Building the Kilnettle Tape Dispenser
One of the great things about in-person events is the opportunity for fortunate little meetings that happen at the periphery. I was lucky enough to meet Stephen Coyle whilst walking to catch a bus back to the centre of Edinburgh after Day 1 of the 2025 Open Hardware Summit. Unfortunately, I missed his Lightning Talk as I had to duck out of Day 2 early to catch my train back north.
The Open Source Hardware Association has made all the talks and panels available as a playlist on YouTube, so I managed to catch up with everything once I got back to my desk.
My top take-home from the Summit was the sheer number of passionate people building whimsical projects, and Stephen's Kilnettle Shrine Talking Tape Dispenser was top of that list for me. I sent him a message on Mastodon letting him know I loved his project, and he was kind enough to offer to send one to me as a kit to assemble. A few days later, a package of parts arrived!
All the design files are available on GitHub and Printables, and assembly was straightforward. Stephen provides a video on YouTube that you can follow along to build your own talking tape dispenser.
I always struggle to assemble PCBs with a mix of surface-mount and through-hole components as I never know parts to solder first. The only slightly tricky bit on this board is the gap between the ESP8266 and the transistor. If you solder the transistor first, it reduces the angle you have available for reaching your iron down to the ESP's pins. If I was to build another, I'd probably leave the transistor to the very end of the assembly process.
Apart from that, everything else goes together really well. The 3D-printed parts have nice tight tolerances, and the "melt in place" PCB mounts work really well.
2025-06-20