For our purposes, the best label for any purpose is one of those embossed diamo-style stick-on labels, with raised white letters. There’s something about them – the raised characters just ask for touch, their clarity is outstanding, they lend a unique retro feel to a project and the experience of creating one of those manuals kerchunkers Oddly satisfying.
But alas, those manual label makers are not what they used to be [Andrei Speridião] The discovery was made when his hands fell apart. Instead of complaining, he automatically created his own label maker and turned it into a computer peripheral. Dubbed “E-TKT”, the DIY label printer takes daisy-wheel embossing dye from its extinct label and puts the computer under control. Instead of the original ratchet mechanism, one stepper moves the motor tape, another stepper rotates the wheel to the correct position, and performs a servo cherching duty. The process is repeated until the label is complete and neatly cut, ready for application. Run an ESP32 mechanism and serve as a web application to compose labels and control printers. There is also an OLED display and of course an embossed label Video demo below.
Don’t we worry [Bart Simpson] Think embossed labels are great, and that makes them even cooler. And as [Andrei] Point out, this is a neat way around a dirty DRM trick that some companies are foisting on the public to create labels. That’s the decent thing to do, and it should end there.