Blue Tape Dispenser

When you have a lot of tape and need it to be organized yet mobile, this is a solution for you.

Step 1: It All Starts With a Template

As you see in the video at the beginning I had a couple different sizes of tape and I needed a better organization and storage for them. I decided to make a couple more dispensers as it had been requested from viewers in other videos and I wanted to utilize a few pieces of scrap wood and other materials to get the job done.

Here's what I used (for 2 dispensers):

Two pieces of wood roughly 1" thick, 5" wide, and 9" long. These are the sides.

Two pieces of wood roughly a little thicker than the tape rolls, 2" wide, and 10" long. These are the fillers

Four pieces of 3/4" x 4" square pieces of plywood laminated into 2 double thicknesses. These are for the spools.

Two 4" lengths of 1/4" dowel (I used scrape copper pipe).

Two broken or old jigsaw blades.

The easiest way to make something like this, for multiple widths or different types of tape, is to make a template of the sides and work in batches. The template can look any way you like so get creative and have fun.

With the template made you can take the wood and resaw it at the band saw (or just use two separate pieces) and mark the location for the dowels (it is easier to do now with straight edges).

Now route the locations for the dowels and the channel for the spools to drop into. Lay the pieces flat on a table and use a straight router bit in a hand held router to remove the material in the channel. You want to angle the channel toward the back of the tape dispenser so when you pull the tape the roll pulls to the bottom and doesn't tend to pull out.

Glue two of the pieces of plywood together (if your tape rolls are that wide, or just use one piece, or use a piece of wood that has been planed to thickness) and drill a hole in the middle. Trace the center tube of the tape roll on the spacer and cut the shape out on the band saw. You can use a sander if you don't have a band saw.

To join the two sides together you need to use the filler pieces cut into two pieces and glued to the front and back of the sides in a sandwich fashion. Let them over hang past the edges as you don't want the fillers to come into contact with the tape roll. Clamp this assembly together and let it dry for at least 3 hours if using regular PVA (yellow) wood glue.

Now you can rough out the shape of the dispenser after tracing the template. Use the band saw or a jig saw to do this. With the template fixed to the sides you can pattern route the shape flush with the template. It may be best to use the template on one side and then remove it and continue pattern routing with the actual work piece. Keep in mind the channel that you routed for the tape roll will create divot in the work pieces if you let the bearing fall into it. Go light handed past that spot.

With all that done you are ready to sand and finish the dispenser. I recommend sanding from 80 to 220 grit paper on a random orbital sander and finishing with a polyurethane varnish. Apply at least 4 coats with a light sanding between coats with 400 grit paper.

The last step is to add a cutting strip for the tape. I just pressed the dispenser into the running band saw blade about 3/16" to make a kerf for a cut jigsaw blade and then epoxied it into the kerf. Simple as that.

Enjoy the video and please subscribe to my channel for more project and tip videos.