The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning

Ed Nisley's Blog: Shop notes, electronics, firmware, machinery, 3D printing, laser cuttery, and curiosities. Contents: 100% human thinking, 0% AI slop.

The New Hotness

  • Laser Test Paper: Plant Label Testing

    After a month outdoors, the (failed) flexible strip labels show signs of wear:

    Laser test paper - 1 month weathering
    Laser test paper – 1 month weathering

    The upper one has a coating of clear rattlecan paint and looks much the better for it. The lower one is bare, but also suffered greatly from being folded and tucked through itself, so it started in worse condition.

    Perhaps the paper will work better when stuck to metal plant label stakes, although I suspect the adhesive sheet will fail first:

    Laser test paper - small plant labels
    Laser test paper – small plant labels

    Those are random names; Mary tells me the proper label format has the Latin nomenclature on the first line.

    They’re now out on the patio for observation.

    For whatever it’s worth, my fascination with this paper boils down to “it’s cheaper than Trolase” for applications not requiring archival quality and duration. If it lasts Long Enough, that’ll be Good Enough.