Does anyone designate storage shelves with laboratory magnets??

 

For example: Unprocessed, Processed, or Quarantine

 

Looking for a way to label and designate storage shelves with some flexibility.

 

Thanks

Stephanie

That's a great idea, but our shelves are stainless steel and magnets won't work.

I knew there had to be some reason why magnets were not used.

Our old Jewett refrig came with these mounting strips on the shelves in which you could insert a paper label "Unprocessed" etc. The strips were held on by an adhesive which gave up the ghost after a decade or so. Now I have labels from a Dymo label printer (they have very cool ones which work from your PC - my favorite lab toy) that I stick directly on the ends of the shelves. If you remove the shelf and let it warm up and/or wipe any moisture off and quickly apply your label they stick pretty well. Mine have been on for a couple of years and still are in good shape. The labels peel off pretty easily too.

Edited December 9, 20159 yr by Dr. Pepper

We use Velcro shelf labels.  For the part that gets stuck to the fridge / freezer, we use Gorilla glue.

I've just been using white tape w/ the info neatly written onto it. When it peels or fades, I replace it. It will last several years. However, I like Cliff's velcro idea very much!

I love the Velcro idea! Very clever Cliff

Never even thought of using Velcro!!!!

I, like Dr. Pepper, have a label maker.  I have labeled the crap out of everything!!!  I LOVE it!  (I'm sure the techs do too )

s

Isn't it interesting how the simplest things can thrill us so much?  The Velcro idea is really something you can get stuck on!

On 12/4/2015 at 5:09 PM, mollyredone said:

That's a great idea, but our shelves are stainless steel and magnets won't work.

You mean aluminium? Stainless steel is magnetic.

 

We use little sucker cups with a hook on to hang laminated signs (also great for putting lights around the window). Velcro isn't liked by the H&S bods...

The  composition of most stainless steel in the US has nickel in it which makes it non-magnetic, for a simplified version of the scientific american article.

On 12/10/2015 at 8:53 AM, AuntiS said:

Never even thought of using Velcro!!!!

I, like Dr. Pepper, have a label maker.  I have labeled the crap out of everything!!!  I LOVE it!  (I'm sure the techs do too )

s

They drew the line at me making nametags for their foreheads.

We used magnets in the fridge for years where I used to work.  We used them for the crossmatched units for each day.  Instead of moving all of the blood to the 2 day shelf, we just moved the label each day.  I think after we got the new fridge we had to do something else because they wouldn't stick to the drawers.  I can't remember now 7+ years later what we did.

Thanks, Cliff, for the Velcro idea! It took a few hours to get all the old labels off without alarming the poor fridge but I relabeled our shelves this week.