Brother Label Printer For Album And Stock Book Spines, Vario Sheet Labels, Etc.

I didn't want to co-opt Don's thread on his PDF templates for Vario stock sheet labels but wanted to reply to a couple of questions raised there.

https://www.stampcommunity.org/topi...LY_ID=799082








This is the approach I've taken for printing spine labels for stockbooks, albums, etc.

In 2010 I purchased a Brother PT-1880 label printer, at that time $19.95, unfortunately now $114 at Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Brother-PT-1...p/B000JVHH9W




I'm assuming that the high price is due to it now being discontinued. It looks like the current comparable machine is the PTD410 @ $59.99:

https://www.amazon.com/Brother-P-To...p/B0B1LB2SDL




Browsing ebay, it looks like you can pick up a used working PT1880 for $20-30.

I specifically got it along with the 0.8 inch gold on black tape (TZE-344) as I liked that look. I've been extremely pleased with the results. The tape is very readable and the adhesive is quite good. I recently had a need to reorder the tape and as with any printer supplies there are now a myriad of generic/knockoff supplies at a fraction of the cost of OEM, but one always has to be wary of the quality.

In this case, I actually prefer the quality of the knockoff! It's a more vibrant gold, whereas the OEM is closer to a bronze color, so the knockoff is brighter. The difference is subtle, not really apparent in the following photo; it's more noticeable at certain angles. The cost savings is considerable though.

Knockoff is the top tape, Brother OEM is the bottom tape. The cartridges each contain 8 meters (24 feet) of tape.





OEM (1 cartridge for $13.99):

https://www.amazon.com/Brother-Stan...p/B004I2GFZA





Knockoff (5 cartridges for $20.99, or $4.19 each shipped):

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IMMBNR...m_image?th=1





It looks like they also make a 0.5-inch Gold on clear tape for this printer, which I have not personally tried:

https://www.amazon.com/NEOUZA-2PK-C...p/B01IT1U704





There are a host of different type/background color combination tapes available to experiment with:

https://www.ptouchdirect.com/ptouch...e-guide.html

I second Dan's opinion above.
I have been using a Brother D500 label maker for some time and I like it. Labels stick, plenty of label options, can be purchased for cheap. See this thread;
https://goscf.com/t/73590

Don

So if these labels with catalog ID are placed above stamps in a Vario page, there is no concern about adhesive migrating downward with gravity and affecting the stamps? Even simply grabbing the stamps with tongs could cause contact with the label, which at least in theory may have exposed adhesive.

I would only use adhesive labels on the outside of the Vario pockets and would also consider them semi-permanent. The clear (transparent) background label stock shows pretty nicely on Vario pages with the characters really standing out. Most of the Brother/3rd party labels are fairly removable, but I have some that when they were left on for year would leave some adhesive on page when removed.

For Vario pages which were likely to change/re-arranged I would avoid using adhesive labels.
Don

I've only ever used them on exterior spines and covers of albums and stockbooks, never on interior pages, so I have no idea how they might impact stamps over time.

Don- you gave me the answer I was looking for! I want a paper label that can travel with the stamp, but tall enough so the stamp can sit in front of it with the ID along the top. Don't want to use white paper with a ton of black toner on it (with white font letters); I don't know what the toner might do over time. White paper will look like confetti on top of the black background of the Vario pages.

There is really nice black, acid-free paper available from Amazon. By using a good paper cutter, I can make paper blanks that can live under the stamps and print the ID info at the top using a label maker with white letters on a black ribbon!

Love it, thank you everyone.

Thank you both for this. Decided on a Brother printer with gold on clear.

Geoff I would love to see examples once you implement this scheme!

Will do, unless they're too embarrassing. My main interest lies in labelling binders, rather than use in/on stock-pages though.