I love conductive tape. Copper tape, fabric tape, adding double-sided sticky tape to aluminum foil, foil insulation tape, and more. However, after my last workshop for educators, my super skinny copper tape ended up like the above. I don’t mind unraveling and recoiling since it’s like unraveling a ball of yarn and a similar zen is reached while you roll it up… However, I knew there had to be some good solutions out there.

S0 right before the winter break, I posted this picture asking for copper tape management ideas from other maker educators. I got a lot of great ideas and wanted to share them with you all to help keep your makerspace mess a little bit neater.

Instagram Responses

• mypaperlessclassroom – I ration it. Only I touch it. There must be a dispenser you could print. What would Jay Do? What would Josh do? @joshburker
• joshburker – I put the fresh roll in a ziplock bag with only the end poking out. Turns the bag into a dispenser of sorts.
• essente – I had colleagues share this 3D printed copper tape holder with me: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1170781
• kzawodny – I cut it into ~3″ pieces and hand those out
• dbpeins  – I slit 1/4 to 1/8, cut to about 30 inches length, carefully orient them same-side up, roll them around my hand and gently stuff in a small ziplock, about 15 per bag.
• nstifel01 – Ziploc bag works for me, and I distribute precut pieces to the kids

Twitter Responses

Educators on Twitter had lots of inventive ideas too!

 

Updated 1/14/17:

What a cool tape rack from Make Shop Pittsburgh! Thanks for sharing, Lauren!

Your Ideas?

I love the zip lock bag idea because it’s a quick and easy fix, but I’d love to create a roll dispenser to include all my favorite tapes on one holder.

So how do you keep your copper tape organized?