Although, probably, the price depends on the model and the degree of popularity of the manufacturer’s brand. If you use tape often and a lot, then a dispenser can make your work a lot easier. Yes, even just when packing, for example, some gift box or parcel. Also, I think, this thing and a roll of thick tape can be a good way to seal up cracks and holes (if they are not very large) in a polycarbonate greenhouse that have appeared over the winter. At least for the first time, before major repairs, or before purchasing new polycarbonate sheets.But why buy the necessary thing if you can make it yourself, and literally in half an hour. There is nothing complicated in the design of the dispenser. Its simplest version can be made from either plastic or metal. Of course, plastic will work faster, but metal will be more reliable and stronger. And then, as a material, I like metal more than plastic, so I decided to make this thing out of it. I will describe below how to do it and what is needed for this.
Will need
- A piece of sheet metal, approximately 70×70×1 (maybe with some extra).
- Ruler.
- Marker.
- Emery machine with cutting disc.
- Bor machine or needle files.
- Secondary glue and soda.
- Tube from the handle body.
- A small section of a bicycle tube.
- Scissors.
- A piece of cloth for metal (at least 50 mm).
Making a dispenser
First you need to draw the contours of the workpiece on a sheet of metal with a marker. I took half of a broken cigarette case for this purpose. So, let's measure the width of the tape. Regular, standard tape is 50 millimeters wide.
Although there are rolls that are wider or narrower by a couple of millimeters, so it’s better to play it safe and measure. We mark a strip on the metal with a marker, 50 millimeters wide and 20 millimeters long. Using a marker, divide this strip into three equal parts. We add another 5 mm to the two lower divisions on the sides, and 7 mm to the upper division. Now we draw the tail of the workpiece, tapering downwards. In general, it should look like this:
We cut out the workpiece along the contour on an emery machine and make cuts on the painted extensions of the divisions.
It is also necessary, using a needle file or a machine bur, to remove burrs from the workpiece so as not to cut yourself during further work.
Now you need to bend the workpiece in the right places, namely; or rather, the division that we got to be the widest is bent upward, across the entire width, by 90 degrees. We bend the protruding ends from the middle division down, and the ends of the last division upward again. This is what you should get:
Now we bend the tail of the workpiece down so that it is further pressed against the roll.
Let's try on the blank.
If everything is in order, we move on. We bend the protruding ends at the upper division. Like this:
They will subsequently hold the end of the tape so that it does not stick back to the roll. The main part of the work is done. There is only a little left; cut off a plastic tube as long as the width of the roll, remove the burrs with a file.
We cut off an elastic band 2-3 mm wide from a piece of the camera.
We thread the elastic into the tube, and from the inside of the roll we put the resulting loops at both ends onto the ends of the workpiece sticking up, which lies on top of the roll. It turned out that the tube inside the roll, with an elastic band, presses the iron workpiece lying on top to the roll itself.
Now we cut off a piece of metal sheet, the same 50 mm wide.
We sharpen the toothy side of a piece of cloth and glue it with glue and soda to the curved upper division, sharpened side up. Like this:
Ready. We check for functionality and use it with pleasure. We tuck the end of the tape between the antennae bent inward and pull out the required amount.
To tear off an elongated strip of tape, press the tail of the dispenser so that it presses against the roll and does not slide along it, and bend the tape towards the blade with teeth - it will come off exactly along the edge of the blade, while the bent tendrils will not allow the torn end of the tape to stick back to roll.The whole job took about half an hour.
I repeat once again that you can use plastic instead of metal - whatever you like.
