Label makers that can print QR codes in black on clear tape

April 23, 2021 6:50 PM

I'm looking for a label maker that can print a QR code (ideally plus text) in black on clear tape. I have found label makers that can print text in black on clear tape, and other label makers that can print QR codes on white tape or labels. But never QR on clear tape.

I feel like this must exist and I am just not looking for the right thing. I am open to either standalone label makers, or label printers that connect to a computer, but if it needs a computer it has to work with Mac.

posted by primethyme to Technology (11 answers total)

Will the color or pattern of the material underneath the clear label interfere with the scanning?
posted by calgirl at 7:15 PM on April 23, 2021

Response by poster: No, the color underneath the label is quite light, but it's not pure white. I'm confident it will scan fine, but it's different enough from white that white labels look ugly.
posted by primethyme at 7:49 PM on April 23, 2021

Does it have to be a dedicated, special-purpose label printer? You could get sheets of clear labels such as these, which can be printed in an ordinary inkjet/laser printer, and then use a word processor or desktop publishing program to lay out the QR codes the same way you would print any other image.
posted by teraflop at 7:51 PM on April 23, 2021

We've got a few Brother P-Touch labelmakers at work, and they have black-on-clear tape - and it appears that they can print arbitrary images on the labels.

You could probably do it programmatically with a directory full of QR code images and the built-in merge functionality in P-Touch.
posted by sagc at 7:57 PM on April 23, 2021

What size are you thinking?
posted by rhizome at 8:59 PM on April 23, 2021

Most label makers have bitmap mode that you can send a QR code to. But you need to program it directly, or use a good driver that lets you compose stuff.
posted by kschang at 10:34 PM on April 23, 2021

You're looking for 'Clear Direct Thermal Polypropylene Labels' and I'd recommend Zebra thermal printers to print them.
posted by Static Vagabond at 8:01 AM on April 24, 2021

What size of printer? Some of Dymo's range of label printers can take clear label stock, and ISTR that have a CUPS-like bitmap driver that will accept any old content as long as it fits.

Seconding P-touch: the protocol is stable and well-enough understood to be widely hacked by third party software. I mean, the supposedly app-only Brother tape printer I got cheap on clearance can be fed arbitrary bitmaps via a nasty Python script over Bluetooth. But the QRcodes I can make are tiny: only 64 pixels high on 12.7 mm tape.
posted by scruss at 10:31 AM on April 24, 2021

Response by poster: Thanks all, some good ideas here. I have both Dymo and P-Touch label makers but I wasn't aware that either of them would do arbitrary bitmaps; I'll need to dig up the manuals and see if mine support that. I also have a Dymo thermal label printer that definitely can print qr codes and anything else, but there are no clear labels for it that I am aware of. Doing it on sheets of labels in a printer is a possibility I'll consider. I generally don't like doing labels on a regular printer because it tends to be slower and more fiddly, and you end up wasting a lot of labels if you don't need a full sheet's worth at once. But I suppose in this case it could end up being the lesser of evils.

To answer the question on size, it does not need to be very big. Probably .75"x.75" imaged area would be ok (though I would need to do some testing with our scanners to confirm how reliably they can read our qr codes at smaller sizes).
posted by primethyme at 12:15 PM on April 24, 2021

Online Labels sells sheets of clear laser- or inkjet-printable labels. But - more handily than that - they also offer access to a browser-based program called Maestro Label Designer that saves you from having to print out a whole sheet's worth of the same label by using the Multi-Design function to combine different labels on the same sheet. So at least it'd be less wasteful, though still not really what you're looking for.
posted by Mary Ellen Carter at 6:56 PM on April 24, 2021

The Phomemo M200 has clear 30mm x 40mm (1⅛"x1½" or so) labels with arbitrary graphics possible. It only works with their phone app, which reviewers don't like. If you only have a single design it may not be too big a deal to store it and repeat it as necessary.

They also make a model M02 with 25mm rolls (1" wide) of tear-off transparent labels, but you'd have to check with them to see if you can get only transparent rolls. I could only find variety packs in the catalog.

I don't know, their website isn't working well for me but they came up pretty quickly. They seem to answer a lot of questions on Amazon, so poke around and see if their basic idea (bluetooth w/app) works for you.

Avery has sheets of squares or circles from ¾"-2" and larger.
posted by rhizome at 1:47 AM on April 25, 2021