Document the Dymo output and the real limits of text size

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01Vunz4VLxAYDBnU5tLciLDC

docs/PARTS_LABELS.md

@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 # Parts Drawer Labels
 
 Admin-only labelling system for sorting drawers and bags. Browse a part
-taxonomy, define a label per drawer, and print them onto sticker sheets or
+taxonomy, define a label per drawer, and print them onto sticker sheets,
-continuous tape.
+continuous tape, or Dymo die-cut stock.
 
 Lives at **`/admin/labels`** — in the admin menu as *Parts Labels*.
 
@@ -198,14 +198,19 @@ can bookmark a set of combined labels.
 
 ### Text size
 
-*Tape & layout → Text size*, 0.5× to 3×, with Normal / Large / Huge / Max
+*Tape & layout → Text size*, 0.5× to 2×, with Normal / Large / Largest presets
-presets and a slider.
+and a slider. The same control is on the Dymo page.
 
 The name is sized first and everything else gives way to it: the part image
 shrinks (and is dropped entirely if that is what it takes) before the type
 does. The whole name always prints — it wraps to two lines and settles at the
-largest size that fits, so a long name stops growing before a short one does.
+largest size that fits.
-Untick *Part image* for the biggest possible type.
+
+**40mm is 40mm.** Once the name spans the label, turning the dial further
+changes nothing, and most names reach that by about 1.4×. What the setting
+really buys you is the trade against the artwork: with a part image on the
+label, 1.4× roughly halves the picture and makes the name half again as big.
+Untick *Part image* to give the text the whole width from the start.
 
 ### What to do when it won't print
 
@@ -221,6 +226,51 @@ Untick *Part image* for the biggest possible type.
 
 ---
 
+## Printing on a Dymo LabelWriter
+
+*Labels → tick some labels → **Dymo***, or the sticker icon on any row.
+
+Tape is a roll; a LabelWriter is die-cut stock — one fixed rectangle at a
+time. A 40 × 15mm drawer label is small enough that several fit on one
+sticker, so LIM gangs them up with dashed cut guides and gives you a PDF.
+Print, cut, stick. The labels are drawn by the same code as the tape ones, so
+a drawer labelled from the Dymo looks identical to one off the VC-500W.
+
+**Stock presets** (Dymo's own part numbers and sizes):
+
+| Stock | Size | Standard labels per sticker |
+|---|---|---|
+| 99014 shipping | 101 × 54mm | 6 (2 across, 3 down) |
+| 30256 shipping | 59 × 102mm | 5 (1 across, 5 down) |
+| 1744907 (4XL, 4 × 6in) | 104 × 159mm | 18 |
+| 99012 address | 89 × 36mm | 4 |
+| 99010 address | 89 × 28mm | 2 |
+
+*Labels per sticker* is auto by default — as many as physically fit — or pin
+it to 4-up (2 × 2), 6-up (2 × 3) or one at a time. A two-part drawer label is
+20mm instead of 15, so a mixed run fits fewer; labels stack down a column and
+then across, which wastes less of the sticker than filling it in rows.
+
+**Printing.** Each PDF page is exactly the stock size, so set the Dymo driver
+to that label and print at **100% / Actual size** — never "Fit to page", which
+quietly shrinks the 40mm labels by a few percent. There is no direct network
+printing here because the LabelWriter 4XL is a USB printer; the PDF goes
+through whatever driver the machine already has.
+
+**It is a thermal printer**, so there is no colour and no greys of its own:
+black dots or nothing. The preview converts to monochrome to show you what
+will actually come out — untick *Monochrome* if you would rather judge the
+colour version. Category colour stripes still print, as black bars.
+
+Other options worth knowing: *Skip slots* starts partway into a part-used
+sticker, *Margin* keeps ink off the die-cut edge where feed tolerance lives,
+*Gap* is cutting room between labels, and *Copies each* repeats every label.
+
+Set the stock you usually keep loaded in *Labels → Settings → Dymo
+LabelWriter* and the page starts there.
+
+---
+
 ## The catalogue look
 
 The labelling pages use a denser, cooler-toned skin than the rest of LIM
@@ -245,10 +295,12 @@ app/services/ipp_client.py          minimal IPP client (RFC 8010/8011)
 app/routes/labels.py                /admin/labels (all admin_required)
 app/routes/labels_catalog.py        /admin/labels/catalog
 app/routes/labels_tape.py           /admin/labels/tape
+app/services/dymo_sheet.py          Dymo stock presets, ganging, 300dpi PDF
+app/routes/labels_dymo.py           /admin/labels/dymo
 app/data/part_taxonomy.json         the starter taxonomy
 app/static/css/labels-bricklink.css the catalogue skin
 app/templates/admin/labels/         index, form, categories, settings, print,
-                                    catalog, tape, _nav
+                                    catalog, tape, dymo, _nav
 <UPLOAD_FOLDER>/parts/              cached and uploaded part images
 ```