Computer Software for Steel Professionals
Structural Material Manager Adhesive Label Specifications
Introduction: Although E.J.E. Industries can supply the required labels, we feel strongly that you as the customer should have the ability to obtain compatible labels from other sources as well. Accordingly, we supply the necessary specifications for having labels produced that will work with Structural Material Manager.
E.J.E. Industries, Inc. guarantees proper software operation with the labels it carries. Labels that are manufactured to our specifications should work properly as well, but since the actual construction and tolerances are outside of our control, we cannot be held responsible for improper operation with any labels that are obtained from other sources.
Material: The label's face material must be polyester. Paper is not suitable because it will deteriorate in the elements, but polyester, a synthetic, will withstand temperature extremes, moisture and sunlight. Synthetics less expensive than polyester are available, but they may smear, tear or be incompatible with the required "freezer-grade" adhesive (see below).
Adhesive: The labels must employ an adhesive that is formulated to allow them to stick well to steel. "Freezer-grade" adhesive is used in order to assure proper adhesion to steel over a wide range of temperatures. The freezer-grade adhesive used in the E.J.E. Industries labels allows them to be applied at temperatures as low as 10 degrees Fahrenheit; once applied, the labels can be exposed to temperatures ranging from -40 to +300 degrees Fahrenheit. Do not substitute less-expensive "refrigerator-grade" adhesive unless you are located in a warm climate and thus do not expect to apply labels at temperatures less than 32 degrees Fahrenheit.
Format: Pin-feed holes must exist for use in a dot-matrix printer. If the labels are simply in a friction-feed format, i.e., if they lack the necessary tractor-feed holes, they will probably become misaligned as the labels are printing. The pin-feed format is thus an important requirement.
Perforations: All labels must be separated by tear-off perforations.
Fan-Folding: The stock must be fan-folded after every so many labels (perhaps after every 3rd or 4th label). The fan-folding allows easy printer input as well as neat re-stacking of the output. If the labels are not fan-folded, they will have to be supplied on a roll that requires a feeding mechanism for printer input; also, output will be unwieldy since the printed labels will have to be manually re-rolled.
Size: Labels must be at least 4.000" wide by 2.833" high. Dimensions in excess of 4.000" x 2.833" will not hurt performance in any way as long as the required label repeat specification is met (see below). E.J.E. Industries' labels are 4.750" x 2.875" due to the addition of a 0.750" reinforced area (for hanging the label from a cable tie) on the right edge of the label.
Label Repeat Distance: The distance from the top of one label to the top of the next should be exactly a multiple of 1/2 inch such as 3.000", 3.500", etc. The Structural Material Manager labels that E.J.E. Industries stocks employ 3.000" top-to-top spacing (the label is 2.875" high and is followed by a 0.125" space). This distance is extremely important, as Structural Material Manager issues a series of 1/6" line-feeds in order to reach the next label; every (3) 1/6" line-feeds of course cause vertical movement of exactly 0.500" since 3 x 1/6" = 3/6" = 1/2". To realize how important this specification is, consider the case of a 2.994" label repeat. This seems very close to 3.000" until you consider that after just 27 lines of label data are printed, the spacing would be advanced one full 1/6" line feed too far down the label! This follows from the fact that each label is off by 0.006", and 27 x 0.006" is approximately 1/6", i.e., the height of one standard line. In summary, there is no room for error on the label repeat distance!
If you have custom labels produced, and they have a label repeat other than 3.000", you'll need to change the "Lines Per Page (portrait)" setting in the Printer Setup Utility (see Chapter 12 for details on this utility). Measure the distance in inches from the top of one label to the top of the next, and multiply this value by 6. Since Structural Material Manager always advances the printer in 1/6" increments, the result of this multiplication is the lines per page setting. For example, E.J.E. Industries' own labels use a label repeat of 3.000"; 3 times 6 = 18 which is thus the default lines per page value that Structural Material Manager assigns to the label printer. Note that you never have to specify the label separation (the distance from the bottom of one label to the top of the next); by using the distance from the top of one label to the top of the next, the gap between labels is automatically accounted for.
Label Separation: The space from the bottom of one label to the top of the next must not exceed 1/6". Structural Material Manager automatically leaves a 1-line bottom margin when printing labels, so there is no chance of printing in the space between labels unless that space exceeds 1/6".