How to indelibly mark plastic oil bottles?

[choprboy]

I use a set of HF plastic (polyethylene) bottles at the lathe and the mill for easy dispensing of all the needed fluids, way oil, cutting oil, coolant, WD40, etc. as I work. The bottles themselves hold up great, easy to dispense and get down into holes, easy to see how much is remaining in the bottle, doesn't break or dent when dropped on the floor, and cheap - if I gobbered something or catch the tip in a tool I just transfer the remaining oil to a new bottle and toss the old.

Unfortunately... the PE does not take marking very well. Permanent marker, paints, enamal coated stencils and lettering; between the flexible plastic and oils, everything I've tried rubs off in a fairly short time, and remarking after the bottle is coated in oil doesn't work.. Coming back to the shop after a couple weeks of not machining, trying to figure out which was the way oil, which was the cutting oil, etc. is a real chore. Does anyone have a magic marking solution that holds up on plastic in the shop?

[DianneB]

I have not found anything permanent for polyethylene. The only thing that comes close is to buff with sand paper and write with permanent marker -that will last for awhile. Otherwise ty-wrap a fibre tag to the bottle neck and write on the tag.

[SteveHGraham]

I read that a solvent called 1,2,4-tricholorobenzene will dissolve polyethylene. Wonder if you could paint an area on a bottle to make it porous and then go over it with some kind of paint marker.

Unfortunately, it's over $30 for 25 g on Ebay.

There are primers made for polyethylene. Maybe you could apply primer and mark on it.

[SteveHGraham]

Duct tape on bottle, writing on duct tape?

[Frank Ford]

I have poly bottles with actone, naphtha, lacquer thinner,, cellosolve, alcohol, mineral oil, kerosene, paint thinner and other stuff. I use regular ol' Dymo plastic embossed strip labels - they last a long time and are always easy to read.

[neanderman]

I use regular ol' Dymo plastic embossed strip labels...

Where do you get the label material?

[choprboy]

How do you get the labels to stick to the bottle long term? I tried a stick-on Dymo label (thermo-print tape, not the embossed stuff) and it loosened and fell off after a bit from the oil. I had thought about printing a label, sticking it to the bottle, and then putting some clear heatshrink over the whole bottle to keep it there (can't use the thermo-tape, it will turn all black when applying the heatshrink)... though I suspect the label will get discolored over time.

Dianne's mention of a neck tag gave me an idea... I'll have to see if I can get around to fabbing something up this weekend.

[Magicniner]

How about using a stencil and fine media blasting to roughen the surface enough to read the text? it shouldn't weaken the bottle appreciably and legibility should improve with use as the grime beds in
Alternatively if you can find a really old Dymo label machine like mine you can use stainless tape, punch holes in the ends and wire it in place, good for making tags for garden plants too as they last forever if you fix with stainless wire.

- Nick

[RSG]

I have the same bottles and have found labeling a piece of masking tape that goes around the bottle works great if you use some clear tape after to cover the masking tape, going above and below and all the way around.

[Frank Ford]

I use regular ol' Dymo plastic embossed strip labels...

Where do you get the label material?

Just do a quick eBay or other search for "Dymo embossing tape." I suspect most suppliers of stationery items carry it, too, along with the tools.

[Mr Ron]

It may seem like a lot of work, but how about sticking a Dymo tape to a thin strip of metal, aluminum, steel, etc. and adhere the strip to the PE with epoxy.

[jcfx]

PE, PP and Delrin ( acetal ) are the most difficult to mark and glue, you could try heat embossing the bottles
with the contents name. PE and PP have a indicator to when they're ready to form, they go clear or translucent,
it's probably close to their melting point when it gets to that stage but I have successfully formed PE and PP,
use a heat gun if you want to try it.

There are special adhesives that will glue these slippery plastics, I had used something called Parbond 905
to glue rubber to delrin, it was an expensive glue ( $80 ) and I had to "plasma treat " the surface with a torch
the results were iffy.