Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!coherent!dplatt From: dplatt@coherent.com (Dave Platt) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac Subject: Erasable diskette labels - make 'em yourself! Keywords: Arts & Crafts Message-ID: <20128@coherent.com> Date: 7 Feb 89 05:29:06 GMT Distribution: comp Organization: Coherent Thought Inc., Palo Alto CA Lines: 85 While visiting the MacExpo a few weeks ago, I bought a package of the eraseable diskette labels I'd been reading about in this newsgroup. After using them for a while, I've come to two conclusions: 1) They work as advertised. Erasing one of these labels is quite easy, and it beats hell out of scribbling over old markings, or peeling an old label off of the disk (often breaking nails, tearing the label, etc.) 2) They're rather expensive, and it's possible to improvise erasable diskette labels from commonly-available materials for a much lower cost. The Cates (tm) erasable labels are adhesive-backed, preprinted labels that are designed to fit 3.5" "floppy" disk cases (they're also available for 5.24" floppies, VHS tapes, and audio tapes). They are made of a plastic material, with a smooth and nonporous surface. The Cates kit comes with 50 (or 100, or 200) labels, a Sanford Sharpie (r) permanent marker, a Faber-Castell "Jet Eraser" (a white vinyl eraser-pen), a bottle of erasing fluid (isopropyl alcohol, camphor, and blue dye), some erasing pads (to be moistened with the fluid), removable color-tags for the disks, and a reorder sheet. The kit with 100 labels cost $24.00 at the show; it's a bit more expensive at other times. This works out to about $.20 per label. Given that 2SDD Sony diskettes in bulk sell for about $1.50, this is a painful price to pay for a label! The key to the erasability of the labels is their nonporous surface. One writes on the labels with the "permanent" (solvent-based) marker pen. Once the ink dries, it's effectively smear-proof; water, sweat, etc. will not remove it. The ink can be removed from the label by gently scrubbing it with the vinyl eraser-pen (for selective erasure) or by wiping with a cleaning pad or tissue moistened with the cleaning fluid. Because the ink doesn't soak into the label, it can be removed with very little residue remaining. I wondered whether it might not be possible to find an unprinted, adhesive-backed, nonporous-surfaced material at a lower cost. The answer, fortunately is "yes"; the material is ordinary Contact(tm) self-adhesive surface covering (often called "Contact paper") or an equivalent material by another manufacturer. This stuff comes in quite a number of varieties. The most useful for this particular purpose are the clear vinyl covering, the vinyl covering with a plain white surface, and any of several plain-white-with- colored-lines patterns. [Note - Contact paper is also available as a plain, uncoated paper. This is _not_ the stuff to make erasable labels out of... its surface is porous, and will soak up Sharpie ink like a sponge. Neither should you use the insecticide-impregnated paper made for lining trash-can cubicles and so forth; the bugs that this material is designed for are NOT the ones that plague your Mac ;-} ]. I happened to have a roll of the clear covering in my garage (it makes a very good laminate). I took a new floppy disk, stuck on a label made by cutting down a 2"-by-4" file-folder label, and then stuck a piece of clear Contact covering over the label. This home-brew label takes the Sharpie ink as well as the much-more-expensive Cates label, and it erases almost as well. The Contact material isn't as glossy as the Cates label, and a bit of ink residue clings to it... but the difference is barely noticable. The Contact-covering labels may have a shorter lifetime (fewer write/erase cycles) than the Cates labels, because they're thinner and perhaps a bit more porous. If you have a supply of standard diskette labels that you like to use (for instance, if you buy your floppies in boxes of 10 with labels), you can convert these labels to the erasable variety by simply covering the writing surface with clear Contact covering. If you buy your diskettes in bulk, and wish to make your own erasable labels, you could use the vinyl-surfaced white Contact covering material, or one of the varieties that has colored lines pre-printed on its surface. [These lines aren't spaced all that well for writing purposes... but you might like the effect anyhow.] Contact covering (or the equivalent) seems to be selling for between $2 and $3 per square yard hereabouts. You can make a LOT of 3.5" floppy disk labels out of a square yard of material! Sharpie markers and Faber-Castell eraser-pens should be available at any good office-supply store; isopropyl alcohol is widely available (rubbing alcohol would probably do in a pinch). -- Dave Platt FIDONET: Dave Platt on 1:204/444 VOICE: (415) 493-8805 UUCP: ...!{ames,sun,uunet}!coherent!dplatt DOMAIN: dplatt@coherent.com INTERNET: coherent!dplatt@ames.arpa, ...@sun.com, ...@uunet.uu.net USNAIL: Coherent Thought Inc. 3350 West Bayshore #205 Palo Alto CA 94303