dplatt@coherent.com (Dave Platt) (02/07/89)
While visiting the MacExpo a few weeks ago, I bought a package of the
eraseable diskette labels I'd been reading about in this newsgroup.
After using them for a while, I've come to two conclusions:
1) They work as advertised. Erasing one of these labels is quite easy,
and it beats hell out of scribbling over old markings, or peeling an
old label off of the disk (often breaking nails, tearing the label,
etc.)
2) They're rather expensive, and it's possible to improvise erasable
diskette labels from commonly-available materials for a much lower cost.
The Cates (tm) erasable labels are adhesive-backed, preprinted labels
that are designed to fit 3.5" "floppy" disk cases (they're also
available for 5.24" floppies, VHS tapes, and audio tapes). They are
made of a plastic material, with a smooth and nonporous surface. The
Cates kit comes with 50 (or 100, or 200) labels, a Sanford Sharpie (r)
permanent marker, a Faber-Castell "Jet Eraser" (a white vinyl
eraser-pen), a bottle of erasing fluid (isopropyl alcohol, camphor, and
blue dye), some erasing pads (to be moistened with the fluid), removable
color-tags for the disks, and a reorder sheet. The kit with 100 labels
cost $24.00 at the show; it's a bit more expensive at other times. This
works out to about $.20 per label. Given that 2SDD Sony diskettes in
bulk sell for about $1.50, this is a painful price to pay for a label!
The key to the erasability of the labels is their nonporous surface.
One writes on the labels with the "permanent" (solvent-based) marker
pen. Once the ink dries, it's effectively smear-proof; water, sweat,
etc. will not remove it. The ink can be removed from the label by
gently scrubbing it with the vinyl eraser-pen (for selective erasure) or
by wiping with a cleaning pad or tissue moistened with the cleaning
fluid. Because the ink doesn't soak into the label, it can be removed
with very little residue remaining.
I wondered whether it might not be possible to find an unprinted,
adhesive-backed, nonporous-surfaced material at a lower cost. The
answer, fortunately is "yes"; the material is ordinary Contact(tm)
self-adhesive surface covering (often called "Contact paper") or an
equivalent material by another manufacturer.
This stuff comes in quite a number of varieties. The most useful for
this particular purpose are the clear vinyl covering, the vinyl covering
with a plain white surface, and any of several plain-white-with-
colored-lines patterns. [Note - Contact paper is also available as a
plain, uncoated paper. This is _not_ the stuff to make erasable labels
out of... its surface is porous, and will soak up Sharpie ink like a
sponge. Neither should you use the insecticide-impregnated paper made
for lining trash-can cubicles and so forth; the bugs that this material
is designed for are NOT the ones that plague your Mac ;-} ].
I happened to have a roll of the clear covering in my garage (it makes a
very good laminate). I took a new floppy disk, stuck on a label made by
cutting down a 2"-by-4" file-folder label, and then stuck a piece of
clear Contact covering over the label.
This home-brew label takes the Sharpie ink as well as the
much-more-expensive Cates label, and it erases almost as well. The
Contact material isn't as glossy as the Cates label, and a bit of ink
residue clings to it... but the difference is barely noticable. The
Contact-covering labels may have a shorter lifetime (fewer write/erase
cycles) than the Cates labels, because they're thinner and perhaps a bit
more porous.
If you have a supply of standard diskette labels that you like to use
(for instance, if you buy your floppies in boxes of 10 with labels), you
can convert these labels to the erasable variety by simply covering the
writing surface with clear Contact covering. If you buy your diskettes
in bulk, and wish to make your own erasable labels, you could use the
vinyl-surfaced white Contact covering material, or one of the varieties
that has colored lines pre-printed on its surface. [These lines aren't
spaced all that well for writing purposes... but you might like the
effect anyhow.]
Contact covering (or the equivalent) seems to be selling for between $2
and $3 per square yard hereabouts. You can make a LOT of 3.5" floppy
disk labels out of a square yard of material! Sharpie markers and
Faber-Castell eraser-pens should be available at any good office-supply
store; isopropyl alcohol is widely available (rubbing alcohol would
probably do in a pinch).
--
Dave Platt FIDONET: Dave Platt on 1:204/444 VOICE: (415) 493-8805
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USNAIL: Coherent Thought Inc. 3350 West Bayshore #205 Palo Alto CA 94303mcdonald@fornax.UUCP (Ken Mcdonald) (02/07/89)
[Article about eraseable disks] ... You don't even have to go to this much trouble. Just buy Kao diskettes, or some other diskette brand that has a smooth (non-grainy) surface where the disk label is supposed to stick, and write directly on the surface with a NON water-soluble ink, as before. Then, use isopropanol or some other equivalent solvent to erase as needed. Be careful not to get alcohol onto the disk case, seams, it may wick inside. Or, do what I do not--go and buy a whole bunch of the small removeable labels (like Avery makes), say about 1" by 2" or whatever size strikes you fancy, and use those. They are much easier to remove than normal diskette labels. Make sure you get the REMOVEABLE kind--otherwise you'll have problems again. Ken McDonald
dbw@net1.ucsd.edu (David B. Wollner) (02/09/89)
Scotch Brand Tapes, the makers of Post-it labels, has a Cover-up Tape #658 which is called Post-it Tape. It makes an ideal quick label, and is easily replacable. It's not as pretty as a real label, but it works well.
disd@hubcap.UUCP (Gary Heffelfinger) (02/10/89)
From article <1442@ucsd.EDU>, by dbw@net1.ucsd.edu (David B. Wollner): > Scotch Brand Tapes, the makers of Post-it labels, has a Cover-up Tape #658 > which is called Post-it Tape. It makes an ideal quick label, and is > easily replacable. It's not as pretty as a real label, but it works well. Does this tape stay on after months of handling? It sounds like a good thing, but I'd hate to see it start falling off in my drive. Beauty is not an issue, but it'll get really ugly if it falls off and jams the mechanism. Gary -- Gary R Heffelfinger - Not speaking for Clemson University disd@hubcap.clemson.edu -- FIX the Holodeck -- Furman Paladins --- National Champs!!
dbw@net1.ucsd.edu (David B. Wollner) (02/10/89)
In article <4362@hubcap.UUCP> disd@hubcap.UUCP (Gary Heffelfinger) writes: >From article <1442@ucsd.EDU>, by dbw@net1.ucsd.edu (David B. Wollner): >> Scotch Brand Tapes, the makers of Post-it labels, has a Cover-up Tape #658 >> which is called Post-it Tape. It makes an ideal quick label, and is >> easily replacable. It's not as pretty as a real label, but it works well. > >Does this tape stay on after months of handling? It sounds like a good >thing, but I'd hate to see it start falling off in my drive. >Beauty is not an issue, but it'll get really ugly if it falls off and >jams the mechanism. > I've been using this tape for a year or so. I haven't had any problems with the tape falling off. As an example, my disk repair floppy, and virus floppy are both labelled with this tape. They have received more use than I care to remember, and still have no problems with the tape lifting at the corners. I should really replace these labels with permanent ones, since these are valuable disks, and won't be relabelled. This seems to be one of those discussions which can happen via E-mail rather than via netnews. I would rather not post to "thousands of machines throughout the entire civilized world" (from the rn warning). Besides, I don't think many people are interested in which floppies I've labelled, and not labelled.
ron@aicchi.UUCP (Ron Spizzirri) (02/10/89)
In article <4362@hubcap.UUCP> disd@hubcap.UUCP (Gary Heffelfinger) writes: >From article <1442@ucsd.EDU>, by dbw@net1.ucsd.edu (David B. Wollner): >> Scotch Brand Tapes, the makers of Post-it labels, has a Cover-up Tape #658 >> which is called Post-it Tape. It makes an ideal quick label, and is >> easily replacable. It's not as pretty as a real label, but it works well. > >Does this tape stay on after months of handling? ........ I've been using Post-It tape since I first saw it a couple of years ago and have never had any problems with it. It also works well for video tapes. -- Ron Spizzirri Analysts International Corporation (Chicago) usenet: ...{hcfeams,homebru,vfrot}!aicchi!ron GEnie: RLSPIZZIRRI voice: (312) 619-4673
zebolskyd@byuvax.bitnet (02/12/89)
From article <1442@ucsd.EDU>, by dbw@net1.ucsd.edu (David B. Wollner): > Scotch Brand Tapes, the makers of Post-it labels, has a Cover-up Tape #658 > which is called Post-it Tape. It makes an ideal quick label, and is > easily replacable. It's not as pretty as a real label, but it works well. Hmmm. I thought I was the only person who had this idea. Actually, I have been using 3m's removable magic tape, which comes in a blue box. The number is either 810 or 811, but I don't think it is called Post-It tape, and doesn't cover anything up. You can write on it easily with pen or pencil, and the lines on the label show through. Or you can use the nice white Kao diskettes as-is if you can write without lines :-> Like the Post-it tape, the stuff is removable but hasn't come off on its own. This is also the only sort of tape the custodians around here let us use to stick notes on doors. Notes posted with other tapes get trashed. How they tell the difference between removable and 'permanant' magic tape is beyond me. Lyle D. Gunderson zebolskyd@byuvax.bitnet