I'd like to see what others are using for arc flash label material and ink. I've seen many instances where the label does not hold up on outdoor equipment because the sun fades it so fast, sometimes in less than 12 months. I see some labels that are laminated and others that aren't. Some people like to peel off the old one before applying the new label while others place the new label on top of the old one. Do you have any best practices to share?

Once you've found the best material.....what's been the best way to print them?

Last year I bought an Epson Colorworks CW-C6000Ae and using it with PE labels. If you use Epson brand labels and ink the labels are BS-5609 certified, which means that they should be legible after 3 months submerged in salt water. It prints 4 inch wide, there's another model that prints up to 8 inch wide. You can buy rolls of a few hundred labels or a continuous roll and let the printer cut them to the size you want.

Since it's a fairly new model I don't know how they hold up long term, but so far haven't received any complaints from the thousands I've sent out. I've had problems in the past with more rigid PVC labels, if the material is not flexible it doesn't attach well on rough surfaces. Second problem is dust and grease, I always provide an instruction to clean the surface before applying labels.

I strongly recommend the printer, it has acceptable speed if your runs don't exceed a few hundred labels and has fairly low running costs (15 cents for a typical 4x4 inch label). Very nice colors and resolution too, although I don't think anyone cares about their warning labels being pretty.

Downsides: the printer can be finicky about entering new rolls, sometimes you need to switch it on and off a few times before it gets in the mood of feeding the labels. It's also *loud*, not suited for an office environment if you use it a lot.

We have been using Brady labels and printer for quite some time. Have had good luck with them holding up even in the sun.
The labels are their THTEL-25-483-1-DA and THTEL-25-483-1-WA. They are a 4" x 6" polyester label with a pre-printed anger" on red and "Warning" on orange at the top. Here are a links to them both.

https://www.bradyid.com/barcode-labels/ ... 5-483-1-da
https://www.bradyid.com/barcode-labels/ ... 5-483-1-wa

The ribbon for the printer is the Brady R6007.

https://www.bradyid.com/ribbons-cartrid ... text=r6007

We also use the Brady BP-300 PLUS printer. I do not believe they make that specific unit any longer, but they make a replacement for it. We did not originally have a cutter for the printer and the labels came off in one continuous feed. Made it a time consuming process to separate them in some kind of order once they were all printed. I suggest getting a cutter attachment (if available) for whose ever printer you go with.

At one time we used a vinyl label and a printer form a different manufacturer, but they did not hold up as well.
The vinyl label tended to have a memory to it. THe closer you got to the end of the roll, they would curl up a lot, which made them harder to handle in the field.

this is an amazing conversation to me.....ask for help and here it comes! Thanks for your advice. It's surely factoring into the process. Given that this thread remains open, I'll eventually do a post on what I decided and how it's working out.

Thanks again!

If your equipment is listed to UL standards, all safety critical markings and labeling need to meet durability requirements. It is possible to either purchase the label printing equipment and label stock or locate a UL approved labeling house. I am not a label supplier, but you can contact me directly if you would like to see some references for this. Some good resources are already mentioned by others.

Best, Doug

Graphic products, a company that sells both printers and label stock, has a pretty good resource center with information on this topic. Link below just to one of their articles, and a neat little arc flash label + printer starter kit I was able to find.

https://www.graphicproducts.com/articles/arc-flash-printers-an-overview/
https://www.graphicproducts.com/product/dltm-arco3/

I've used both Brady and Graphic Products printers and have liked both. Have never had an issue yet from customers with labels installed that were printed on their label stock or with their printers.

As for your question on installing labels on top of each other, I'd ask whatever label manufacturer you choose that question. They are certain to have the best guidance for their product.

Graphic products, a company that sells both printers and label stock, has a pretty good resource center with information on this topic. Link below just to one of their articles, and a neat little arc flash label + printer starter kit I was able to find.

https://www.graphicproducts.com/articles/arc-flash-printers-an-overview/
https://www.graphicproducts.com/product/dltm-arco3/

I've used both Brady and Graphic Products printers and have liked both. Have never had an issue yet from customers with labels installed that were printed on their label stock or with their printers.

As for your question on installing labels on top of each other, I'd ask whatever label manufacturer you choose that question. They are certain to have the best guidance for their product.

Thanks for all of your advice everyone.

I pulled the trigger today on a Brady i7100 300dpi Industrial Label Printer.....with polyester label stock. it looks like the replacement for the printer mentioned by rmgbob.

Safe travels all

I did end up getting this Brady printer with a cutter on it and it works great with the polyester label stock mentioned earlier in this thread.

it takes some effort to get correctly configured, and if you leave it alone will work very well when you go to use it again. If you get a new PC you'll have to go through the whole setup process again so I recommend writing a SOP for printing labels that includes screen grabs of every configuration option you've selected.

I also expanded my printer fleet to include a Brady BBP12 printer that easily fits into a carryon bag for travel. It uses the same labels but a different thermal transfer ribbon but works very well.

Thanks for the information and update.