Testing required - Sample label stock from Ripped Sheets

[ideasguy]

Go for it guys!
Lets see how the printing goes.
A couple of things:

1) Front/Back
There is a little Ripped Sheets label on the BACK.

Tip:
Put an x on a sheet of A4 as a test.
Do a print (anything).
Observe which side the x is now on.
You now know which side to face up when feeding the Ripped Sheets sample into the printer.

2) Make sure you allow the ink to dry overnight (just in case).
Please discuss: Did the ink look as if it was dry immediately after printing?

[roiphil]

been having a tinker with my labels before commiting to final print out, as you will see i have also put on the label what area outside, greenhouse, polytunnel



 think it all looks ok to commit to proper labels, gulp only 1 shot at this 

[roiphil]

George trying to get my head round the info that you need you mention
Gathering information
Rather than a formal Test sheet, we will gather information as we proceed with the tests.
Any and all additional comments about the test are welcome.

Heres the information we would like to collect (on each test you perform)

Printer make and model used (more than one if you have options)
Ink used
the date of starting the test

Surface material used
What did you stick the labels to?

What were the labels subjected to:
Water 
Snow
Hail/Sleet
Hot. Sunshine
Pesticide
Frost
Med. Sunshine
Herbicide
Rain
Fertilizer
Other:

Environment
Outdoors
Greenhouse
Under Grow lights
etc

do you want dates that it rained, fertiliser was used, sunny etc etc, i am thinkig if you do excel would be good for this if you can collerrate from excell at the end of the test year
in excel it could be layed out as such



i just think taht we need a universal layout between all testers to make it easier for you to put together at the end, any thoughts on this, ps forget the date mistake  , perhaps a sheet for each month

[ideasguy]

I dont want to weight the testers down with such detail Phil.
Think of what we have listed as check boxes.
Rain - Yes/No (you bet, if its outside)
Snow - Yes/No
etc
Hope Toby agrees

[bossgard]

Phil and other Label Testers:

Its so interesting looking in on your discussions and the work you are doing
with your test labels for the Ripped Sheets #104000 label stock and the
inkjet printers..

I would say that George is probably right! I would also say that any person using
IG Pro is probably enough detail orientated, to figure out how to do
their own label testing and how to keep track of it. Keep it brief, keep it simple,
but come up with the right answers at the right time. ?If the label fails, why did
it fail??

Phil, you might possibly try to pull together a ?one size fits all? score sheet in Excel,
by perhaps putting details at the top of the page about the test number, the printer,
the ink, the location of the test at the moment, etc

Place the suggested items in the first vertical row as reminders, with blank
vertical and horizontal rows in which  to handwrite any test notes. You then are
creating more of a ?reminder? or ?cheat-sheet? score card that way, with a blank
grid to fill in.

You would then use one score card sheet per test number. Or ten sheets altogether.
Make something that could be copied and printed out easy from the Forum.

Your test is going to last 12 months, but I don?t think you have to have set dates
to actually look at the condition of your labels. Have the weather (if outdoors), or
you dictate when you think you need to check up on the labels condition(s).
George might be able to look in on your weather, and remind you and others
of certain things or times that they might check their labels.

Keep up the good work there, gentlemen!

Toby

[ideasguy]

That sums it up nicely, Boss

In particular, this is the most important point:
RE:

Have the weather (if outdoors), or you dictate when you think you need to check up on the labels condition(s).

[roiphil]

i have knocked together a simple form in excell if anyone wishes to use, george, toby perhaps you could have a look and tell me if i need to correct anything on it, as toby mentioned 10 sheets

this is the link to download

http://magicseeder-ie.com/main/page_igpro_label_test.html

[ideasguy]

When I click download it tells me it is a type ods file
What is that? What do you use to open it?

[roiphil]

i use office one program taht came with vista, which has office one calc which the program uses for excell, will it not open for you

[roiphil]

ok i have re formatted my first attempt into an xls you should be able to open this one as it is suitable for xp etc
2nd link down on page let me know if you have any joy this time

http://magicseeder-ie.com/main/page_igpro_label_test.html

ODS stand for open document spreadsheet so i found out

[newplantguy]

Here is my sheet.
Paul.

[NightHawk]

Go for it guys!
Lets see how the printing goes.
... Make sure you allow the ink to dry overnight (just in case).
Please discuss: Did the ink look as if it was dry immediately after printing?

Just done a successful print onto the Ripped Sheet of labels - Phew!

The ink is immediately dry to the touch, but I'll give it 24 hours to fully dry before exposing the labels to the elements 

Just to confirm my printing status - Epson Stylus SX115 Inkjet Printer with DuraBrite Ultra ink.

Laurie.

[NightHawk]

Nice one Paul.

Is that your test print onto A4 plain paper?

If so, you're looking good to go for the BIG ONE - committing to the precious labels sheet proper.  No pressure. 

Phil - have you bitten the bullet yet and gone for Gold?    It's really exciting stuff.  Like kids with new toys are we not?

Laurie.

P.S. To George and Toby........... are you proud of your student testers so far, and do we go to the top of the class?  (At least for effort so far anyway I suspect  )

[ideasguy]

Yes, delighted, Laurie!
Its a relief to get feedback on the actual printing operation, since we only had a single sheet to test with - no margin for error.
Thanks for your report!

In an email, Toby stated that he was moved!
He has always been soooo enthusiastic about the labels program, and spurred me on to get it developed to where it is now.
.
Its taken a year to get this project under way but it should be well worthwhile.
Good work team

[newplantguy]

Yes Laurie, this is my test print onto A4 paper, I agree that I should be good to go now
The printer thinks the paper size is wrong so I will have to watch this when printing for real.
Waiting now for some mounts for the labels, should be here soon.
George, your label programme really is working well, I think this trial we are doing is a useful exercise in printing with pictures.
I think we should all get a gold star for effort George
Paul.

[roiphil]

A big long PHEWWWWWWWWWWW from me done it perfect print  , instant dry, print quality/colour is better on the labels than on normal paper the colours are clearer and sharper
Kodak ESP5 Formulabs Ink

am leaving it till tomorrow before i put the labels on my holders, then you will all get to see my DIY, and yes i used to watch blue peter 

[ideasguy]

Thats good news Phil.
Now the DIY fun begins

RE: (Paul)

The printer thinks the paper size is wrong so I will have to watch this when printing for real.

Yes, those who normally use A4 paper (e.g. in UK) may have to bypass a similar message when you go to print .
US members should not see those messages, as the label sheet we are using is US size (8.5x11 ins)

RE: (Paul)

Waiting now for some mounts for the labels, should be here soon.

Jumping ahead a little, but I'm looking forward to seeing what you get Paul.
Are they standard supply (a website?)

RE: (Paul)

George, your label programme really is working well, I think this trial we are doing is a useful exercise in printing with pictures.

Thanks for that! Yes, its a good exercise, since most of the labels we've worked as a group on in previous topics has been text only.

[roiphil]

These are my DIY efforts i have 3 locations for testing
1, outside
2, greenhouse
3, polytunnel

My materials for sticking the labels to are
1, a normal horticultural T Bed label, i am using both sides on one side the picture other side the text as the T Bed label is not big enough to take the label in one go
2, perspex
3, aluminium

so i have for my labels this set up 1 label of each type in 3 locations
1, Outside - with T Bed label, Perspex, Aluminiun
2, Greenhouse - with T Bed label, Perspex, Aluminiun
1, Poly tunnel - with T Bed label, Perspex, Aluminiun



George recording the data i have an excell sheet,



i have 10 pages, 10 labels = 10 pages i plan to record in this manner when it rains i enter a number 1 in the labels it affets (outside) when it rains again i change that number to 2 = 2 days rain, so at the end of the test you will see that i have had x amount days of rain, and i do the same for anything else in the greenhouse and polytunnel, does this work for you george
you will note the sheet is on test 10 greenhouse aluminium by looking at the tab at the bottom, if any one else has come up with an easier method for recording the data needed please share 

[ideasguy]

Good ideas for mounts, Phil and the diverse applications and environments will provide very useful information

Ive discussed the Excel sheets with Toby.
We've agreed to keep this as simple as possible = KIS and to focus on the prime objective of the project, as specified in the Project web page.

It would be too much to expect our testers to fill in 10 spreadsheets every time it rains. In Ireland, you and I would be pretty busy!
Go ahead and use your spreadsheet and send data to me like that if you wish. It much more than I expect.

[roiphil]

Good ideas for mounts, Phil and the diverse applications and environments will provide very useful information

Ive discussed the Excel sheets with Toby.
We've agreed to keep this as simple as possible = KIS and to focus on the prime objective of the project, as specified in the Project web page.

It would be too much to expect our testers to fill in 10 spreadsheets every time it rains. In Ireland, you and I would be pretty busy!
Go ahead and use your spreadsheet and send data to me like that if you wish. It much more than I expect.

ok have you a layout sheet and instructions how to fill in, perhaps you could email me a copy of yours when you make it, i am trying to stay in line with all testers data, as you have probably guesed by now i dont keep data of plants, weather etc so this bit has got me stumped   

[ideasguy]

No formal layout sheet Phil.
I will prompt regularly (say once per month) to remind testers to check their labels.

Outside of that, simply send an email when an "event" occurs - events being failures and possible causes - rain, snow etc.

All we need to know is what failed (adhesive, legibility of text, quality of photo etc) and what you suspect caused it to fail.

I will summarise the info I receive by extending the information on the Web Project web pages.

[roiphil]

got you now, no need to record events such as when it rained etc, but you need to know when labels colour faded came of holders etc, just remind us each month, at the moment my workload is pretty full on, (it took me 3 days to make the holders  ) trying to get together a list of ornamental trees that we can plant out in the field to grow on and resell later, has anyone got any favourites begging for help/inspiration 

[bossgard]

Phil and to the Other Ripped Sheets Label Testers:

Now you?ve got it Phil.

When I was suggesting an Excel layout to aid in tracking the testing of your
label stock, I was thinking just two vertical rows, the first vertical row
as an ITEMS list for checking the condition of your Test Labels, and a second
vertical row next to it, for any NOTES you might want to make.

That way when George does contact you, then you are reminded how things
have progressed during your testing and you can report them to him.

Your mounts are neat, is that galvanized metal that some are made of? I don?t know
if I?m too late for you Phil, but I might make the suggestion to be sure that
your mounts have a clean surface to adhere the labels to. As a suggestion you
might use regular household detergent or soap, follow with a water rinse, and
then I have used quite successfully, a final rinse of White (Clear) household
Vinegar. Doing that, will get the Labels off to a good clean start.

Do you or the others have any alternative suggestions for clean surfaces?

- Toby

[roiphil]

Now you?ve got it Phil.

   

Toby the metal ones are made from aluminium (the roof from our old mobile home  ) waste not want not, could not sell it could not even give it away and it had to go so we scrapped it and saved bits from it and weighed the chassis and tin in, i kept a bit of the roof aluminium because you never know when you may need some, yes i cleaned all mounts in fairy washing up liquid then a good rinse off in water,

suggestion here aswell if your mounts are smooth it maybe a good idea to sandpaper the surface a bit, as i realised that the T Bed labels area was not smooth, so i sandpapered the perspex ones a bit, dont know if it helps any or makes any difference to the stickability of it.

[newplantguy]

Well printed the labels, all has gone well
Will leave to dry now and then cut up and put on label mounts tomorrow,
they look fine, there is no smudging went through printer ok.
Paul.