What we use to tag a workshop.
CraftedTracker prints QR labels for you and writes NFC tags from your phone. This is the short list of what I actually use in my own shop, sized to match exactly what the app prints, so nothing needs trimming or guessing. If you want the why behind each choice, read Tag a Whole Shop in an Afternoon (on the blog Thursday, September 17).
Three things, all off the shelf
1 · QR labels — Avery 1 in round, 94500 layout
1 in round · 48 to a sheet · white · durable, waterproof · print-to-the-edge
The app's label printer is drawn for Avery's 94500 layout and no other: forty-eight 1-inch circles on a letter sheet. Each label carries the tool's QR code and its short code. I use the durable, waterproof version: it survives hands, dust and the occasional splash far better than paper labels. Any Avery sheet sold as 94500, or "1 in round, 48 per sheet", lines up the same way.
2 · NFC tags — for plastic housings, wood, drawers and cabinets
1 in (25 mm) round · NTAG215 · clear · waterproof · adhesive back
Tap with the phone, no camera, no aiming. These go on a plastic motor housing, a wooden bench, the inside of a drawer or a cabinet door. The app writes them on Android; on an iPhone you copy the tool's link and write it with the free NFC Tools app. A CraftedTracker address is short, so the smaller NTAG213 works just as well if that's what you find. They're the same 1-inch circle as the QR label, so a label can sit right on top of one if you want both. Not on or behind metal, though. That's the next item.
3 · Anti-metal NFC tags — for cast-iron tables and metal tools
1 in (25 mm) round · NTAG213 / NTAG215 · anti-metal (shielded) · adhesive back
Metal detunes a standard NFC tag and usually kills the read. An on-metal tag has a thin shielding layer between the chip and the surface, so it reads when stuck to a table saw, a jointer bed or a metal drill housing. It costs more and runs a little thicker, and the read range is short: the phone has to sit flat against the spot. I've run both of these packs on my own machines and they read every time.
Anti-metal NTAG215 coins · 50 tags Anti-metal NTAG215 stickers · 25 mm round · 50 tags
Prices are on Amazon and change often, so I don't print them here. Read the listing before you buy a big pack of NFC tags: you want the chip named (NTAG213 or NTAG215), the size in millimetres, and "compatible with all NFC phones", not just a gaming console.
From blank tag to tagged tool
- Print the labels. In the app, open Print QR labels, load a 94500 sheet, and print. Every label comes out with a fresh code.
- Or write an NFC tag. Open Program NFC tags, type or scan the tool's code, and hold the blank tag to the back of the phone until it buzzes.
- Stick it somewhere it won't get sanded, sprayed or gripped: under the table lip, on the motor housing, inside a cabinet door.
- Scan it once to pair it with the tool's record. From then on, that tag opens that tool.