotch tape (also know as magic tape) over it ( overlapping in the center). We will also sometimes use a printed piece of paper underneath instead of the white gaff if we are in an extremely organized mood. Both methods work very well. YMMV.
 
Specifically the Brother P-Touch PC printers; I have a PT-2430PC, and the software that comes with it does vertical, horizontal, auto-spaced... it's *really* nice for rack and panel work. It goes to 3/4", I think, or 1"; the PT-9400 or 9500 take the 1.5" tape.
 
The Dymo Rhino line of labelers is the way to go. I have the 5200, and it makes it SUPER easy to label patch panels, fader strips, etc... Has a built in mode to where you can put in the spacing width, and it will print dividers between cells and everything will line up every time. Plus you can use it to label all of your cabling with wrap-arounds when you're done labeling the board!
 
For run and gun situations 1" artists tape (artists tape NOT masking tape) and a fine tip sharpie will do it every time. If you've more time,or a more permanent situation, the P-touch is an excellent route to scoot; you do however need to invest in the vertical printing option.........
 

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