We've been using removable paper labels at our CNC for a while but everyone hates them. They are OK on prefinished plywood and melamine but when you put them on raw plywood or MDF, they leave a lot of residue that the finish booth has to remove with thinner.

We don't usually have to remove the labels but it's often enough (for various reasons) that it's becoming a problem.

Is anyone using a good vinyl (ie, won't shred) label that is also removable that you can suggest? What printer are you using?

Our current printer is a Zebra, it's great, and doesn't require a ribbon. I think most of the vinyl labels out there require a ribbon. Anyone find those a hassle?

We started our labeling journey with paper labels on melamine 6 years ago and quickly transitioned to polypropylene labels.

They are much easier to peel and don't tear and in my opinion are well worth the small added cost over paper labels.

Our printers are all Zebra printers but you would need to verify that your printers support thermal transfer label printing. The process you're using now is direct thermal which is more expensive on average per label, but the machines are generally less expensive up front.

Loading in a ribbon for thermal transfer is very easy, and provides a superior more durable printed label than you would get from direct thermal. I wouldn't be worried at all about working with ribbons.

One thing of note is 95%+ of ribbon is a wax/resin combination which is great for most applications. We recently discovered full resin ribbon which is more expensive and prints a bit more slowly but the big advantage is the ink doesn't smudge at all. We used to very occasionally have issues with broken barcodes (due to rubbing when we stack parts on top of each other) which is a non-issue with full resin ribbon. With that said, if you are fine with direct thermal labels you would definitely be ok with the standard wax/resin ribbon.

We don't buy from them but ablelabel sells rolls of polypropylene labels in smaller quantities. https://www.ablelabel.com/polypropylene-labels/removable-adhesive-polypropylene-la
bels

For larger quantities I would recommend seeing if there's a more local supplier who can produce in larger quantities for you as there are often some nice savings.

Abel Label makes a vinyl label that stick really good and doesn’t rip and peals off easily. Video below is about these labels and has contact info.

What is the best Label for labeling cabinet parts on CNC
https://youtu.be/hsxMO1BO-IY

Best cnc label