DIY 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:

• pencil

• 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 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.