"Don Y" wrote in message

Cool! I just bought one of the el cheapo's when Costco had them on sale.
I did so because I had "rescued" several new "ribbon" cartridges; I
figured
I could afford to throw the whole thing in the trash when I ran out! :

I think Fry's was perpetually selling refurbed label makers and I realized
that if I had them strategically placed in the house I would be tempted to
use them more often. The problem now is that I have to keep using larger
and larger fonts as my eyes get older.

I have a much larger labeler (Kroy K2000):
http://members.tripod.com/~HANOVER_TECHNICAL/kroy03.html
that prints on heat-shrink tubing. A better solution -- but impractical
for cables with "connectors" already on both ends!

The ones I bought all do heat shrink tubing which I haven't used once
because as you note, they only work on cables that aren't "ended" already.
Still, it *would* be a good way to mark a new run of cabling. Instead I
have a silver, gold, black and other colored Sharpies that I use. While not
as neat and legible as Dymo labels, they do the job.

Check out a similar item at Harbor Freight. About $20 for a 4 foot
black
anodized strip with 12 outlets.

Really? I'll have to look. Getting strips with the outlets "facing"
the right direction is a chore. The Lowe's strip (below) has everything
"just right"... but, it's too long (I need something around 2.5-3').

That's going to be a problem with the H-freight ones, too. What do you mean
by the outlets facing the right way? Ground hole to the left instead of the
bottom?

When I disassembled it to try to just "elide" one outlet, I was
disappointed to find that it was essentially one large assembly wrapped in
a metal case. :

Haven't disassembled one to see (and before my wife made me swear to stop
wrecking things for internet posts grin) but I have taken apart others and
agree that there aren't discrete components but an assembly. Just took
apart an Eveready UPS (rebadge APC) and found exactly that - outlet blades
just soldered together and fit into an elaborate plastic shell that's part
of the case.

If I can get the mechanical aspects (i.e., a case that I can mount
singleton receptacles in), then the rest of the components are
essentially free -- pick them from my parts bins. But, the case
the right length and outlet orientation is the ****er.

Good luck with that!

All of my bricks (save one that I found for the P-Touch unit) have
removable
power cords. I have cords in various lengths: 1', 3', 5-6', 12', etc.

I just recently started to see non-removable cords on the bricks from new
stuff coming from China. I guess it saves a penny or so but it does make
them less convenient.

So, I arrange to use the shortest cord possible (to keep the amount of
"cord clutter" down to a minimum).

I have a few bricks with Mickey's. Unfortunately, all of those cords are
the same length (apparently?).

I assume Mickey's are the figure 8 cords used to power things like laptops
with a ground wire that give a head to the two ears. I see very few of
those - mostly laptops. I do see a lot more of them in both polarized and
unpolarized format.

--
Bobby G.