I pulled a face when you showed the Brother labeler - I HATE how it wastes so much tape because of the cartridge design compared to print head location. The Dymo 280 doesn't have this problem and is a solid unit. The 160 is slightly cheaper but the 280 can also connect to your PC and be a regular printer, giving you access to more fonts, barcodes, etc. Comes in under CAD $100 I think and works great - check it out!
When you label with a sharpie, write on it vertically not sideways. Numbers and letters are vertical in nature. So writing them vertically allows you to always grab the wire the same way, (by the end) holding it vertically making it easier to read the writing. Notnto mention, this vertical position in writing allows you to write larger, allowing for easier reading.
Generally patch panels are already labelled 1-24. I would just label the patch panels A, B, C, D etc and end points just do the A01 etc.. Saves a lot of labeling at the patch panels. Also Ethernet is generally all data now so not much reason to use D to demarcate data. Also if you have multiple cabinets on one floor you'd do something like 1A01 then label each Cabinet 1, 2, 3 etc
Nice to see how you do it, although i have one BIG tip that may be really interresting for you Those cable wraps sometimes tend to get loose in like 10-20 years, or when they get hot/wet whatever There is another way, brother sells heat shrink tube cartridges, so you can print your cable id directly on a piece of shrink tube and then push that over the wire, one quick brush with a lighter and its sitting solid on the cable Also useful is when you run a lot of cables from a central place, have like 5 boxes of cable there, label the beginning of each cable with the shrink tube (that wont fall of :D) and directly print a second identical shrink tube label while you print the first, pull the lines all the way and as soon as you cutt off the roll, push the shrink tube over the end and maybe tie a knot if the length isnt final so it does not fall off the cable before you shrink it Makes life easy 😇
I got Brother PT-E110VP label printer for my work few months ago and I too hate that it wastes a lot of label tape. In a few reviews I watched no one seemed to mention that so you're the first one mentioning it and I am happy that I am not the only one feeling the same about it. But for it's prize I think it's not a bad choice if not a lot of printing is done. :)
@@MactelecomNetworks There is a possibility to change margin size, but it only puts a mark where to cut manually with scissors to get wanted size. Or as @INGY23 mentioned - chain print can be done. Though in my case usually every label is different so can't do that. It seems like it's a design flaw and a cutting thing is too deep in a device. :D Additionally, for marking cables in a straight line (as shown in a video) is not very practical either as max label width is 12mm, you can't wrap it around the cable and it can come off easily. Cable flags work a bit better for that but I don't like them. Maybe this will help someone picking their own label printer.
Tbh I never label cables. Why? It is typically two or more people job to lay them. If you have tight spaces - you risk losing label anyway (and yes, I did experienced it many times). If you have to lay them in stages (due to longer runs) you will have to trim them, so labels can be lost or have to be redone. I relly prefer using pair finder instead. With this simple and cheap device I can find cable in seconds (even with 240 cables going inside cabinet) without looking at any label and with confidence, that it is the proper one. Many pair finders also come with wire map tool built in. Only thing that is left after is simple labeling of outlets.
We use pre printed lables three sets. one goes on the cable end that gets pulled to the room one goes on the cable box (temp) and when the wire is pulled it gets attached to the patch panel end. the third one is used right by the patch panel so that all the cables are uniform. another advantage is if you are missing a number you can stop and see where you messed up if you use a sharpie it is easy to get a duplicate. I was on a job years ago that had a duplicate and we did a lot of renumbering.
On the wire there's usually a number printed on it - the length off the spool in feet (or meters maybe in Canada?) - if you know your run is 50 ft you either add or substract the 50 from one end to get to the other end .... helps you out if nothing is labelled correctly
I use a P-Touch with heatshrink cartridges... shrinked on the cable this never comes of... whatever labels I used before, whatever way you stick it on the cables, after some years every label comes off with the time.. and yes, the label waste with P-Touch labels or the heatshrinks is enormous and I hate that too 😫
Just checking on the brother you do know you can change the print margins so it doesn’t waste as much tape. On a manual cutter chain print won’t work too well but if you put it on small margin it will be a lot better. If you have a automatic cutter you can put it on chain print and then you only get a bit of wastage on the first and last label usually about 1cm
When my house got built the contractor never labelled my cables (he did it in one day while i wasnt around). I had to do this manually IE plug in a device into a faceplate panel and see which cable lit up on my switch. I am curious if there would have been another method you would use for instances like this?
You can use a tone generator you plug in a device then at the patch panel have a “wand” when you hit the right cable a ton goes out the speaker of the want
If you had a large number to do and all the patch cables were live into a network switch for example, there is a feature called Port Blink on some testers. At the wall jack you plug in the port blink tester and look at the switch. There should be a port light blinking on and off at a steady rate. This has the benefit of being able to work on a live/active network without interupting those using the network.
There is a solution for that, of course 😇 There are network tester kits that also have a mapping functionality, like the Fluke NETmap (there are cheap testers for that too of course) They come with a testing unit and a bunch of little RJ-45 plugs with numbers printed on them You then go around and plug all those little plugs into Sockets around the house and then go to the other end and go through all the ports, the tester will then show the number of the plug on the other end if it finds one If you have a managed switch then its even easier, go around with a laptop, plug into the port and see what port is now occupied in the config page of the switch 😇
Thanks for the video , can you make a video for cramp a cat6a cable , its like a disaster when I do for 50 PCs, I wasted almost double of time for cramp this cable with cat6a jack . Not a straight through one, also any recommendations for the cat6a tools
Cody, why not just print the sequence from the brother, and cut them as you go from one big strip for your faceplates, using a similar method as you use for the patch panels?
I do that as well when we have lots of network drops. But sometime you only have one. Others have pointed out it is probably my settings I’ve never changed them just on default so I’m going to play around with them
When I pull wires I use binary and a sharpie - eg cable #6 has "mark-mark-space" repeatedly with the first mark thicker ... that rubs off much less than numbers or letters, those become smudged and un-readable easily
I usually write on my cables vertical so I can make my numbers and letters larger. I also add lines under my number because 6 and 9 are a pain. D 0 1 _ _
I pulled a face when you showed the Brother labeler - I HATE how it wastes so much tape because of the cartridge design compared to print head location. The Dymo 280 doesn't have this problem and is a solid unit. The 160 is slightly cheaper but the 280 can also connect to your PC and be a regular printer, giving you access to more fonts, barcodes, etc. Comes in under CAD $100 I think and works great - check it out!
When you label with a sharpie, write on it vertically not sideways. Numbers and letters are vertical in nature. So writing them vertically allows you to always grab the wire the same way, (by the end) holding it vertically making it easier to read the writing. Notnto mention, this vertical position in writing allows you to write larger, allowing for easier reading.
Generally patch panels are already labelled 1-24. I would just label the patch panels A, B, C, D etc and end points just do the A01 etc.. Saves a lot of labeling at the patch panels. Also Ethernet is generally all data now so not much reason to use D to demarcate data. Also if you have multiple cabinets on one floor you'd do something like 1A01 then label each Cabinet 1, 2, 3 etc
Nice to see how you do it, although i have one BIG tip that may be really interresting for you
Those cable wraps sometimes tend to get loose in like 10-20 years, or when they get hot/wet whatever
There is another way, brother sells heat shrink tube cartridges, so you can print your cable id directly on a piece of shrink tube and then push that over the wire, one quick brush with a lighter and its sitting solid on the cable
Also useful is when you run a lot of cables from a central place, have like 5 boxes of cable there, label the beginning of each cable with the shrink tube (that wont fall of :D) and directly print a second identical shrink tube label while you print the first, pull the lines all the way and as soon as you cutt off the roll, push the shrink tube over the end and maybe tie a knot if the length isnt final so it does not fall off the cable before you shrink it
Makes life easy 😇
I got Brother PT-E110VP label printer for my work few months ago and I too hate that it wastes a lot of label tape. In a few reviews I watched no one seemed to mention that so you're the first one mentioning it and I am happy that I am not the only one feeling the same about it. But for it's prize I think it's not a bad choice if not a lot of printing is done. :)
Some people have mentioned on here that you can change the size so it waste less. I have not tried it out yet though
@@MactelecomNetworks There is a possibility to change margin size, but it only puts a mark where to cut manually with scissors to get wanted size. Or as @INGY23 mentioned - chain print can be done. Though in my case usually every label is different so can't do that. It seems like it's a design flaw and a cutting thing is too deep in a device. :D
Additionally, for marking cables in a straight line (as shown in a video) is not very practical either as max label width is 12mm, you can't wrap it around the cable and it can come off easily. Cable flags work a bit better for that but I don't like them. Maybe this will help someone picking their own label printer.
Hi! Very good video again. For the Ptouch you can configure the marge, like this you will not over use the label. Have a nice week-end.
Tbh I never label cables. Why? It is typically two or more people job to lay them. If you have tight spaces - you risk losing label anyway (and yes, I did experienced it many times). If you have to lay them in stages (due to longer runs) you will have to trim them, so labels can be lost or have to be redone. I relly prefer using pair finder instead. With this simple and cheap device I can find cable in seconds (even with 240 cables going inside cabinet) without looking at any label and with confidence, that it is the proper one. Many pair finders also come with wire map tool built in. Only thing that is left after is simple labeling of outlets.
We use pre printed lables three sets. one goes on the cable end that gets pulled to the room one goes on the cable box (temp) and when the wire is pulled it gets attached to the patch panel end. the third one is used right by the patch panel so that all the cables are uniform. another advantage is if you are missing a number you can stop and see where you messed up if you use a sharpie it is easy to get a duplicate. I was on a job years ago that had a duplicate and we did a lot of renumbering.
Just got the Brothers P Touch PT-P750W, creates heat shrink labels and regular labels. Can be used with PC and or Cell phone to print out
On the wire there's usually a number printed on it - the length off the spool in feet (or meters maybe in Canada?) - if you know your run is 50 ft you either add or substract the 50 from one end to get to the other end .... helps you out if nothing is labelled correctly
thanks so much for this video man.. the turn around was quick! much appreciated.
I use a P-Touch with heatshrink cartridges... shrinked on the cable this never comes of... whatever labels I used before, whatever way you stick it on the cables, after some years every label comes off with the time.. and yes, the label waste with P-Touch labels or the heatshrinks is enormous and I hate that too 😫
Just checking on the brother you do know you can change the print margins so it doesn’t waste as much tape. On a manual cutter chain print won’t work too well but if you put it on small margin it will be a lot better. If you have a automatic cutter you can put it on chain print and then you only get a bit of wastage on the first and last label usually about 1cm
Whats wrong with the guessing game ! :) Good video ! Good ideas too !
Witch one is the label type for the patch panel labels?
When my house got built the contractor never labelled my cables (he did it in one day while i wasnt around). I had to do this manually IE plug in a device into a faceplate panel and see which cable lit up on my switch. I am curious if there would have been another method you would use for instances like this?
You can use a tone generator you plug in a device then at the patch panel have a “wand” when you hit the right cable a ton goes out the speaker of the want
@@MactelecomNetworks Ah, thanks for the reply. Needless to say 20 drops later i didnt need to do my workout for the day lol.
If you had a large number to do and all the patch cables were live into a network switch for example, there is a feature called Port Blink on some testers. At the wall jack you plug in the port blink tester and look at the switch. There should be a port light blinking on and off at a steady rate. This has the benefit of being able to work on a live/active network without interupting those using the network.
There is a solution for that, of course 😇
There are network tester kits that also have a mapping functionality, like the Fluke NETmap (there are cheap testers for that too of course)
They come with a testing unit and a bunch of little RJ-45 plugs with numbers printed on them
You then go around and plug all those little plugs into Sockets around the house and then go to the other end and go through all the ports, the tester will then show the number of the plug on the other end if it finds one
If you have a managed switch then its even easier, go around with a laptop, plug into the port and see what port is now occupied in the config page of the switch 😇
Thanks for the video , can you make a video for cramp a cat6a cable , its like a disaster when I do for 50 PCs, I wasted almost double of time for cramp this cable with cat6a jack . Not a straight through one, also any recommendations for the cat6a tools
Brady is very good, they also have, maybe not for your printer, wrap labels with al onger clear part, this protects the printer part better.
Cody, why not just print the sequence from the brother, and cut them as you go from one big strip for your faceplates, using a similar method as you use for the patch panels?
I do that as well when we have lots of network drops. But sometime you only have one. Others have pointed out it is probably my settings
I’ve never changed them just on default so I’m going to play around with them
@@MactelecomNetworks I wish I could change my setting, but i bought the cheaper brother and can't change those margins.
When I pull wires I use binary and a sharpie - eg cable #6 has "mark-mark-space" repeatedly with the first mark thicker ... that rubs off much less than numbers or letters, those become smudged and un-readable easily
Thanks for sharing.
You don’t use design center ?
I do I was just showing off the map in draw.io for this video
looks like you had it set to 6.5mm for the brother. Change that and it shouldnt have as much extra tape used
Good to know thank you 🙏
I usually write on my cables vertical so I can make my numbers and letters larger. I also add lines under my number because 6 and 9 are a pain.
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p touch.... brings out the 12 year old in me every time