On Wed, 7 Apr 2021 17:05:00 +0100, John Rumm
wrote:

On 06/04/2021 21:42, T i m wrote:
On Tue, 6 Apr 2021 17:53:35 +0100, John Rumm
wrote:

https://www.brother.co.uk/labelling-...page=1#Results

(you can get third party tapes as well now, which are cheaper)

Yeah, I saw no end of tapes for the various models on Amazon and eBay.

So, depending of how much of the 16mm tapes the characters take up, it
could be either a D400 or PTE300VP new or something better (that takes
the 24mm tapes), second hand, hopefully for less?

They can print multiple lines on a tap as well (depending on width) - so
with my machine a 3/4" tape can have up to 4 lines.

Yeah. We had a 'good' label printer where I worked and that could do
that, as can my Dymo 450 of course.

On mine I can do 4
basic fonts, bold, italic, underline, & outline, plus a few odd things
like banners with graphics round them or printing small calendars!

I have seen a good spattering of that on Youtube since. ;-)

What always worries me about second hand electronics that still cost a
bit is if they go wrong (no warranty etc)?

The basic machines are fairly cheap new...

The most basic that will handle 18mm tapes seems to be the D400
desktop style printer but it doesn't seem to handle the beginning and
end bits of tape so well.

Having said that, must have had mine at least 10 years, possibly 15 and
it's been faultless.

Some people are luckily like that (the last piece of second hand
electronics I bought off eBay was a smartphone that was only 6 months
old. Two days after getting it it went wrong so I returned it to the
seller, who sent it back under warranty and they said it had been
water damaged. The seller tried to suggest I'd done that but it had
never left my lounge! I think he eventually returned half my money but
it left a bitter taste ...

I think I can get a Brother PT-E300VP new from Screwfix (and
elsewhere) for around £100 but it seems (from the reviews), many have
bought them at 50% off during a special. I think they come with a 3yr
warranty which even at full price puts the risk at only £33/year.

We (I) have already spent a bit on toys this month (my new Odroid N2+
HA SBC) and whilst it's there (and you can only spend it once), I
would be happier to buy one at half price. ;-)

Do the likes of Screwfix have their sales at fixed intervals?

Cheers, T i m