Printing Chemical Labels with Epson ColorWorks C6500A Label Printers

In June 2020, Epson discontinued the Epson GP-C831 color label printer and replaced it with the Epson ColorWorks C6500A color label printer. Like the GP-C831, the new CW-C6500A is commonly used to print GHS chemical drum labels. Here’s what you need to know about printing chemical labels with the Epson ColorWorks C6500A color label printer.

The Epson CW-C6500A is an 8-inch wide full color label printer that can print GHS BS5609-compliant labels when used with our C6500 chemical label materials. These chemical labels are BS5609-certified for use with the Epson ColorWorks C6500A color label printer. This combination produces compliant labels that can withstand harsh environmental and chemical exposures including long-term immersion in seawater. The adhesive and polypropylene label materials remain affixed despite immersion while the pigment inks remain legible even with long-term exposure to UV light, chemicals, saltwater, and other elements.

Since the Epson ColorWorks C6500A color label printer does not use an 8-pin tractor feed, but rather traditional label rolls, there’s a much larger supply of blank C6500 labels available that you can use including GHS chemical labels in a wide variety of shapes, widths, and sizes. For chemical drum labels, you’ll likely want to use 8-inch wide labels. Smaller items such as helium tanks or pool chemicals may benefit from narrower widths.

All chemical labels must include specific warning statements, pictographs, and other elements. We have several free trial versions of label design software from NiceLabel and Seagull Scientific BarTender that you can try. These programs include all of the required GHS chemical labeling statements and graphics and make designing your own chemical drum labels a simple matter of selecting a template and following the prompts.

In addition to printing GHS BS5609 chemical labels, the Epson ColorWorks C6500A color label printer can print a wide range of durable labels on synthetic stock such as our matte polypropylene C6500 labels. These blank labels provide outstanding durability and water-, abrasion-, and oil-resistance. Use matte or glossy polypropylene C6500 labels for applications where durability is desired such as outdoor applications, garden center labels, olive oil labels, cosmetics and toiletries labels, and vape labels.

The new Epson ColorWorks C6500A color label printer is right at home in both small and enterprise organizations. For the smaller business, it’s a reliable industrial label printer that can be used for a wide range of label applications including general purpose and shipping labels, barcodes, and GHS BS5609 chemical labels. For larger businesses, the Epson ColorWorks C6500A color label printer can become part of a larger fleet of industrial label printers thanks to its remote management tools, and widespread compatibility with enterprise software.

While we will miss the Epson GP-C831 color label printer, we love the improvements included in its replacement, the Epson ColorWorks C6500A color label printer.