excell ET-377 Excell Gummed Paper Tape Dispenser: 3" wide, Blue

To be perfectly honest and upfront, this product is exactly what it states; however, there is no way to hang/mount the gummed tape in the dispenser. It is made for a roll of 3" gummed tape to just sit within the sides, so if you are using smaller tape you will have issues with it falling over and/or getting hung up. Now for the simple solution that saved me over a $100 on buying a different dispenser (other ones are $150-$1000). I took a mechanic socket rail, slid the clips off, cut it in half with tin snips (heavy duty diagonal cutters, hack saw work also). I attached one half to each side sticking up and angled so the end was over the cradle were the tape was supposed to go. Then I took a 3/4 inch wooden dowel rod cut to fit between the two rails i attached and put a screw in the ends. Now it holds from 1/2 through 3½ inches or any combination of that as long as the combined with is no more than 3¾. On mine I am using 1/2", 3/4", 1", 1½ all hung on the dowel rod. Make sure you put the wider tapes on the ends, for example, i have the 1" & 1½" tape on each side and the smaller width tape rolls in between those so the tape won't come off the rollers. If you are only going to use smaller rolls then put a piece of PVC on each side of the tape to hold it from moving around, even hose clamps will work... I literally have less than $2 in this modification BUT it saved me well over $100 in purchasing a completely different dispenser. It has an extremely sharp serrated blade that will cut reinforced gummed tape also. The manufacturer says to remove the blade and tape guide to remove the water reservoir/tray, but i find it completely unnecessary to do that. All you have to do is lift the tray from the end and allow it to pivot and it comes right out in less than 3 seconds (2 minutes removing the blade assembly), BUT there is really no reason to remove it because you can fill it by just pouring water over the cloth wick roller because it sits in the water tray anyway. The sides of this dispenser are about an ⅛" thick steel plate and VERY STRONG, no warp, twist, etc. And it allows the dispenser to be heavy enough so it doesn't move when pulling tape from it. It will dispense either type of gummed tape whether it has the adhesive faces out or faces in. Just turn the tape roll around it switch between the two. I am quite happy with this dispenser!!! All thing considered i would recommend this if you don't wat to spend a ton of money on away over priced dispenser.

Not perfect but then it's $$$ less than the gizmos that are. Works well enough for the money. As a way into using gummed tape it's fine. Glad I bought it, now know why the fancy machines are so expensive. I'll be content, using it a lot, till I can afford the $300 machines.

This tape dispenser is perfect for my use. I ship less than 10 packages a week so I really couldn't justify anything more expensive. This this is very sturdy and very easy to use. My one gripe is that the rolls of tape I have are smaller than the max capacity, so the roll wanders from side to side. This was easily corrected by shimming the sides.

Using 2 3/4 wide tape i had trouble with tape roll moving out of alignment. I corrected the problem by using two small clamps to restrict lateral movement of the tape roll. Once in place, tape is dispensed smoothly. Since I am using reinforced tape, the cutter does not work because it is not sharp enough to sever the nylon threads. I use scissors. I may epoxy a razor blade to the top of the cutter to solve this problem. For the time saved holding and managing the large rolls of tape, this dispenser is working well enough for my small operation.

Put the tape through the rollers like in the picture. Make sure the sticky side touches the sponge. I suspect those complaining about the tape not being wet enough are using a different tape than in the picture and putting it in backwards. The blade can cut reinforced tape, and slips right through human flesh. Treat it like a razor blade. That said, the blade is useless. The way it cuts the tape, it requires you to take the wetting roller out or otherwise mess with it. Scissors are easier. To keep alignment, you need to make side plates or it will pull the tape sideways. The hotter the water, the better this works. I have a dispenser for near-boiling water, and the tape gets stupid sticky with almost no water. The absorbent fabric tends to wet the tape more than needed. Remember this is paper tape, the less water you can get away with the faster it dries.

would prefer a blade to cut versus the current saw-like piece. otherwise, sturdy and well done for the what it needs to do

I'm grateful that Excell makes this available. We're a small food company and can't afford the fancy things. However, after using this one for a few weeks, we spent a few extra bucks to get the Better Packages BETP3S, which does exactly what we need. It's costing us more time than the equipment cost savings is worth. Issues: 1) The sponge isn't thick (this doesn't have an actual brush), so it doesn't hold very much water. We have to use one hand to move our tape over the sponge to be sure it'll get wet. We're often getting dry spots, even when the sponge rolls well. 2) The sponge gets stuck and stops rolling, preventing the tape from getting wet. This is one reason we use our hands to roll the tape over it. A few weeks in and the sponge is moving from side to side over the metal roller it's on. 3) There's nothing to hold the roll of tape straight, so it's constantly angling to one side or another, making it difficult to pull the tape across the sponge. It's especially hard when we're working with a new roll. 4) The serrated piece that's meant to tear the tape is essentially useless if your tape is the reinforced good stuff. It's dull and creates a jagged tear. We use scissors. Those are the basic issues I can think of. Hope it helps.

Not sure why any negative reviews on this. Works amazing. Feels sturdy. No modifications and the tape off Amazon (different vendor) works perfectly with this. Enjoy!

Good product for the price; however, there should be a means to keep the Paper Tape aligned. I had to make spacers to keep it aligned with the center of the holder, other thatn that is works pretty good

Es de gran ayuda y practico de usar...

Comparado con otras marcas en México es de buen precio, sin embargo no tiene donde sujetarse la cinta por lo que se puede mover mientras la despachas. Así mismo el rodillo puede fallar o zafar y es necesario volver a colocarlo. Es necesario pasar dos veces la cinta por el rodillo ya que no moja mucho.

We have been using this for a while now and it works great. It is well priced compared to what is out there and does the same job. It is relatively sturdy and performs as expected.