Re: Milky spit white tape = Milk Moustache
Wow!!
oo: This thread is awesome!
I don't know when Milky started labeling his lights. However, I have one of Scott's PVC lights - the label on it doesn't even have the MilkyLabs logo.
Migs, you also have what may be the
only PVC light I've made for anyone other than myself! Excluding the Milky Candle that is. Your light predates ever using the logo on the lights themselves... see Chronos, below
A little history here...
I believe I may have been the first to have a milkyspit light with a label. A couple of years ago I had milky build a custom KL3 head for me- the "Chrononster." As we talked and exchanged PMs, I strongly suggested that he sign my KL3 in some manner, like a true artist. He said he'd think about it and do something if he could work it out.
Hence, when I received my KL3 I was pleasantly surprised to find a clear label with his milkyspit logo on the end of the bezel!
Over the years, like msax, I too get in the habit of peeling off the labels, as I often like to use beamshapers. However, I keep the labels affixed to the original blister pack or its storage case.
Take a look in the modded B/S/T section.
donn_ is currently selling my former KL3 "Chrononster" and the original (and likely first) milkyspit "tape" logo is still there, however a little dinged up due to beamshapers.
Scott, if I am wrong please correct me! :naughty:
...and yes, I do want to repurchase the Chrononster...
Hi Jim! :wave: Thanks to your request way back when, the Chrononster is the first light I ever built to carry the Milky babies logo. You had asked for some sort of "signature" piece on the light and that was what I came up with... didn't have suitable equipment at the time to print a proper graphic label, so I printed the logo on a laser printer then applied it to the rim around the bezel with a couple layers of a very good quality 3M clear archival tape as a sort of poor man's lamination. So you're right, you were responsible for a first, not in the label but rather the logo! :thumbsup:
I don't have one of these myself, but when I have an adhesive label on something that I want to remove but might want to reapply later, what I do is stick it on an empty piece of sticker-backing paper. (Like the things that self-stick postage stamps or address labels come on.) For ones I don't need to reapply later, I stick them on sheets of regular paper to save for reference purposes.
If it is difficult to remove the label without messing it up, it usually helps the adhesive be more cooperative if you warm it up some. (A hairdryer is the typical implement for this, but in this case, you could just turn the light on for a while instead.
) Oh, and if you have short fingernails, a piece of fishing line or dental floss sometimes makes it easier to do the peeling.
In many cases when I have left various adhesive labels on things instead of removing them when first acquired, the labels gradually deteriorated (even when not exposed to tough conditions), and several years later, they might be hard/brittle, or very gummy, or the top layer comes off and leaves a fuzzy back layer still adhered. On something that you'd be using/handling a bunch, of course, labels can easily get even more messed up (bent/frayed edges, lint accumulation, etc).
Aluminous, the labels I use do not need any heat for removal... in fact, that's probably a bad idea in that it would probably increase the amount of adhesive that didn't come off.
The labels I use have a great adhesive that grips securely, but when one goes to peel away the label it tends to come off with little to no residue at all... if there IS any residue, a little water and a rag/washcloth/fingernail would easily remove it.
Most likely failure mode for the labels as far as I've seen so far: either the end begins to peel away at the corners, the label begins to get snagged on things, which continues to peel the thing off slowly... or the label is subjected to abrasion such as dropping the light, rubbing against keys, or similar, and develops nicks that eventually make it unreadable.
It's worth noting that the labels are laminated... there's a clearcoat layer over the printing itself so the printing cannot be rubbed away by conventional means.
Heat? What heat?
Sorry, little joke. Although Milky seems to have shifted to more powerful mods due to customer demand, when he first started doing his Project-M lights, they all ran cool as a cucumber. My M360 in a Mag host never feels warm even after being on for an hour (<in a whisper> And I peeled off the sticker eventually. Shhh!)
Actually, I have two Milky mods and go "commando" style with both. But then again, I actually use both lights and it was weird having a light out in public with this odd white sticker around the head.
Personally, I still prefer building lights of higher efficiency... the concept of Project-M was after all to engineer the light to take advantage of the synergy of the various components along with the sweet spot of the LED efficiency curves... that's still the way I like 'em! Case in point: the one-of-a-kind M365 "Vulcan" 5x Rebel-100 build, which achieves as a SYSTEM (meaning EVERYTHING: LED, circuitry, body junctions, etc.) 100 lumens per watt... built into a new-style KL3 head, it runs cool at 365 lumens continuous for 2h19m on an AW 2200mAh 18650 cell... and can run on up to 4x123 primaries, with 1h runtime per primary (in other words, 4x123 primaries deliver 365 lumens for 4h continuous).
You're right, there are some folks around CPF who favor extreme output over efficiency... that's why I created the X-designated eXtreme cousins to the Project-M builds.
oo:
I have kept the Milky label on all my Milky lights except one - by Milky U2by2... And that's only cause the label got dinged up when I fell down a slippery bank trying to get to a patient! I personally prefer the clear Milky labels than the original white ones, the clear one suit the light more and look more classy!
The clear labels are nice, though there are a couple things that compel me not to use them in all cases: (1) they aren't available in the thinner widths that I print using the white labels, so for many of the smaller lights they're simply not an option, short of trying to cut them evenly by hand, which usually has mediocre results... and (2) if the light has writing on it, as many SureFire lights do around the bezel ring, the clear label ends up showing both the label text AND the stock engraved writing, which IMHO makes it difficult to read plus downright ugly... hence the white tape.
I have a pretty detailed spreadsheet keeping track of my lights, so there's no need to keep the label on. But that's just me.
