# Brother P-Touch Tutorial



## Jovi Bon Kenobi

What is the Brother P-Touch? An inappropriate monk? One of the most unfortunately named products in modern times? Yes and No. It's also the device I use to label my pedals. I wanted to create this thread to show my process of how I utilize this machine since a few people asked how I do my enclosures and I would rather link to this because I'm lazy and can't type fast.

This is the machine I use. Mine is three and a half years old and is still chugging along.
Brother P-Touch PTD600

You need cartridges of clear tape and they come in many colors and sizes. I prefer to use 18mm tape but occasionally have to use 12mm because all the color options aren't available in 18mm. They make tape in 24mm but color options are even fewer. The bigger the tape, the fewer color options. For the clear tape cartridges I've found ink colors in white, black, blue, red, and gold. These labels are waterproof, rub proof, and UV resistant. I always buy the knock off brands because they are way cheaper!

Here's a link to the knockoff tape I use.

This machine comes with software that you can download called "P-Touch Editor". I only use this software, not the stock fonts that come on the unit. You simply plug in the included USB cable to your computer and it bypasses the keypad and screen on the unit. Basically, it's now just another printer. The software allows you to do a variety of editing functions from resizing, stretching, bending words into a radius, etc. The function I use the most is "Snap Mode". This allows you to screenshot anything on your monitor then send it into the editing page. It looks like this:



In this photo I used Snap Mode to capture "Grievous Angel" from a font website. I had to snap it in a few sections, like just the G, then rievou, then the s, etc. I did this because the font I used had variations in the same typeface, like those swashes that create bookend flourishes. And the L in angel didn't have that swash coming off of it so I snapped a swash and placed it in a pleasing looking spot. All the single letters or groups of letters were stretched, moved, and resized to fit together nicely. Once I had my name I "grouped" it together in the software menu.

All files I create are saved onto my computer through the software. This allows me to come back to them and quickly print designs that I use most often, like my logo, the in/out header, or the curved radius letters that I use for control knobs and I just retype a new word in that same radius.

Print em out!




Next, I cut. I use _very_ sharp fine scissors and wear my Optivisor to get in there nice and close. I find that it looks the least noticeable on the enclosure when I cut directly on the edge of the letters. It's even less noticeable if you add a border and cut right along it's edge.




If I need to cut a straight line I use a ruler and my Swann Morton Retractaway Scalpel. Hands down my favorite craft knife. Surgically sharp and no slip refillable blade, heavy!, doesn't roll, retracts, has a hole for hanging on pegboard)




All cut!




Peel 'n' stick em on! I use the knob as a guide and carefully place each control label then move it to the next until all are done. Make sure your enclosure is clean as a whistle before adhering.




I use an eraser to really squish the label down good so there are no bubbles. Protip: just push hard, don't rub. Rubbing will leave residue.




All done!


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## zgrav

You get conistently great results.  Thanks for putting together and sharing this guide.


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## whgfive

So well done, thank you for sharing! Any tips on best sizes when printing?


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## zgrav

When you "snap" an image from you PC, are you able to draw a line around what you are getting, or is it putting whatever image you want inside a rectangle or a circle?


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## Jovi Bon Kenobi

whgfive said:


> So well done, thank you for sharing! Any tips on best sizes when printing?


Thanks! Yes, in the first photo do you see the big white box with "level, drive, and bass" that is displayed on my screen? That's the tape. So, whatever you drag into that box is what will print. Above that and to the left are rulers on the screen that display actual size so that you can see how big your tape or design will be.

In some cases, I have even printed a _LARGE_ design by dragging one half onto the tape, printing it, then dragging the other half and printing. Then I splice the two tapes together.


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## Jovi Bon Kenobi

zgrav said:


> When you "snap" an image from you PC, are you able to draw a line around what you are getting, or is it putting whatever image you want inside a rectangle or a circle?


Here is Snap Mode in action. That round target cursor. It draws a _BOX_ that you can pick the start and end with.




Here's a label of your question  ?


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## zgrav

I like the way you are able to combine pieces from the tape to make a larger image, and the way you could put the larger letters on each side of the Grievous Angel lettering, plus adding the flourish.   

I asked about how the software captures images because, sometimes can be unwanted parts of an image that would come within a circle or square when you copy the part that you want to use.   Is there some kind of option to erase parts of an image you do not want to print?


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## Jovi Bon Kenobi

zgrav said:


> I asked about how the software captures images because, sometimes can be unwanted parts of an image that would come within a circle or square when you copy the part that you want to use.   Is there some kind of option to erase parts of an image you do not want to print?


I know what you mean and the answer is not really. There are limitations so you have to design around them.

One workaround I have done is...get ready for some dumb-foo... screenshot what you want, head over to pinetools.com, use any of it's tools to make your image look the way you want, then Snap Mode it.

I don't have photoshop or any other advanced illustration software so this works for me. haha


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## zgrav

GIMP is a great free alternative to photo-shop, but I don't use it often enough to be fluid with it.  I sometimes resort to MSPaint to clean up an image, likely similar to what you do in pinetools.   Does the ptouch software let you clip from screenshots and from jpg files?  Or do you need to take a screenshot from a jpg file that is open in another application?  Either way, you get consistently nice results on your enclosures.


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## Jovi Bon Kenobi

zgrav said:


> Does the ptouch software let you clip from screenshots and from jpg files?


It will snap a box of any size from anything displayed on your screen. Alternatively, you can upload a jpeg directly in P-Touch Editor. I'm not sure what other formats it supports though.


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## zgrav

Thanks for the Q&A!


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## Nostradoomus

They really couldn’t have chosen a better name?

Brother P-Touch.


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## Mourguitars

Great detailed info JBK....

Im buying one !

Mike


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## Jovi Bon Kenobi

Mourguitars said:


> Great detailed info JBK....
> 
> Im buying one !
> 
> Mike


Nice! If you do get some extra plain black on white tape so you can get the hang of it. Also, you'll need it for that honeymoon period of wanting to label anything and everything. Haha


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## zgrav

It is useful that this project box design machine can also make labels for other things.  : ^ )     

Does the software generate the bar codes that I see used on the file folders on the product page?


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## Jovi Bon Kenobi

zgrav said:


> Does the software generate the bar codes that I see used on the file folders on the product page?


The software does have a multiple type of barcode generator but I know nothing on how it works.


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## Mourguitars

https://imgur.com/5tWldrI


Time to learn and label !

Will do a family pic when done...

Mike


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## Chuck D. Bones

I bought one too.  Do you think Jovi gets a commission on these?


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## Mourguitars

Started this morning , kinda went crazy on one pedal...lol

My white on clear tape was dried out , came out in two pieces ..so back it goes,........ but this is kinda fun !

Mike


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## Jovi Bon Kenobi

Hope you have fun with your new label makers! If you find any colors on clear tape bigger than 12mm post it here. That's all I could find so I'm still on the search.


*Edit* oh look I found some. It's pricier than on Amazon though. 





						Brother PTD600 Label Maker Tapes – PtouchDirect
					

New tapes for the Brother PTD600 label maker are available at PtouchDirect. Low prices on these genuine Brother tapes. Ships fast.




					www.ptouchdirect.com


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## daria

Great post. Trying to warp my head around the options for simple labeling and see Brother P-Touch mentioned often. Thanks for the practical guide on how to use it and the software which I didn't know existed. 

Couple of questions. How thick are the edges on the P-Touch stickers and does it stand out that it's a stick on label? And is there some method that can be used to reduce the edges? Maybe some sort of solvent that melts the edges or clear coating the whole pedal??


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## Jovi Bon Kenobi

The tape is visible, but only if you go out of your way to notice. Especially following the steps above and cutting right on the printed word. In a dark bar or venue you wouldn't see it. ?

Clear coating over it would probably negate the use of the P-Touch. I've never tried it though. I'd imagine you might need to scuff up the stickers first so the clear coat would evenly adhere...You may as well use waterslide decal if you're going to clear coat as that would likely be a lot easier.


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## K Pedals

Jovi Bon Kenobi said:


> The tape is visible, but only if you go out of your way to notice. Especially following the steps above and cutting right on the printed word. In a dark bar or venue you wouldn't see it. ?
> 
> Clear coating over it would probably negate the use of the P-Touch. I've never tried it though. I'd imagine you might need to scuff up the stickers first so the clear coat would evenly adhere...You may as well use waterslide decal if you're going to clear coat as that would likely be a lot easier.


YeAh I tried to clear coat over some labels and it somehow made the corners more obvious than they were to start with...


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## daria

Jovi Bon Kenobi said:


> The tape is visible, but only if you go out of your way to notice. Especially following the steps above and cutting right on the printed word. In a dark bar or venue you wouldn't see it. ?
> 
> Clear coating over it would probably negate the use of the P-Touch. I've never tried it though. I'd imagine you might need to scuff up the stickers first so the clear coat would evenly adhere...You may as well use waterslide decal if you're going to clear coat as that would likely be a lot easier.



Thanks for the info. 

I was looking at the P-Touch for ease of use seeing that all I want to do is pedal name and label knobs, maybe a small graphic. I was looking at waterslide decals but am worried about wasted waterslide sheets given that I want to customise fonts for each pedal. So maybe if I go with waterslides I'll have to plan ahead to optimise the space on waterslide sheets. I've got close to 50 pedals I want label.


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## Chuck D. Bones

Finally got my PT-D600 going.  Had no end of trouble getting the driver to install on Win7-64 because the installer would generate obscure error messages and then report (incorrectly) that the driver had been installed.  Online chat with Brother was a complete waste of time.  I eventually figured out that I could bypass the "installer" (a self-extracting exe) and unpack it myself using 7zip. After unpacking, I found a setup program in the 3264 folder that actually works.

To make a long story even longer, I had first-pass success with a set of labels for my Boost pedal.  It's a cross between a Catalinbread Naga Viper and a Lovepedal Clock of Tone.  Kind of a LoveBread ViperTone.  Thanks for steering me to the PT-D600, Jovi!


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## chongmagic

Chuck D. Bones said:


> Finally got my PT-D600 going.  Had no end of trouble getting the driver to install on Win7-64 because the installer would generate obscure error messages and then report (incorrectly) that the driver had been installed.  Online chat with Brother was a complete waste of time.  I eventually figured out that I could bypass the "installer" (a self-extracting exe) and unpack it myself using 7zip. After unpacking, I found a setup program in the 3264 folder that actually works.
> 
> To make a long story even longer, I had first-pass success with a set of labels for my Boost pedal.  It's a cross between a Catalinbread Naga Viper and a Lovepedal Clock of Tone.  Kind of a LoveBread ViperTone.  Thanks for steering me to the PT-D600, Jovi!
> 
> View attachment 2367


Just got mine today looking forward to trying it out myself. Looks great Chuck D!


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## Chuck D. Bones

Thanks!  I hope you have better luck than I did getting the SW installed.  I'm still looking for colors on clear tape other than black & white.


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## Barry

Chuck D. Bones said:


> Finally got my PT-D600 going.  Had no end of trouble getting the driver to install on Win7-64 because the installer would generate obscure error messages and then report (incorrectly) that the driver had been installed.  Online chat with Brother was a complete waste of time.  I eventually figured out that I could bypass the "installer" (a self-extracting exe) and unpack it myself using 7zip. After unpacking, I found a setup program in the 3264 folder that actually works.
> 
> To make a long story even longer, I had first-pass success with a set of labels for my Boost pedal.  It's a cross between a Catalinbread Naga Viper and a Lovepedal Clock of Tone.  Kind of a LoveBread ViperTone.  Thanks for steering me to the PT-D600, Jovi!
> 
> View attachment 2367


Nice


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## Barry

Chuck D. Bones said:


> Thanks!  I hope you have better luck than I did getting the SW installed.  I'm still looking for colors on clear tape other than black & white.


I found several on Amazon, in few different sizes


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## Chuck D. Bones

Got a link?  I found colored tape, but not clear tape with colored print.  I have limited patience for wading thru Amazon pages.


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## Barry

I'll see what I can find


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## Jovi Bon Kenobi

There is a website called ptouchdirect and they have most colors on clear all the way up to 1 inch (24mm) in knock off brands but they are a bit pricier than off Amazon.


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## Barry

https://www.amazon.com/NEOUZA-5PK-Compatible-Laminated-Colors/dp/B01CQWUU18/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=tape+brother+ptouch+red+on+clear&qid=1575507380&sr=8-4


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## Chuck D. Bones

Thanks, Barry!  I just placed an order.


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## Barry

Haven't had much luck with anything in the 18mm other than black and white but 9mm and 12mm I've had some luck with


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## Mourguitars

Chuck D. Bones said:


> Finally got my PT-D600 going.  Had no end of trouble getting the driver to install on Win7-64 because the installer would generate obscure error messages and then report (incorrectly) that the driver had been installed.  Online chat with Brother was a complete waste of time.  I eventually figured out that I could bypass the "installer" (a self-extracting exe) and unpack it myself using 7zip. After unpacking, I found a setup program in the 3264 folder that actually works.
> 
> To make a long story even longer, I had first-pass success with a set of labels for my Boost pedal.  It's a cross between a Catalinbread Naga Viper and a Lovepedal Clock of Tone.  Kind of a LoveBread ViperTone.  Thanks for steering me to the PT-D600, Jovi!
> 
> View attachment 2367




Looks awesome CDB !


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## Chuck D. Bones

Thanks for the kind words everyone.
Once I've spent a little more time with it and am satisfied with the sound, I'll share the insides too on the Build Reports forum.


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## njubelt

Sorry to ressurect an old thread, but with this printer how exactly do you split up graphics onto multiple labels? I know I will have to print large graphics on 2+ labels, but using the p-touch editor software I am able to print one half of the label fine, but how do you guys line up the other half to make sure that the two match up evenly?


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## untamedfrontier

Heads up to anyone looking for one of these, they are on sale at staples for 69.99


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