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By kamakiri
#24120
I've been looking everywhere for a very simple, cheap but ingenious device that prints labels for electrical/electronic cords and cables.

How many of us who have multiple electric/electronic/computing devices have coils of cables with various ends that we don't know how to organize while they aren't being used? One particular beef is the power-supply bricks that always seem to get separated from their device. They are rarely labelled and you end up having two or three hanging around but have no idea what device they were used to power -- and plugging in the wrong adapter could fry a device if it's the wrong one.

I was thinking of something resembling a stapler, except it would be "filled" with white flexible plastic tape that somehow one could enter a name onto -- say, "USB to iPad Mini" and then clamp it around the cord somehow and it would produce a tag with the words "USB to iPad Mini" on both sides. It would have to be durable but not too wide -- in other words, about half the width of Scotch tape. It would be white or colored, depending on the "cartridge" or whatever you use to attach the tape, and there would have to be some way of inputting the text. The tags themselves could be as long or as short as you wanted, depending on the descriptions; thus, you could have a tag that said "Firewire to Thunderbolt for Canon Elura 100" or in the case of a power brick, "Power supply for label printer."

At the moment what I'm doing is using a Dymo label printer to print out the text and then, because the tape is inexplicable clear, attaching it to label paper, then cutting that out to make a tag, then attaching it to the cord -- very tedious and laborious work if you have 100 cords to do.

I have never seen anything like this anywhere. The only reward I would want is to have one for my personal use! I myself have no electronics knowledge or inventor skills whatsoever. Perhaps you could suggest a DIY hack that would at least reduce the work to a quick under-a-minute process? And something SIMPLE -- I don't need to be able to select among 20 fonts or tape widths.

Reward: Have one of these made for me for free!
By ddegagne
#24157
I use a label printer (Dyson for me) print the labels with the information duplicated so when I wrap it around the cord I press the 2 strips together so that I have a tag I can read from either side. Yes under my desk it makes life a whole lot easier being able to read both sides. I have though noticed sometimes the glue doesn't stick to itself well so I have used crazy glue to reattach those that fall off. because the labels are plastic they do last for many years.
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