Wire Labels

[Brutick]

Hey everyone,

I was just trying out a new-ish idea this weekend to label my signal wires with my Brother Label Maker and some clear heat shrink.

I made the labels with the smallest size font I could print on the label maker, which was 5pt. font, and then I trimmed the excess off around the text. I put the label around the signal wires and then put a small bit of clear heat shrink tubing on top of the label.

I think the result came out pretty well!



On my real build, I plan to label both ends of the signal wire, the end at the keyboard encoder, and the end with the crimp on connector attached.

Just thought this post could be beneficial for people looking for some ideas, and are too cheap to buy a heat shrink printer (like myself )

[Nephasth]

Not necessary...

[ChanceKJ]

Neph's right. It's a cool idea and looks well executed but it's really not needed.  You'll be wiring the buttons one at a time anyways, and if something goes wrong you you shouldn't have a problem with the few wires the 20 buttons your using have.

Besides, your going to have your hands full wiring those LED packs 

[Brutick]

Thanks for the feedback! Been a little bored lately, as you may be able to tell.

Going to help out my friend with his CNC router this week so I can get my control panel cut out.

And you're definitely right, ChanceKJ, I will have my hands full with those RGB LEDs hahaha.

[jasonbar]

I love it. I'm a big fan of labeling wires, not only in my games but elsewhere. I deem it to be a worthy investment, & those look quite slick. Nice! 

-Jason

[Unstupid]

I'd rather just buy a wiring harness and just use the color coded wires to determine which wire does where.

[Nephasth]

I'd rather just buy build a wiring harness and just use the color coded wires to determine which wire does where.

Me too! Black for ground, black for 5v, black for 12v, black for pl1-up, black for pl1-down, black for...

[ChanceKJ]

I'd rather just buy build a wiring harness and just use the color coded wires to determine which wire does where.

Me too! Black for ground, black for 5v, black for 12v, black for pl1-up, black for pl1-down, black for...

That's the plan. Worst case I have a silver sharpie marker to make little hash marks on the ends of the wire.

[Ken Layton]

Hey everyone,

I was just trying out a new-ish idea this weekend to label my signal wires with my Brother Label Maker and some clear heat shrink.

I made the labels with the smallest size font I could print on the label maker, which was 5pt. font, and then I trimmed the excess off around the text. I put the label around the signal wires and then put a small bit of clear heat shrink tubing on top of the label.

I think the result came out pretty well!


On my real build, I plan to label both ends of the signal wire, the end at the keyboard encoder, and the end with the crimp on connector attached.

Just thought this post could be beneficial for people looking for some ideas, and are too cheap to buy a heat shrink printer (like myself )

I like what you've done with the labels. It looks great. Bravo!

 

[ed12]

Ken Layton

i to think it is perfect
if u have ever work in a factory where plc's are
with out lables u are sol in short order,even hydro panels have them
and most electrications do it..at least the 1's that care

ed

[mgb]

I'd rather just buy a wiring harness and just use the color coded wires to determine which wire does where.

I use wiring harnesses also, I like using the color coding.
 I think color coding is easier in machines. Can you imagine if a pinball machine used tags instead of colors?

But I really like the way you did it.
 I work in electronic systems in facilities, so I often have to mark cables but I have a Brady wire label printer for that.

But what I really got out of your post is the clear shrink wrap.
I've used shrink wrap many times but never knew it was available in clear.
Thanks for the tip.

[DaOld Man]

I like the labeling.
I am an electrician in an aluminum rolling mill, so I understand the importance of labeling the wires.
In "A Little Rage" I used a label printer that printed onto heat shrink tubing, which makes for a very neat job.
This was the first build where I used it, but on my other builds I used peel and stick numbers, which work good but the labels are a lot more professional looking.
When you have 2 joysticks, 12 player buttons, trackball, a few admin buttons, plus lighted buttons, the labeling helps out 7 fold when trouble shooting, especially when all the wires are the same color and you run them in a nice and neat bundle.

I like your idea of using clear heat shrink over regular labels, it is probably cheaper than using the special printer and special heat shrink media.

[Brutick]

I'm glad to hear all the positive feedback on this idea.

If I could afford a heat shrink printer and the special heat shrink for it, then I would totally go that direction.

I think this solution is a good compromise on cost and manual work to get the labels to fit. Doing this is certainly more time consuming than using a heat shrink printer, because the excess border around the text needs to be trimmed in order for the label to fit around the small (22AWG) wire.

Regardless, I think I will be doing this on my real build

Thanks,
Brutick