Page 16 of Label Makers & Tapes

Thermal or vinyl label tape

Tape for thermal-imprint label makers is called thermochromic paper. It comes with a chemical coating that colorizes when exposed to heat. Most thermal label makers use a process called direct-thermal printing, in which the treated paper passes under thermal printheads and turns black (or another color) where heat hits the surface, imprinting text, numbers, or symbols. This type of thermal label maker tape imprints information that is sharp and long-wearing, so it often goes in devices such as adding machines and cash registers that produce printouts for record-keeping purposes. The other tape for labeling generally consists of rolls of vinyl-coated paper strips that accept ink imprints directly from mechanical print-heads in hand-held label printers. The strips normally provide identifying information for narrow surfaces, such as tabs on filing folders or binder spines.

Label maker tape has a variety of applications

Thermal label makers have a variety of commercial and industrial applications, including retail receipts, sales or coupon barcoding, hospital or other institutional wrist-banding, and inventory stock coding. Standard label printers have both commercial and office applications at home or the workplace, including address labeling for shipping, price labeling for grocery outlets, and identification labeling for binders and documents. Label makers and printers are normally hand-held devices with integrated QWERTY keyboards, so they can imprint all types of identifying information including symbols. Tape comes in a variety of colors as well, including neon and metallic, useful for coding inventory or for grabbing attention, as with emergency or warning labels.

Other features

Vinyl-coated label strip rolls and some thermal paper rolls come with adhesive backings encased in peel-away paper. Some backings are meant to adhere permanently to items, such as those for pricing products, so that they cannot be removed without leaving behind evidence of tampering. Both types of paper rolls come in a variety of widths, from fractional inches all the way up to 6-inch widths for applications like labeling large plastic file storage boxes. Label rolls can contain between 200 and 300 single labels apiece, and label maker refills of each type are readily available.

Brands of Label Tape

Well-known manufacturers of office machines or supplies also offer tape for label makers or printers:

• Brother®
• DYMO®
• Epson®
• Garvey®
• Zebra®

Check out these and dozens of other suppliers of tape at Quill, along with the variety of label makers and printers that go along with the tape rolls.