Seeing how Dymo appears to have embraced HP-style consumable management, I almost wonder if the new printer spaces the letters so widely so that the tape is used up sooner, and you have to buy more.
I have literally never seen or remember seeing one of these label makers, but have seen labels made by one and wondered how in the world do people make them. Now that curiosity has been fulfilled and I feel kind of dumb that this didn't click sooner. Nice stuff.
I've seen these at an office, being used, like just a few years ago, as they are so handy (literally) for short runs. It is time we get to to see more mechanical fallback systems. We used to use abacuses in primary school. Now i feel old. No, but seriously, we have become too dependent on electricity and electronics. I just saw a video about automatons of the 19th century and they were incredible pieces of craftsmanship and ingenuity. So let's have some sort ofmechanical backups everywhere in case the serialization and lock outs have gone completely out of hand, or another apocalypse.
One of my first student job was inventory at Sears and they used one for identifying random racking for winter salt and utilities, they had stolen it from the clothing dept in 1978, that was the legend...
They work as a thin coloured film on a white tape. The raised letters are embossed from below. When the tape is stretched by the impression, the colour "dissolves" revealing the white underneath.
What great nostalgia! I got one of these for Christmas in 1965 and I made labels for everything I had. When I took it to school my classmates wanted to put labels on their lunch boxes Sounds pretty square but I miss those simpler times.
@@AltimaNEO Not even really back then, my 6 year-old niece is obsessed with my labelmaker, she'd go through entire spools if I let her. I didn't know these older style ones were so cheap, this actually might make a good gift for spelling practice.
It's also one of the first membership store chains -- I believe a lifetime membership still costs only $5 (it was $2 when our family joined in the mid-70s). Much cheaper than Costco, Sam's Club, etc.; the smaller store size and hometown feel make for a more-enjoyable shopping experience according to many customers. There's also Lucky Number Tuesdays -- but that's for a future comment! I don't think the origin of the name "Bi-Mart" was ever publicized. I always thought "Bi" was just a (weird) play on "Buy". Nowadays the store name could be misinterpreted...
@@clydecrashcup2708 In Canada, there used to be a large chain of neighbourhood discount department variety stores call Bi-way. Don't know the origin of the name, but they folded years ago.
@@clydecrashcup2708 Yeah I always go there over Target and Walmart, if I can. Most of the time, they have what I need. Even cheap Mobil-1 and Rotella-T oil, which normally has to be from Walmart. Also seems like the cheapest place to buy car batteries, so both my car and truck have Bi-Mart batteries. Just the most friendly employees, it's like they actually like their jobs! I used to think the name was funny but I guess I quickly got used to it.
As a kid, my parents labeled everything with a red Rotex labeler. I think they still have it. Nowadays, my parents use a Brother P-touch and I use a Brother industrial label maker. I like that Dymo doesn't need a leader section of label to pull it through, but I'm sticking with Brother because of the aftermarket support.
I have a p-touch as well and just bought a bunch of aftermarket labels. they work just a good and I gone through many reels of cheap labels and have no complaints. I'll definitely have to be wary of DRM whenever I buy anything in the future.
We had one of the cast metal label makers when I was a child in the late-1950s. My father worked in the plastics business and was a good friend of Arnold Horowitz, one of the developers of the Dymo Label Maker. They did business together for many years. The secret to how it works is that the label stock is made of stress-whitening vinyl that is manufactured to turn white when embossed. It was my understanding that Arnold helped develop that plastic and/or the manufacturing process. They even made clear label stock that showed white letters on semi-clear plastic as the adhesive prevented it from being totally transparent.
Recently found my late grandfather's old Dymo label maker from probably the 60s. All metal except for the wheel, still has a roll of label tape that is still good and sticky! He passed away in 1996 and I'm not sure when he last used it but I'm willing to bet it was probably last filled sometime in the 1980s.
Dymo still makes the older, beefier design - it's called the Dymo Office Mate II model 1540. They also make a bigger, beefier one that prints on stainless steel labels called the Rhino M1011. I remember my mom having one of these and it sitting in the bin of 'nice' craft supplies that I wasn't supposed to touch without permission, with the metallic paint pens and glitter and such.
Dymo were big in the UK and my late Dad had loads of these when I was growing up.I remember a very vivid bright orange dispenser. It was poignant when clearing my parents house after they had passed away to find so many things still labelled with dymo tape.
@@cdl0 I had an orange one too. I vanished from my life many years ago but a couple of years ago I bought a fine second hand orange one on ebay. I use it to label my spice and herb jars!
You are my hero, I have been advocating for these label makers for years- My personal favorite are the metal chromed 1570 and 1550s they were a fantastic design.
There was some fantastic technology back then that seems to have been lost forever. I remember incredible devices such as this one that were so advanced that they could work without having to depend on cloud resources and a broadband connection. I also remember we had a toaster that you would just plug in and use without even the need of entering the WiFi password.
Sometimes old is better than new! Especially in this case. Dymo making you have to purchase their own non-third party labels was the worst thing they ever did. I watched the videos Dave Jones made. Great video on tried and true classic technology!
It really is baffling to me that a company with a well known brand name would sell terrible products. But it's probably because they want people to buy there electric printers and lock everyone to their label cartridges. But I for one would not buy another Dymo product if I had bought that new POC.
the brother P-touch is superior compared to the dymo thermoprinters. cheap aftermarket tapes, easy to use and some (maybe all?) desktop ones can run off of batteries too!
I grew up with a few of those over the years from the early 70’s right into the 2000’s. The earliest colors I remember were the avocado green and the orangey-yellow with a few interchangeable discs; I remember the script as well as both directions of text. Absolutely the label standard in the days before the Brother P-Touch style printers. I still prefer the older Dymo units too. A much cleaner embossing and it didn’t flex like it was about to break like the new ones do. I’ve always loved the wood grain labels too. I’m still a fan of wood grain paneling and stained wood doorways and finishing, and these labels just look right in that environment.
My uncle labeled the outlets and switches in his house and other buildings on his farm. I think it was either the amp rating or the circuit number corresponding with the number at the breaker panel. So I did the same for my house. Very useful when doing electrical work to easily know which circuit to turn off. Those labels on outdoor receptacles do endure the elements, years of direct sun and rain, and haven't faded or fallen off yet.
They used to use these lDymo's for labelling control switches in everything from race cars to fighter jets back in the 60's & 70's. Had one myself growing up as a kid.
I have a Dymo 1570 I got from Goodwill for $6. It's basically the same as the vintage one you showed except it's made out of metal instead of plastic. Naturally it feels extremely high quality and not at all cheap.
These labels are still being used for offices and mailboxes. Because they come in different colors to match the fixtures. They’re simpler to use and cheaper than the computerized labels.
In a previous job in a 80s datacenter, I used a very large one with tape an inch wide, which was used to make the labels for the sides of full-size computer tapes. It sat on a table top and had a large lever you pushed down on with your whole arm.
I can imagine that the old one could also write Braille if you have the correct wheel And while embossed letters might be touch readable, that requires the blind person to know what written letters -look- feel like
Hah, neat seeing a Bi-Mart price tag all the way in NJ. Bi-Mart is a northwest membership store in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Man, these labelers bring back some memories. I used to make labels for our family's electronics repair shop parts bins, service data binders, etc. I got pretty good at the ol' Dymo. :)
My (autistic) son was entertained for years of his childhood with a Dymo label maker. He's a young adult now, but we still often see his labels on things: chairs, tables, boxes, books...
My favorite toy at my grandparents' house. Everything got a label. The pots and pans got labels. The jars in the pantry got labels. The chairs in the dining room go labels. Grandma got a label.
@@planetX15 Thermal Labels, unfortunately. But for outside labeling of trunks and circuits the DYMO aluminum embossed tags are still in use in some areas.
Nice! I can remember that my parents had one (in the 70s or 80s), a blue one and you needed to insert/feed the label at right hand side. It had a gear to transport the label. I always wondered why transparent labels doesn't exists however now I know that stressing plastic turns into white. Yeah that is not usable on a transparent label unless you stick the label on a darker surface. Still a great idea. I think the new one use a bigger spacegap so you run more easily out of label (= to sell more or to buy a better DYMO). The new version is very poor, like many new plastic products. The question is why, why have everything new to be so bad? We don't want quality in our lives anymore? Nice subject anyway, nice video!
Transparent labels for these do exist, though don't think Dymo ever made it themselves. Works great on dark surfaces and still pretty visable on lighter surfaces. Even still somewhat visable on a white surface and works well if you don't want the labels to stick out, though that's part of the charm of these.
We had that exact same Dymo label maker (the one in the early part of the video) when I was a kid with the extra wheels as well. I used it a good bit back in the day,
If Clint from LGR sees these woodgrain labels he's gonna want it too and probably will label everything in his house including the woodgrain 486 and perhaps even the labelmaker itself 😅
Nothing shouts old one off electronics than Dymo labels. The set builders got it 100% correct when they used one of these to label the controls in the Back to the Future DeLorean time machine.
I used to use a mechanical dymo label embosser for labelling electrical switchgear, what impresses me is they are still selling them, just proves you don’t always need an electronic gadget, simple lasts
I remember discovering my dad's Dymo label maker at his office in the 1970's. Later in life, when I got into flying airplanes, it seems like aircraft owners really loved the Dymo label maker to put placarded instructions on the instrument panel. They were really fond of the red label color 😂
I've known about these label makers for some time, but I never really thought much about them until this video. I have a newer electronic Dyno handheld label maker and between expensive labels, chewing through batteries, and backing that is difficult to get off its been living in the junk drawer for years, but something like this seems ideal for what I'd need it for.
Yeah, my Dymo embossed label maker is a 70s (maybe 60s? I had assumed 70s) model I inherited from my grandfather - basically identical to yours but it's black with a little bit of chrome trim and cast alloy. Works perfectly!
There were so many of them, way back. We also had Avery, it did a fine job and Dymo made a small one that sold for a few bucks at Radio Shack. Dymo had the widest variety of products.
Wow! What an eye opener! Of course that vintage one would be better! Everything they make now a days is never as good as older items that seem to work better and last longer including furniture. Due to this video I now purchased this exact vintage model on Amazon. So excited to use it because I can have more varieties of label writing in the vintage one. And yes I'm a milenial but prefer to use something long lasting 💖!
I've never used one but it looks like it would feel terrible and all the buttons would be horrible in comparison to a super Nintendo controller. Also in modern times the greatest PC controller is the steam controller. Sadly it's not made any more.
I prefer my Gravis Gamepad over every other PC controller except for the CH Flightstick in flight or driving games. Gravis took the best parts of the SEGA Master System, NES and other controllers of the time, and combined them into a D-pad style controller that was also comfortably usable by left and right handed players by flipping it over and changing a setting to flip the controls so down is now up, and the buttons rotate their positions too. It’s brilliant, comfortable and heavily supported on the software side of DOS and Windows games. A SoundBaster and Gravis combo were high-tech gaming PC necessities in the 90’s.
I remember my dad having one of these mechanical label makers, even in the same greenish color. I can barely fathom the concept of being forced to use an electronic one with DRM.
I've had a few of these over the years. I have found the latest ones get jammed very easily. I bought aftermarket cheaper tape and while the tape worked for a while, it was too thick and eventually buggered up the label maker. Had to buy a new one. I hadn't thought about looking for vintage ones so I'll give it a go.
I used one of those label makers back in the 80's & early 90's, before the newer P-touch type labels. The company I worked for used to use them. They had a pro model that was silver and made out of metal.
I love my Brother P-Touches (older one at work and newer one with USB at home). They take anything, even air. Different tapes are automatically recognized with notches in the cassette and the labels are always laminated.
Therapeutic video! I have an old Dymo label maker I use all the time. Someone gave it to me. It uses the same basic mechanism as the ones you show here, but it's very large and oddly shaped. It's heavy and made of black metal and chrome. I found it in a vintage catalog priced at hundreds of dollars. It came with a pile of "aluminum tapes" which make metallic silver labels.
I absolutely agree with you on the vintage labelmakers! i went through 3 cheap plasticy 90s ones before i came across a vintage orange version of your green dymo in this video and it has been solid as a tank ever since i got it! Also i had no idea you could swap the charachter wheels!!
My mother has had and has been using a version of a Dymo labeler that uses Braille characters on the wheel. It still makes great labels (although she has only used official Dymo labels in it).
Yep, I've got the same new Dymo (the only difference being the colours are reversed and instead of "3/8" it has "9mm" on the label feed), and it gives the same results as depicted here. If I ever need an embossing label maker again, I'll look on eBay for an old one.
I have wanted one of these ever since I saw Double D use it in the cartoon Ed, Edd n Eddy. Now I have several of them. That cursive script looks great, I have never seen it before.
My kid wanted the older style like that. So when I was at a estate sale. I picked up a few. Then embossed some ip numbers and put them on my switcher. WoodGrain. Oh that is great.
I grew up seeing everything labeled with Dad's chonky Dymo embossing label maker like this. As a US Navy kid, these were all the rage into the early 00's for file cabinets, file folder tabs, hanging folders and dry foods storage in the pantry. I even remember trying to "make" vertical labels by feeding the tape in manually from the side of the wheel itself and squeezing each letter with plyers. Removable wheels would have saved a ton of trouble.
Fun Fact: The white button on the side of the green printer actually changes the space between printed characters! The piece on top labeled “1/4 6” and “3/8 9” is actually a switch that changes the label width! :) (ps: Press with your fingernail on the small edge of the switch in front of the square hole to change to smaller tape)
7:28 i love the back of this plastic package because they suggest through the image that you would put a label on your video game controller so you know whose it is (in this case, it's DAVID's),,. got a good chuckle out of that.
I just picked up two rolls of the woodgrain labels for my old Dymo at an odds and ends office supply store a few weeks ago. They were on the clearance rack for next to nothing.
I had a smaller Dymo Junior when I was a kid and I always thought these kinds of label makers were merely a kids product. Cool to know that's how they used to do it way way back! Might pick up my Junior again, haha.
I used to have the Dymo HandiMark 1885 label maker similar to the one in the video. The model I had the label cartridge is loaded in the rear allowing me to precisely retract the excess label by pressing on the feed knob to release the label so I can reposition it by manipulating the reel.
I have a working mini keyring dymo printer that I got about 10 years ago at an airport. It is about the size of an egg. It is pretty cool, I use it, but it takes narrower than standard tapes which are a bit harder to get, or cut down and respool, but it is pretty usable.
I almost ordered one of the DYMO makers before Christmas and I'm so glad I went with a much cheaper (NO DRM) printer instead after finding out about this mess. Absolutely disgusting to put DRM in fking paper labels.
There are many that's have DRM I have one printer at work and there's service that guy comes once a year and cleans it out for free. Obvious reason obviously you get that face to face time to sell you more goodies 😀 Anyway, I digress. So it had just been cleaned and all of the sudden machine began to make prints somewhat garbled and cutting line was in done in wrong place. I called the guy and told about behavior and he immediately told me that I should replace roll and I was like, but I just changed new in and then the guy sounded absolutely confident and told that very occasionally someone might have received roll with corrupted rfid tag and that's why machine is likely behaving oddly. Tried to change it again and yeah, that was the thing. I never-ending noticed its, but feeling their label carefully I found that they indeed have tags hidden in them. What I really dislike how it's done. I would be ok if computer had just stated that incorrect roll, but that it begins to behave oddly to make it feel like printer or media is faulty. That's shitty thing to do.
I bought one of the newer label makers in the summer of 2020 to aid in a room organization project. It did the job I needed it to admirably enough and I was able to pick it up at my local office supply store the day of ordering. While I agree with the sentiment that the more spaced-out lettering is a way to increase the consumption speed of the tape, I think there's a certain aesthetic sensibility to it that I prefer. I don't think I knew about lightly squeezing it to advance the tape until you did it, I've been moving the wheel to the space section (right next to the cutting section) every time.
I love how VWestlife answers to other YT videos ... Labelmaker controversy by Louis Rossmann ... Weird cassette eject mechanism from techmoan .... Thank you for showing us this old-school embossing labelmaker. I didn't know they are still making them today. I will have to get one just for fun.
That Brings back memories when I was a Kid in Ireland my father had one of these in in drawer in his radio/hobby room in that exact weird pea-green/yellowish colour. I used to pretend it was a sci-fi gun as a Kid.
I had one of those hand operated embossing dymo label makers and there is a flaw in them. There is a plastic catch that is connected to the trigger and it advances the tape via a small rubber roller and this catch broke off on mine and the tape will no longer advance. I took it apart and the plastic catch had split from stress. The new ones are junk and I will never buy one again but would love to get a vintage one like yours. I have three of the electronic ones. For a moment I thought you were going to write "Subscribe" at the end.
I have a newer DYMO label maker from around 2013 or so and it's worked fine, until recently it's had problems giving out faded looking prints. Decided to bust out our old DYMO 1550 that I had largely forgotten about since we got the new one. But, man does it still hold up well. Great, clear looking prints without ridiculous spacing either (lovely font too). Thing's built like a tank and is mostly made of chromed metal with some hefty plastic. I'd guess it's either early 70s or even maybe late 60s. Best part is, it still has the price tag on it. My Grandma bought it from the Salvation Army store she worked at in the late 90s for just $1.00. When you consider that this thing will probably last another 50 years, I'd would say that was quite the value.
As a kid, I was obsessed with playing with my grandma's Dymo labelmaker, stamping out silly labels and sticking them in places that were probably never found until after she'd passed some years back and her house sadly sold off, I do wonder what the people who found the labels thought of my little "messages" hidden throughout the house... :D
I had the cheapie one and i just broke it because it took so much force to get a decent label. Looked this up to confirm the older ones were better. Thanks
I had a different brand of label maker when I was young. The containers for the tape varied with different brands. It was easy enough to swap tape into empty containers.
my grandad was a journalist and had so much great quality ‘tech’ from the 60s/ 70s. I was looking how to refill this but I think he had an older model which took thinner tape!
I have always wondered how these types of label makers worked. I have seen the machine on websites but its something else seeing them in action and its wireless too!
In the 80s at my college radio station, my friends and I got a bit silly and ended up labeling everything in the control room/dj booth. Mics, decks, and even the phone. These labels aren't fancy or hi-tech smartphone-capable, but the things you label will have that label probably forever.
I still have the Dymo competitor brand label maker I purchased in the early 70's at a local Saxon paint store. Now that I know that the labels are still available, I'll have to find it and start labeling everything!
I have a Dymo LetraTag XR which I've had for a little while now (it's gone yellow). I usually buy the labels cheap from Aldi (when they have them). It doesn't emboss but the print is pretty good. I don't have woodgrain, but have paper, plastic, clear and metal labels. Whilst it doesn't emboss, it has quite a few font sizes and effects - even emoji-like symbols! 😁
I've seen labels like this at many places especially in Hungary, but none in Slovakia (the two countries I spent most of my life in). I figured out it was a mechanical thing, maybe dating back to the 60s or 70s, and since it was quite popular in Hungary, I thought it had to be a Hungarian invention :D Now I know it's a Dymo product, thanks! I'll track an old one down on eBay, it will be fun to make labels of the repair date of the bean to cup coffee machines I repair as a hobby :)
Wood grain embossed labels; something LGR would really be into
Greetings…..::.
and welcome to an LGR _thing_
Label Maker Reviews
@@randonmichels8969 I see the connection
@@randonmichels8969 lazy label maker reviews ;)
Seeing how Dymo appears to have embraced HP-style consumable management, I almost wonder if the new printer spaces the letters so widely so that the tape is used up sooner, and you have to buy more.
That's exactly it.
I thought that was what they'd done too
Soon they charge you for new typerprints , that the new "plan" what were honor of old age before is not the new honour thats now preferble
It's also worse quality so you buy their digital ones
@@pawepiat6170 There's gotta be a superior-quality Chinese product that you can buy.
I have literally never seen or remember seeing one of these label makers, but have seen labels made by one and wondered how in the world do people make them. Now that curiosity has been fulfilled and I feel kind of dumb that this didn't click sooner. Nice stuff.
I've seen these at an office, being used, like just a few years ago, as they are so handy (literally) for short runs. It is time we get to to see more mechanical fallback systems. We used to use abacuses in primary school. Now i feel old. No, but seriously, we have become too dependent on electricity and electronics. I just saw a video about automatons of the 19th century and they were incredible pieces of craftsmanship and ingenuity. So let's have some sort ofmechanical backups everywhere in case the serialization and lock outs have gone completely out of hand, or another apocalypse.
One of my first student job was inventory at Sears and they used one for identifying random racking for winter salt and utilities, they had stolen it from the clothing dept in 1978, that was the legend...
They work as a thin coloured film on a white tape. The raised letters are embossed from below. When the tape is stretched by the impression, the colour "dissolves" revealing the white underneath.
My uncle had one, an I got to try it once. Cannot recall which model it was, but his had a roll of gold tape. I've never seen the script font, though.
Hey there is a use of 'literally' in it's new definition of 'figuratively'.
Thanks kids for making literally mean figuratively.
What great nostalgia!
I got one of these for Christmas in 1965 and I made labels for everything I had.
When I took it to school my classmates wanted to put labels on their lunch boxes
Sounds pretty square but I miss those simpler times.
Same! I got one for Christmas in the 70s. I loved that thing!
they were neat as heck back then
@@AltimaNEO Not even really back then, my 6 year-old niece is obsessed with my labelmaker, she'd go through entire spools if I let her. I didn't know these older style ones were so cheap, this actually might make a good gift for spelling practice.
Neat how they harnessed the stress marks on plastic to highlight the letters.
The white "ink" *was* the stress marks of the plastic.
@@timfischer Yep, I know
Good old Bi-Mart, I shop there all the time! It's an employee owned chain here in the PNW, much like Wal Mart but smaller stores.
same. love my bi-mart.
It's also one of the first membership store chains -- I believe a lifetime membership still costs only $5 (it was $2 when our family joined in the mid-70s). Much cheaper than Costco, Sam's Club, etc.; the smaller store size and hometown feel make for a more-enjoyable shopping experience according to many customers. There's also Lucky Number Tuesdays -- but that's for a future comment!
I don't think the origin of the name "Bi-Mart" was ever publicized. I always thought "Bi" was just a (weird) play on "Buy". Nowadays the store name could be misinterpreted...
@@clydecrashcup2708 In Canada, there used to be a large chain of neighbourhood discount department variety stores call Bi-way. Don't know the origin of the name, but they folded years ago.
@@clydecrashcup2708 Yeah I always go there over Target and Walmart, if I can. Most of the time, they have what I need. Even cheap Mobil-1 and Rotella-T oil, which normally has to be from Walmart. Also seems like the cheapest place to buy car batteries, so both my car and truck have Bi-Mart batteries. Just the most friendly employees, it's like they actually like their jobs! I used to think the name was funny but I guess I quickly got used to it.
Makes me think of a unisex shop that sells items for both male and female customers? (Whatever happened to them?). LOL.
As a kid, my parents labeled everything with a red Rotex labeler. I think they still have it. Nowadays, my parents use a Brother P-touch and I use a Brother industrial label maker. I like that Dymo doesn't need a leader section of label to pull it through, but I'm sticking with Brother because of the aftermarket support.
P-Touch is inexpensive to buy and doesn't go in for DRM craziness, at least not yet.
I have a p-touch as well and just bought a bunch of aftermarket labels. they work just a good and I gone through many reels of cheap labels and have no complaints. I'll definitely have to be wary of DRM whenever I buy anything in the future.
We had one of the cast metal label makers when I was a child in the late-1950s. My father worked in the plastics business and was a good friend of Arnold Horowitz, one of the developers of the Dymo Label Maker. They did business together for many years.
The secret to how it works is that the label stock is made of stress-whitening vinyl that is manufactured to turn white when embossed. It was my understanding that Arnold helped develop that plastic and/or the manufacturing process. They even made clear label stock that showed white letters on semi-clear plastic as the adhesive prevented it from being totally transparent.
Recently found my late grandfather's old Dymo label maker from probably the 60s. All metal except for the wheel, still has a roll of label tape that is still good and sticky! He passed away in 1996 and I'm not sure when he last used it but I'm willing to bet it was probably last filled sometime in the 1980s.
the Compact cassette machine, recently????
Why you need labels? the wife needs to read it?
The gadget on the “new” Dymo’s packaging is a Gravis gamepad circa 1991 😂
Best old school gamepads of the DOS/9x era (the gamepad pro that is)
Great gamepad 🎮
Dymo still makes the older, beefier design - it's called the Dymo Office Mate II model 1540. They also make a bigger, beefier one that prints on stainless steel labels called the Rhino M1011.
I remember my mom having one of these and it sitting in the bin of 'nice' craft supplies that I wasn't supposed to touch without permission, with the metallic paint pens and glitter and such.
IIRC that one also has a different font
Thanks!
Dymo were big in the UK and my late Dad had loads of these when I was growing up.I remember a very vivid bright orange dispenser. It was poignant when clearing my parents house after they had passed away to find so many things still labelled with dymo tape.
Mine is an original funky orange one from the early 1970s, owned since new by me. I still use it.
@@cdl0 I had an orange one too. I vanished from my life many years ago but a couple of years ago I bought a fine second hand orange one on ebay. I use it to label my spice and herb jars!
@@davidjgomm Which all goes to show that this was and is a classic, timeless design.
You are my hero, I have been advocating for these label makers for years- My personal favorite are the metal chromed 1570 and 1550s they were a fantastic design.
Whee, what a blast from the past! Had one of these in the early 1980s, as a kid. I never knew there were replaceable typewheels, that's wild! 😻
There was some fantastic technology back then that seems to have been lost forever. I remember incredible devices such as this one that were so advanced that they could work without having to depend on cloud resources and a broadband connection. I also remember we had a toaster that you would just plug in and use without even the need of entering the WiFi password.
I've never had much use for one of these, but now that I know I can get woodgrain tape I want one. Great vid!
Sometimes old is better than new! Especially in this case. Dymo making you have to purchase their own non-third party labels was the worst thing they ever did. I watched the videos Dave Jones made. Great video on tried and true classic technology!
It really is baffling to me that a company with a well known brand name would sell terrible products. But it's probably because they want people to buy there electric printers and lock everyone to their label cartridges. But I for one would not buy another Dymo product if I had bought that new POC.
the brother P-touch is superior compared to the dymo thermoprinters. cheap aftermarket tapes, easy to use and some (maybe all?) desktop ones can run off of batteries too!
I grew up with a few of those over the years from the early 70’s right into the 2000’s. The earliest colors I remember were the avocado green and the orangey-yellow with a few interchangeable discs; I remember the script as well as both directions of text. Absolutely the label standard in the days before the Brother P-Touch style printers. I still prefer the older Dymo units too. A much cleaner embossing and it didn’t flex like it was about to break like the new ones do. I’ve always loved the wood grain labels too. I’m still a fan of wood grain paneling and stained wood doorways and finishing, and these labels just look right in that environment.
My uncle labeled the outlets and switches in his house and other buildings on his farm. I think it was either the amp rating or the circuit number corresponding with the number at the breaker panel. So I did the same for my house. Very useful when doing electrical work to easily know which circuit to turn off. Those labels on outdoor receptacles do endure the elements, years of direct sun and rain, and haven't faded or fallen off yet.
They used to use these lDymo's for labelling control switches in everything from race cars to fighter jets back in the 60's & 70's. Had one myself growing up as a kid.
I have a Dymo 1570 I got from Goodwill for $6. It's basically the same as the vintage one you showed except it's made out of metal instead of plastic. Naturally it feels extremely high quality and not at all cheap.
I"ve been using this style lable my whole life. I love the aesthetic of this label and for labeling plants and items its my favorite goto label.
I'll bet that LGR would love that wood-grain label refill.
I expected you writing up "LGR" on that woodgrain label but its not hahaha! xDDDD
These labels are still being used for offices and mailboxes. Because they come in different colors to match the fixtures. They’re simpler to use and cheaper than the computerized labels.
In a previous job in a 80s datacenter, I used a very large one with tape an inch wide, which was used to make the labels for the sides of full-size computer tapes. It sat on a table top and had a large lever you pushed down on with your whole arm.
Great to see these humble label makers from my youth get some love finally....!
I can imagine that the old one could also write Braille if you have the correct wheel
And while embossed letters might be touch readable, that requires the blind person to know what written letters -look- feel like
Hah, neat seeing a Bi-Mart price tag all the way in NJ. Bi-Mart is a northwest membership store in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Man, these labelers bring back some memories. I used to make labels for our family's electronics repair shop parts bins, service data binders, etc. I got pretty good at the ol' Dymo. :)
My (autistic) son was entertained for years of his childhood with a Dymo label maker. He's a young adult now, but we still often see his labels on things: chairs, tables, boxes, books...
My favorite toy at my grandparents' house. Everything got a label. The pots and pans got labels. The jars in the pantry got labels. The chairs in the dining room go labels. Grandma got a label.
Those 1” DYMO Embossed labels were the standard for central office trunk markings at the telephone company until just a few years ago.
So what's the standard now?
@@planetX15 Thermal Labels, unfortunately. But for outside labeling of trunks and circuits the DYMO aluminum embossed tags are still in use in some areas.
@@ok4todd Interesting...
Nice! I can remember that my parents had one (in the 70s or 80s), a blue one and you needed to insert/feed the label at right hand side. It had a gear to transport the label. I always wondered why transparent labels doesn't exists however now I know that stressing plastic turns into white. Yeah that is not usable on a transparent label unless you stick the label on a darker surface. Still a great idea. I think the new one use a bigger spacegap so you run more easily out of label (= to sell more or to buy a better DYMO). The new version is very poor, like many new plastic products. The question is why, why have everything new to be so bad? We don't want quality in our lives anymore? Nice subject anyway, nice video!
Transparent labels for these do exist, though don't think Dymo ever made it themselves. Works great on dark surfaces and still pretty visable on lighter surfaces. Even still somewhat visable on a white surface and works well if you don't want the labels to stick out, though that's part of the charm of these.
Dymo made transparent, more like translucent, tape for these. I have many rolls, bought off eBay.
We had that exact same Dymo label maker (the one in the early part of the video) when I was a kid with the extra wheels as well. I used it a good bit back in the day,
If Clint from LGR sees these woodgrain labels he's gonna want it too and probably will label everything in his house including the woodgrain 486 and perhaps even the labelmaker itself 😅
I absolutely will if I find a supply of woodlabelgrain
As far as I can tell, the Chinese may actually manufacture NEW woodgrain tape on eBay. Only thing is that it’s not that deep 70’s wood pattern
Nothing shouts old one off electronics than Dymo labels. The set builders got it 100% correct when they used one of these to label the controls in the Back to the Future DeLorean time machine.
I loved this. I got a Dymo for Christmas in 1973 I doubt I was too happy about it.
Oh man, I love the old school Dymo label makers, now I need to get some woodgrain rolls!
I used to use a mechanical dymo label embosser for labelling electrical switchgear, what impresses me is they are still selling them, just proves you don’t always need an electronic gadget, simple lasts
I remember discovering my dad's Dymo label maker at his office in the 1970's. Later in life, when I got into flying airplanes, it seems like aircraft owners really loved the Dymo label maker to put placarded instructions on the instrument panel. They were really fond of the red label color 😂
I am so glad my childhood had one of these label makers in it. My mom had the cool gadgets.
I've known about these label makers for some time, but I never really thought much about them until this video. I have a newer electronic Dyno handheld label maker and between expensive labels, chewing through batteries, and backing that is difficult to get off its been living in the junk drawer for years, but something like this seems ideal for what I'd need it for.
Yeah, my Dymo embossed label maker is a 70s (maybe 60s? I had assumed 70s) model I inherited from my grandfather - basically identical to yours but it's black with a little bit of chrome trim and cast alloy. Works perfectly!
Awesome video. I remember using Dymo as a child. Our machine was yellow in colour!
There were so many of them, way back. We also had Avery, it did a fine job and Dymo made a small one that sold for a few bucks at Radio Shack. Dymo had the widest variety of products.
Bet @LGR will love those woodgrain labels!
Wow! What an eye opener! Of course that vintage one would be better! Everything they make now a days is never as good as older items that seem to work better and last longer including furniture. Due to this video I now purchased this exact vintage model on Amazon. So excited to use it because I can have more varieties of label writing in the vintage one. And yes I'm a milenial but prefer to use something long lasting 💖!
The Gravis Gamepad is still alive. And always will be one of the greatest PC controllers.
I've never used one but it looks like it would feel terrible and all the buttons would be horrible in comparison to a super Nintendo controller.
Also in modern times the greatest PC controller is the steam controller. Sadly it's not made any more.
Part of the Holy Trinity of PC Gamepads, along with the Microsoft Sidewinder and the Valve Steam Controller.
I prefer my Gravis Gamepad over every other PC controller except for the CH Flightstick in flight or driving games. Gravis took the best parts of the SEGA Master System, NES and other controllers of the time, and combined them into a D-pad style controller that was also comfortably usable by left and right handed players by flipping it over and changing a setting to flip the controls so down is now up, and the buttons rotate their positions too. It’s brilliant, comfortable and heavily supported on the software side of DOS and Windows games. A SoundBaster and Gravis combo were high-tech gaming PC necessities in the 90’s.
I remember my dad having one of these mechanical label makers, even in the same greenish color. I can barely fathom the concept of being forced to use an electronic one with DRM.
Wood grain labels LGR would be happy! I think we still have one somewhere in our house!
I've had a few of these over the years. I have found the latest ones get jammed very easily. I bought aftermarket cheaper tape and while the tape worked for a while, it was too thick and eventually buggered up the label maker. Had to buy a new one. I hadn't thought about looking for vintage ones so I'll give it a go.
I used one of those label makers back in the 80's & early 90's, before the newer P-touch type labels. The company I worked for used to use them. They had a pro model that was silver and made out of metal.
That's why I'm always looking for vintage products like that. Even being older than I am, they still working better than new ones ♥
I love the old style labels with the 3d letters
I just found an old photo album with old Dymo embossed labels which are groovy 70s orange and magenta flower-power patterned!
Avocado AND woodgrain?! I am in love!
I love my Brother P-Touches (older one at work and newer one with USB at home). They take anything, even air. Different tapes are automatically recognized with notches in the cassette and the labels are always laminated.
Therapeutic video! I have an old Dymo label maker I use all the time. Someone gave it to me. It uses the same basic mechanism as the ones you show here, but it's very large and oddly shaped. It's heavy and made of black metal and chrome. I found it in a vintage catalog priced at hundreds of dollars. It came with a pile of "aluminum tapes" which make metallic silver labels.
I absolutely agree with you on the vintage labelmakers! i went through 3 cheap plasticy 90s ones before i came across a vintage orange version of your green dymo in this video and it has been solid as a tank ever since i got it! Also i had no idea you could swap the charachter wheels!!
My mother has had and has been using a version of a Dymo labeler that uses Braille characters on the wheel. It still makes great labels (although she has only used official Dymo labels in it).
Yep, I've got the same new Dymo (the only difference being the colours are reversed and instead of "3/8" it has "9mm" on the label feed), and it gives the same results as depicted here. If I ever need an embossing label maker again, I'll look on eBay for an old one.
Ahhhh so that's where these came from, I saw them a lot at work on different office supplies.
I have wanted one of these ever since I saw Double D use it in the cartoon Ed, Edd n Eddy. Now I have several of them. That cursive script looks great, I have never seen it before.
My kid wanted the older style like that. So when I was at a estate sale. I picked up a few. Then embossed some ip numbers and put them on my switcher. WoodGrain. Oh that is great.
This was the first label maker I ever bought, and it's still going strong today!!
I grew up seeing everything labeled with Dad's chonky Dymo embossing label maker like this. As a US Navy kid, these were all the rage into the early 00's for file cabinets, file folder tabs, hanging folders and dry foods storage in the pantry.
I even remember trying to "make" vertical labels by feeding the tape in manually from the side of the wheel itself and squeezing each letter with plyers. Removable wheels would have saved a ton of trouble.
Fun Fact: The white button on the side of the green printer actually changes the space between printed characters! The piece on top labeled “1/4 6” and “3/8 9” is actually a switch that changes the label width! :)
(ps: Press with your fingernail on the small edge of the switch in front of the square hole to change to smaller tape)
I had wondered what made those labels. used to see them everywhere. They were also so damn hard to remove from things that had them
7:28 i love the back of this plastic package because they suggest through the image that you would put a label on your video game controller so you know whose it is (in this case, it's DAVID's),,. got a good chuckle out of that.
Love the color of the vintage one. Very 1970s, my Dad has a bunch of power tools and gizmos in that kind of avocado or whatever.
I just picked up two rolls of the woodgrain labels for my old Dymo at an odds and ends office supply store a few weeks ago. They were on the clearance rack for next to nothing.
Takes me back to school where those little labels seemed to be everywhere...great video!
I had a smaller Dymo Junior when I was a kid and I always thought these kinds of label makers were merely a kids product. Cool to know that's how they used to do it way way back! Might pick up my Junior again, haha.
I used to have the Dymo HandiMark 1885 label maker similar to the one in the video. The model I had the label cartridge is loaded in the rear allowing me to precisely retract the excess label by pressing on the feed knob to release the label so I can reposition it by manipulating the reel.
not only interesting, also enlightening
I have a working mini keyring dymo printer that I got about 10 years ago at an airport. It is about the size of an egg. It is pretty cool, I use it, but it takes narrower than standard tapes which are a bit harder to get, or cut down and respool, but it is pretty usable.
LGR would have a field day with the woodgrain one. lol
It's also crazy how the old label maker produces so much better quality.
He would label everything as "BALLS" and "FARTS" 😂
@@draketungsten74 As long as it wasn't the actual items :-)
@@MrDuncl Agreed!
I almost ordered one of the DYMO makers before Christmas and I'm so glad I went with a much cheaper (NO DRM) printer instead after finding out about this mess. Absolutely disgusting to put DRM in fking paper labels.
There are many that's have DRM
I have one printer at work and there's service that guy comes once a year and cleans it out for free. Obvious reason obviously you get that face to face time to sell you more goodies 😀
Anyway, I digress. So it had just been cleaned and all of the sudden machine began to make prints somewhat garbled and cutting line was in done in wrong place. I called the guy and told about behavior and he immediately told me that I should replace roll and I was like, but I just changed new in and then the guy sounded absolutely confident and told that very occasionally someone might have received roll with corrupted rfid tag and that's why machine is likely behaving oddly. Tried to change it again and yeah, that was the thing. I never-ending noticed its, but feeling their label carefully I found that they indeed have tags hidden in them.
What I really dislike how it's done. I would be ok if computer had just stated that incorrect roll, but that it begins to behave oddly to make it feel like printer or media is faulty. That's shitty thing to do.
I didn’t know vintage label makers were a thing, but now I’m in. Time to get on eBay!
I bought one of the newer label makers in the summer of 2020 to aid in a room organization project. It did the job I needed it to admirably enough and I was able to pick it up at my local office supply store the day of ordering. While I agree with the sentiment that the more spaced-out lettering is a way to increase the consumption speed of the tape, I think there's a certain aesthetic sensibility to it that I prefer. I don't think I knew about lightly squeezing it to advance the tape until you did it, I've been moving the wheel to the space section (right next to the cutting section) every time.
I love how VWestlife answers to other YT videos ... Labelmaker controversy by Louis Rossmann ... Weird cassette eject mechanism from techmoan ....
Thank you for showing us this old-school embossing labelmaker. I didn't know they are still making them today. I will have to get one just for fun.
I have used many different models of those in my childhood but this was the first time I saw a model on which you can change the font disc.
As a kid, I really enjoyed operating this type of label maker as fast as I could.
That Brings back memories when I was a Kid in Ireland my father had one of these in in drawer in his radio/hobby room in that exact weird pea-green/yellowish colour. I used to pretend it was a sci-fi gun as a Kid.
I had one of those hand operated embossing dymo label makers and there is a flaw in them. There is a plastic catch that is connected to the trigger and it advances the tape via a small rubber roller and this catch broke off on mine and the tape will no longer advance. I took it apart and the plastic catch had split from stress. The new ones are junk and I will never buy one again but would love to get a vintage one like yours. I have three of the electronic ones.
For a moment I thought you were going to write "Subscribe" at the end.
Those labels were stuck to just about everything in my school in the 80s.
I have a newer DYMO label maker from around 2013 or so and it's worked fine, until recently it's had problems giving out faded looking prints. Decided to bust out our old DYMO 1550 that I had largely forgotten about since we got the new one. But, man does it still hold up well. Great, clear looking prints without ridiculous spacing either (lovely font too). Thing's built like a tank and is mostly made of chromed metal with some hefty plastic. I'd guess it's either early 70s or even maybe late 60s.
Best part is, it still has the price tag on it. My Grandma bought it from the Salvation Army store she worked at in the late 90s for just $1.00. When you consider that this thing will probably last another 50 years, I'd would say that was quite the value.
As a kid, I was obsessed with playing with my grandma's Dymo labelmaker, stamping out silly labels and sticking them in places that were probably never found until after she'd passed some years back and her house sadly sold off, I do wonder what the people who found the labels thought of my little "messages" hidden throughout the house... :D
Very interesting and relaxing as always.
I had the cheapie one and i just broke it because it took so much force to get a decent label. Looked this up to confirm the older ones were better. Thanks
retro objects yeah I still remember those!
I had a different brand of label maker when I was young. The containers for the tape varied with different brands. It was easy enough to swap tape into empty containers.
my grandad was a journalist and had so much great quality ‘tech’ from the 60s/ 70s. I was looking how to refill this but I think he had an older model which took thinner tape!
I have always wondered how these types of label makers worked. I have seen the machine on websites but its something else seeing them in action and its wireless too!
In the 80s at my college radio station, my friends and I got a bit silly and ended up labeling everything in the control room/dj booth. Mics, decks, and even the phone. These labels aren't fancy or hi-tech smartphone-capable, but the things you label will have that label probably forever.
I still have the Dymo competitor brand label maker I purchased in the early 70's at a local Saxon paint store. Now that I know that the labels are still available, I'll have to find it and start labeling everything!
I have a Dymo LetraTag XR which I've had for a little while now (it's gone yellow). I usually buy the labels cheap from Aldi (when they have them). It doesn't emboss but the print is pretty good. I don't have woodgrain, but have paper, plastic, clear and metal labels. Whilst it doesn't emboss, it has quite a few font sizes and effects - even emoji-like symbols! 😁
Those green labels @2.49 remind me of the colour of your old Mazda 2.
I'm old enough to remember playing with one of these as a kid. We were so easily amused back then.
I've seen labels like this at many places especially in Hungary, but none in Slovakia (the two countries I spent most of my life in). I figured out it was a mechanical thing, maybe dating back to the 60s or 70s, and since it was quite popular in Hungary, I thought it had to be a Hungarian invention :D Now I know it's a Dymo product, thanks!
I'll track an old one down on eBay, it will be fun to make labels of the repair date of the bean to cup coffee machines I repair as a hobby :)