Cable Asset / Length Labels

[DavidCoull]

Hi Guys,

 

I have organised all of my cables as I've been going along and purchasing them / making them up. Each cable has been wrapped with a different colour LX tape to show what length the cable is. I have also ordered asset labels for each item. I am yet to find a successful solution for wrapping the labels to protect and preserve them. I need to find some sort of clear plastic / vinyl wrap that will seal the labels / LX tape and protect them for slightly longer. I have tried using Premium clear dance floor tape but this wasn't very successful and just pealed at the end. Any ideas or previous experiences? Before anyone suggests ordering the proper Le-Mark labels and cable wraps, these are well out of our budget and slightly extortionate. Much appreciated.

 

David.

[sandall]

(When I could still get hold of it) I found that film splicing tape was pretty indestructible & almost invisible. If your local Poundland is open yet their clear "Sellotape" (10 rolls for £1) seems to be pretty durable.

[ChristoffSP]

Clear heathsrink. There's some with a pretty crazy shrinking ratio that could fit over xlr connectors. I add clear heatshrink to all of my cables that I later on shrink over a label once it's been inventoried.

[GR1]

Clear Heatshrink and a hot air gun. Available from RS and CPC amongst others. A lot of hire companies use it.

[sandall]

Yes, I often use heatshrink for XLRs , but have yet to meet something that will go over a 15A plug or socket & then shrink onto the cable :huh:

[ChristoffSP]

Yes, I often use heatshrink for XLRs , but have yet to meet something that will go over a 15A plug or socket & then shrink onto the cable :huh:

 

Time to disassemble and add some heatshrink then

I just finished a batch of 30 truecon extensions that I got for cheap on an auction that needed labelling, took the time to check connections are still secure on the cables while I adding labels to them. Especially now with the downtime it's as good as a time as any to check cables. I had some 6:1 heatshrink in stock a while a go that could fit over bigger connectors and if you pull out the pins on your 15A plug you can fit the heatshrink over. Otherwise another alternative I've seen is a barcode on the side of your plug/socket with some proper clear tape.

[ianl]

This works quite well

https://www.lemark.co.uk/arts-crafts/j-lar-ultra-clear-tape/

[the kid]

We have not had issues with clear dance tape. Provided its been cut and wrapped not stretched round.

[Stuart91]

We've gone down the heat shrink route. If you get 3:1 or greater ratio, you can get the shrink over the inner part of an XLR if you take the shell off. Much less time consuming than de-soldering. 4:1 should be able to get over socapex.

 

Go for glue-lined heat shrink if you can, it's much less likely to slip over time.

 

There's no easy solution for larger connectors. Anything that will get over a 15amp plug will be ridiculously thick around the cable, even if it could shrink down to suit. To be honest, it's quite a good exercise to open up mains connectors anyway. If you're going to be binge-watching box sets during lockdown, might as catch up on some cables whilst you're at it...

[p.k.roberts]

Not sure if they'll work in your scenario - but I have used the various self-laminating cable labels stocked by CPC with reasonable success.

 

I've not used this (maybe someone else has) - but it might be worth a try (and even if it doesn't do the job, it's going to be useful in your toolbox!)

 

https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/self-amalgamating-tapes/7639059/

[sandall]

I've not used this (maybe someone else has) - but it might be worth a try (and even if it doesn't do the job, it's going to be useful in your toolbox!)

https://uk.rs-online...-tapes/7639059/

If it's like the Le Mark version it might be a bit opaque for covering labels, but great for plumbing repairs, though the early stuff I bought tended to split after a while :(

[MarkPAman]

I've not used this (maybe someone else has) - but it might be worth a try (and even if it doesn't do the job, it's going to be useful in your toolbox!)

https://uk.rs-online...-tapes/7639059/

 

I think that's the stuff I tried. You can see colours through it OK, but you can't really read any lettering - not on mic cable anyway - I guess you can write larger on socapex cable so it may work.

[Dicky]

There is a product that matches what you need, and it's made by 3M. I had a roll of it many years back and it was a completely clear, thick, durable tape, that I would put over the top of a barcode label to stick it to cables. (the cables were already purchased, not made in house). I've had a look on the 3M site and I think it might be this... My link

The product I had was the same tape that was used by SLX and the like for their barcodes, and was pretty bomb proof, but pricy. Think it was £70 a roll, but you don't use much of it, and it's cheaper than re-making connections and putting heat shrink on!

It might be worth asking a company who make cable-wrap barcode labels (Barcode + 10cm of clear tape) what the tape is that they use for that, as it's probably the same stuff..

I've tried dance floor tape and you'll end up replacing it as it's not good at flexing with the cable.

[DavidCoull]

There is a product that matches what you need, and it's made by 3M. I had a roll of it many years back and it was a completely clear, thick, durable tape, that I would put over the top of a barcode label to stick it to cables. (the cables were already purchased, not made in house). I've had a look on the 3M site and I think it might be this... My link

The product I had was the same tape that was used by SLX and the like for their barcodes, and was pretty bomb proof, but pricy. Think it was £70 a roll, but you don't use much of it, and it's cheaper than re-making connections and putting heat shrink on!

It might be worth asking a company who make cable-wrap barcode labels (Barcode + 10cm of clear tape) what the tape is that they use for that, as it's probably the same stuff..

I've tried dance floor tape and you'll end up replacing it as it's not good at flexing with the cable.

 

Thank you for this. The link doesn't seem to be working anymore. Would you mind re-linking to the suggested product or dropping the name of it for me Please. Many Thanks.

[bigclive]

Possibly this:-

3M overlaminate tape