I 3D printed a tape dispenser. Here it is on Printables. There are many options for printing it at various sizes, and there are a few variations. It’s a well design model, but in the end, it is plastic. I printed one because I needed (yet) another tape dispenser. I’ve already got two of these Marsh 922 2″ Bench Tape Dispensers but I thought I would give a 3D printed one a try.
I should mention the heavy metal Marsh dispensers were around $27 each, and the 3D printed one probably come out to a few dollars at the most, so that’s quite a difference. The other big difference is that the metal ones I bought are heavy and sit on a desk without moving. The plastic one, not so much. The model does have pockets in the bottom to add magnets if you can stick it down to something metal. If I had a nicely sized steel plate laying around I would use that.
Typically these DIY tape dispensers use a cut down hack saw blade as the tape cutting mechanism. I did not have any hacksaw blades I could use, so I tried to stick a razor blade in there, which seemed dangerous, so I rounded off the sharp corners. This worked terrible.
But wait, behold! I found a great solution. When our roll of kitchen foil ran out I saved the serrated edge and with a bit of the cardboard from the package still attached it worked a treat!
I jammed it into the slot. Didn’t need glue or any extra tape to shim it up. Perfect fit, which almost makes it seem like this should be the recommended solution. (I may need to start saving these serrated edges for future tape dispenser cutters.)
The perfect cut doesn’t exist… but wait, this is pretty damn good! This solution made this print go from “meh” to “yeah!” quite easily.
I am totally pleased with this tape cutter solution, so now I just need to add some weight so it won’t slide around the workbench when I pull the tape.