Review of DYMO 160 Label maker

Hello everyone...Another quick review for today!

I am usually not the one to spend on expensive gadgets, but when my DIY hacks fail, I end up buying them.

So in this post (Stamp Storage and Labeling), I swore, I would never  buy a label maker. And that I would use my regular printer and I could use all the fonts I can find.
 Well, I eat my words. I had a slight laziness issue with my first idea.

I had to wait till I had enough new stamps so that I could cover a full new sheet of label sticker. I could not print 2-3 labels and save the paper..I tended to waste the paper, or the printer would not accept smaller paper. If I wasn't lazy enough, I could have made it work..but sadly I am lazy.

So I went to search for label makers. Asked a hundred questions around the forums and finally narrowed onto something that would not make me regret, if it did not work.

So say hello to my new Label Maker DYMO 160. I got it from Amazon.in. Funny story...The local store here carries this same product for Rs.3800 and I was able to score this for Rs.1700 on Amazon.
Keep a watch on the prices, they fluctuate once in a while.
( I got from the vendor called "Amazingly Fab")

NMP - Source Google Search

Its small, fits into the palm of my hand.

Of course this is not as awesome the Brother P200 that Jennifer uses, but this will have to do for now.

There are a few pros and cons...but then not everything can be awesome right?? Then you have to pay the price for it too..I rather buy a few more stamp sets with the money I saved here..

Lets start with the negatives first..

• Only one font.
• It uses 6 AAA batteries. Which is a lot..if it was AA, could have been a bit cheaper.
• Finding the cliparts and symbols, is a little tedious, but not impossible.
• I wish there was a way to save the tape when printing, it puts a lot of white space in the 
• front and back to the label..which is where I feel it wastes the tape.  
• No instruction manual is provided. But it is easy to use right out of the box without a manual. You can download one from the website .

Now the Positives according to me

• Prints two lines with the 12mm tape and 3/8th inch tape. (Score!!)
• Same machine can accept 3 widths of tape.. 1/4th, 3/8th and 1/2 inch.
• Has fonts from 8 point to 24 point.
• Lots of symbols and cliparts are built in
• The tape has split backing, so easier to remove.
• Feather touch buttons
• QWERTY keypad..makes it so much faster to type.
• Refills tapes come in packs of 5, which costs about 350 per refill. {About 1750 for a pack of 5 & has 7m (about 23 feet)} of tape per new refill, the box comes with 3m of trial tape)
• You can Underline, go italics, print Bold or print in boxes.

Basic but suffices for my use for now.

Since I am just starting to use it, I will update in a few days how it performs to my expectations.

And here is quick view of how it prints.

This works for me for now...so now, lets get labeling! :)

Hope this post is of some help to you...
Do not forget to check out my Stamp Storage post here


( affiliate link are used..in plain English it means, that every time you buy something using my link, I get a tiny bit of money..at no extra cost to you. And it helps me to continue finding such crazy stuff for you)

The best stamp Cleaner

Edited to Add

Now this post has a video too...
Do check out the video ... and while in there, you may get a sneak peek of something else coming in the next few days too..

 Or you can head over to my channel and watch it in HD.. here 
Links to find the cloth AMAZON

( affiliate link used..in plain English it means, that every time you buy something using my link, I get a tiny bit of money..at no extra cost to you. And it helps me to continue finding such crazy local stuff for you)

 
My older post
I had been meaning to share this hack/tip/product a long while ago, and never go around to it.
So finally I decided I should. Since I have now been using this for over 3 months.

I think most of us use either an old rag, an old T-shirt, wet wipes, baby wipes, scrubber, and what not to clean your stamps after inking. This one thing will make you throw away everything.

Of course you will still need your stamp conditioner, like Cleans it All or Hero Arts Ultra clean for cleaning off traces of Archival inks, or stazon but other than that dump everything.

I used to use a water spray mister and an old T-shirt and wet wipes before I found this. Tshirt used to leave stray fibres and wet wipes dry by the time I finish a project... and then another wet wipe.

So what is it? Its a faux chamois cloth that is usually used to clean cars and is super super absorbent.

When you order, you will get a long roll stuffed in a plastic bottle. Almost the size of a baby towel.

It is packed slightly damp. Don't panic.  That's how its supposed to be kept. Cut it up into a tissue size or a small handkerchief size.
Find an old plastic box, any small box with a lid. And dump in it. That's it. That one small piece of faux chamois will last for almost 3-5 months depending how heavy you stamp. I used my Faux Chamois cloth for all my swatch samples. And I still use it. Its black, its dirty and it still cleans like a dream.

Why the box?
You need to keep the cloth moist for it to clean. If it becomes dry, it becomes like a stiff cardboard. Plus if you wipe and keep on your desk, the moist cloth may dampen your papers. So clean your stamps and dump it back into the box.

How to clean?
I simply wash with plain water and let it air dry. Once dry, it re-dampen it and put it back into the box. Where it will stay damp for almost a week.
Some times you may get a funny smell. If so, just let it air dry and the smell will go away.
You can even machine wash it if you want, but not necessary.

What Else??
Do you know when you use wet glue and it seeps out? And if you wipe with your hands, you get a long streak that well, shines once it dries? I hate that. So I tried once to clean with this cloth, and what do you know. The glue came off and there was no damn shiny streak left on the paper. Super happy me.

Anything more I want to add??
Oh yes, It cleans glitter off you table like magic. But getting the glitter off your cloth, well that's another story!!! (Bwahaha!!) 

So if I have convinced you to try this, jump right here and buy it. It's available in large and a small size. Check the size before you buy.
I got the large (66 X 43 X 0.2 cm) and it will last me a year for sure.
The small one is (43 x 32 x 0.2) Don't buy anything smaller than that size.

It does come in funky colors. On Amazon I see only yellow, but luckily I got a green one.

Run and get one...this is almost the same as the Absorber that the crafters in the US are using.