Reclaimed Duct Tape Dispenser

Duct Tape Dispenser

I wanted to come up with a better way to dispense tape. Using a automotive masking caddy, I fitted it with threaded rod and a serrated edge for an all-in-one dispenser.

I didn't buy anything for this project. I already had all of this.

Materials:

• Masking caddy
• (2) hack saw blades
• 15" threaded rod
• (2) 1/8" rivets 
• 1" PVC pipe, ~12" long
• (14) cardboard tube plastic end caps
• Aluminum bracket or aluminum angle

 Tools:

• metal punch
• drill/drill press
• various drill bits
• rivet gun
• hammer

I wanted to maintain the original use of the caddy as much as possible, despite the fact I don't use it much at all, or at least I didn't used to. This meant leaving the paper roll and serrated edge for the paper in place.

The caddy had a masking tape holder on one side. I drilled a hole on the other side of the caddy, planing to add nuts on each side to hold the threaded rod in place. I used a metal punch and hammer to mark the spot, then drilled a smaller pilot hole before drilling the full size hole.
I drilled the hole slightly off center accidentally which worked out better. I just need a wing nut on one side to hold it in place. I slide the rod too far into the one hole to clear the other side, then slide it back out into the other hole. A wing nut against the good side keeps it in place.

 

 

 

The bolt that came with the caddy was the same size as my threaded rod through coincidence, so I could reuse the wing nuts.

 

For the serrated edge I used old hack saw blades. My original plan was a band saw blade to reduce joints, but I didn't have any. While I was able to drill close to the end and add pop rivets to join the blades, I could not cut the blade in the middle. I assume it's tempered. When I punched it, the blade shattered. A band saw blade might be tempered too, so I don't know if it would have worked.

I then looked through my junk and used a bracket from a dishwasher that had an interchangeable panel at the front. I drilled a hole, trimmed it, and then hammered it to hold one side of the hacksaw blade.

 

I enlarged the hole on one side of the hack saw blade to be attached with an existing caddy bolt. The bracket is attached on the other side. If I hadn't found this perfect bracket, I would have hammered a 1/2"x1/2" aluminum angle to work as the bracket.

I cut the threaded rod to fit the available space. I added 1" PVC pipe over the rod, then took plastic end tube caps that came off a roll of paper that fit perfectly in the duct tape and placed the rolls of tape over the PVC for smooth spinning. The PVC and end caps are needed so that the cut tape rolls clear the bottom of the caddy.

I understand most people won't have the caddy to start with, but you can adapt the ideas I utilized. You could create a wood box as the structure and add the threaded rod/PVC pipe and hack saw blade serrated edge.
I would assume any place that does large format printing would have plastic end caps. I got them from paper rolls at my job.