My company may free up the money for me to purchase an arc flash label printer in the next week or two. I would appreciate your feed back regarding which label printer you have found to be best - i.e. ease of use, durability of labels both indoors and out, expense of materials, etc. Whatever we purchase must work with Etap software.

What label printer you buy will depend on the volume of labels you need to print and if you are planning to have a different color code for the various hazard categories. If this is only for one facility, you may be better off having a local print shop make the labels for you.

For what it's worth, I had used a Duralabel printer with EasyPower but now have the labels printed by a local company.

Aside form the volume, the other critical question is what kind of environment will the labels be in? Dusty manufacturing plants, manufacturing plants that are hosed down regularly, outdoor facilities were the sun will shine on the labels, and chemical plants all put different demands on a label and thermal ribbon.

The most durable, longest lasting labels and text will be from Brady. I currently have a Brady Glabalmark Color & Cut printer that I use for various purposes, printing around 1500 labels per year. We have been using the modern Brady vinyl tape products for 6 years outdoors in an oil refinery and they show no signs of deterioration or fading.

I used a Duralabel printer at a previous job and it was just as easy to use as the Brady from a software perspective. The downside of the the Duralabel is that the tape and ribbons are a little more work to load. The Duralabel requires you to load the tape supply spool, ribbon supply spool, and empty ribbon takeup spool, then thread the ribbon through the printer and get it started on the takeup spool. Brady has a cartridge based ribbon system with a plastic carrier so it takes about 5 seconds to remove a used-up ribbon and reinstall a new ribbon cartridge.

From what I remember, the Duralabel setup costs about half of the Brady printer. The consumables are also substantially cheaper. From my experience with the Duralabel I would recommend it for labels that are not exposed to sunlight (UV) and not exposed to any chemicals. If you are installaing a lot of labels outdoors the Brady is the way to go - the consumables will last much longer than Duralabel's.

We use a Brady printer on custom stock for large numbers of labels and it has been fine. Initial setup and creating a template using their software takes time.

The most cost effective Arc Flash labeling package that is much less expensive than the Duralabel or Globalmark is labeltac.com and see Arc Flash package. This package will include a 4 year warranty on the labeler, Arc Flash labeling/calculation software (called ArcAd) and some supplies to get you started. They will also customize these kits to fit your needs.

Hi WBD, If you had the Duralabel, is there any reason you are having labels printed by a local company? Was it time or cost related?

Hi Jdsmith, if you liked the cost of the Duralabels but prefer the durability of Brady, see Labeltac.com. You'll be amazed at the support, cost and 4 year warranty they offer. Supply costs are 1/3 of the Brady or 20%-40% less than Duralabel but the supplies are a 6 year outdoor rating.

The Dura Label Bronco printer is the worst piece of hardware I've ever owned in my life. It's a nightmare. Very expensive. Add an extra hour or two for troubleshooting any time you want to print. My printer broke and had to be RMA'ed - they sent me back the same broken printer.