Which P-Touch should I have?

Owen DeLong owen at delong.com
Fri Feb 17 04:41:59 UTC 2012


> 
> For cable labeling I've had good results with 3M Scotch Super88 color
> electrical tape. Pick unique color bands for each cable. Band it
> identically at both ends. You don't have to squint to see how it's
> labeled. And the label isn't invalidated merely because you unplugged
> it from one place and plugged it in somewhere else.
> 

I usually use labels printed on all sides in about a 14 point font that have a unique number followed by a - and a length. So, for example, 10294-4.5 is a 4.5' long cable number 10294.

You might need to squint a bit to read it, but, 14 points is usually pretty legible and being printed 4 times on the label (3 of which remain visible on the average cat5/cat6 cable) means you usually don't have to futz with twirling the cable to find the label.

I usually have the labels installed ~2" from the plug at each end.

In a crowded deployment, I think the color bands would be like trying to read resistor color codes in a box of ~1,000 mixed resistors. You're going to end up squinting anyway.  With my tactic, you have the additional advantage that you get a defined search radius within which the other end can be located.

Using serial-number labels instead of equipment-specific labels means that mine aren't invalidated either.

Owen





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