The material from which PET bottles are made shrinks when heated. Thanks to this, a tape made from it can be used instead of a rope or clothes cord for a strong connection various materials makes it possible to produce various. Cutting ribbons with scissors is almost impossible - I made a special device for this.
Assembling a machine for cutting tape from a plastic bottle
You will need: several large washers 2 bolts with solid threads, nuts and washers a utility knife blade with a hole a piece of plywood (boards, laminate).
On the plywood platform we place 2 large washers pressed against each other (photo 1), mark their centers. We drill holes in them according to the diameter of the bolts. Then with reverse side we make a recess in the platform according to the shape of the head so that they “sink” and the bolts do not rotate around their axis (photo 2). To cut a tape of a certain width, we place so many large washers on the leg protruding from the back side of each bolt so that their total thickness is this width. For example, to cut a 5 mm tape you will need 3 washers with a thickness of 1.58 mm.
Place a knife blade on top and place at least one more large washer on it (photo 3). Align them and tighten the bolts with nuts. The machine is ready. We fix the platform on the table with self-tapping screws or a clamp.
Cutting tape from a plastic bottle
Remove the bottom, cut a strip and insert it under the knife. With one hand we hold the bottle and press on the cork, with the other we pull out the tape to be cut.
A two-liter bottle yields more than 25 m of tape
Important!
We position the knife blade so that the protruding part of its cutting edge is in the area of the shortest distance between the washers.
How to cut tape from a plastic bottle video
For cutting tape from plastic bottles. I saw a video on the Internet where a kind of ribbon was made from an ordinary plastic bottle. The scope of its use is of course very limited.
I saw on the Internet where a kind of ribbon was made from an ordinary plastic bottle. The scope of its use is of course very limited.
Used during construction wooden fence, where he strengthened by tightening the place of a nailed board to a horizontal bar. In winter, this section of the fence was constantly swept away a large number snow, as a result, many boards flew off the fence, so to speak. I used ordinary iron wire before, but it quickly rusted and became unusable. Buying galvanized is expensive. The tension in the twine weakened over time. As a result, I began to tighten plastic bottles using tape and partially melt them after tying them to secure the connection. This structure stood successfully for one winter.
The method for producing tape from plastic bottles is surprisingly simple and accessible.
You will only need two M5 bolts (no more needed) with a length of at least 30mm, two nuts and washers for them, a wooden block or board, a stationery knife blade, and also several washers larger size, for example with a hole of 8 mm (their number depends on the thickness of the tape being cut).
First we put the washers large diameter V in this case on the block close to each other and mark the holes with a pencil.
We drill holes with a drill using a 5 mm drill bit.
Insert the bolts.
We insert large diameter washers in two pieces (the number depends on the thickness of the tape you need) so that there is a gap between them.
We insert the stationery knife as shown in the photo.
We put small washers in the bolts and tighten them with nuts (do not overtighten, otherwise the blade will burst).
Cut off the bottom of the bottle and make a small narrow cut in the form of a strip counterclockwise.
We insert the strip into the hole between the large washers of the cutting device and pull without jerking while holding the bottle with the other hand. Wood block I first secured it with a clamp on the table.
The tape did not always turn out to be uniform in width, but for me this was not so significant.
How to make a bottle cutter with your own hands for cutting tape from plastic bottles
I have come across videos on the Internet many times about making fishing line/tape from a plastic bottle.
When I learned that the video “Bottle Cutter of Lawyer Egorov” had received more than 3 million views, I thought: “It’s probably a necessary thing in the household, since so many people are interested.” We need to check how that magic bottle cutter works.
Everything needed to make the miracle device was found at the dacha. Aluminum corner - 30 mm. A pair of short M5 screws with wing nuts. Long screw 80 mm, with nut. Blade for a stationery knife.
You will also need a drill with a set of drills and a jigsaw.
Drill holes to secure the blade.
Now we drill a hole for the long screw.
Use a jigsaw to cut off the excess.
Now we need to make two or three cuts through which we will pull the fishing line.
Now you can assemble the bottle cutter. We fix the knife blade with two screws. We install a long screw on which the bottle will spin.
First experiments
The wider the slot, the wider the line/tape. Apparently I didn’t guess some sizes; I couldn’t cut the thin ribbon. But the 5mm tape came out well.
Use scissors to cut the tail to the desired thickness.
We insert it into the slot and begin to carefully pull it out from the other side. The knife cuts the bottle, and the slot limits the width of the tape.
What to make from plastic tape?
The question of what to do with the tape now confronted me. I wrapped tape around the handles of old pliers.
We try to lay the tape evenly on the handle. At the end we slip it under the previous turn, tighten it and cut it off.
We warm it up briefly with a hairdryer. Plastic tape behaves like heat shrink: when heated, it shrinks, perfectly squeezing the handle.
It's probably better now.
My wife also tried tying the bushes with ribbon. I haven't gotten around to other ideas for using tape yet.
What else can be made from plastic fishing line? You can weave a stylish bag from ribbon. Make a plastic broom or brush.
First, watch how to use a simple tool to cut a plastic bottle into neat strips in this video from the Science Vetal channel. Alternative developments are shown below.
Smooth strips from a PVC bottle
It is shown how to make a cutter from a block using the example of an original product presented on the SergeyTron v2.0 channel. The mechanism of operation is considered. You will need: a utility knife, a block of approximately 50 x 50 x 150 mm, a pin of at least 350 mm, two screws, two washers and a piece plastic pipe 200 mm.
Available material is true.
Saw the block into two parts 100 millimeters and 50 millimeters long. The first will go to the cutter, and the second to the ribs.
Let's start with the pin. First, a little about its tilt. The wider the strip, the more actively the bottle moves away from the cutter. The pin should be tilted. Don't overdo it, the strip will have to be pulled with difficulty, and the cut will be bored out. If you do not make a slope, then the strip will lie at the bottom of the cut and will not become straight and will break.
You can drill the hole at an angle, straight and make a bent 4. This angle 4 trick is a must for those who want to cut a straight strip on a block cutter. On this device slope 7 degrees. Plastic pipe nozzle. A strip 5–10 mm wide is cut. 10 – 15 mm without nozzle. If you don’t want to suffer with the pin, then you need to make the cutters sound like bars so that you can replace the bored cuts.
This video tutorial shows how to cut a plastic bottle into even strips using a reliable tool. This cutter is about 1 year old. I made it in his master as an experimental one, but it cuts perfectly smooth and there is no need to redo it. The secrets of this miracle are that the blade is located in the middle of the cut, so that it will or will not jump before the cut. It's kind of like a guide.
I cut at an angle and adjusted the blade with nootropil until the right size tapes. The strip was cut at one end 10 mm. And on the other 9 mm.
The author made this design by accident, without calculations. But the main thing for leveling the strip is not the cutter, but the preparation of the plastic bottle before it. Take a regular A4 sheet. On one side, draw into a tape of the required size 9.5 mm. Another cutter option.
As a business person, I was fascinated by the topic of making rope from plastic bottles. A cool thing is to get a fairly strong rope (or rather PET tape) from an unnecessary plastic bottle, which is free and is the only way to be used around the house, and many people make all sorts of crafts from it, not just decorative ones. PET tape also has heat-shrink properties, which allows you to make strong connections and minor repairs, for example, I fixed my wife’s mop and my own chair. Sometimes it replaces the irreplaceable blue electrical tape :)
Summer is coming, and you may need this free rope for household purposes. Moreover, it is very easy and simple to obtain shrink tape (rope) from an unnecessary plastic bottle.
I'll start by using the resulting PET tape from the bottle. I appreciate that Lawyer Egorov’s video will be inserted in the first comments; if you haven’t seen it, I recommend watching it, and this is where my acquaintance with PET tape began. I’ll describe where I personally used it, and who else has used PET tape, add it in the comments, it’s interesting.
In the apartment:
I fixed the mop - metal pipe type of joint cracked and came apart, I had to wrap it with a strip from a bottle and wrap it with PET tape and sit it on gas stove, it turned out neat and durable.
I repaired my chair - I wrapped it well where it was cracked and sat it down with a lighter. Save blue tape! 🙂
Classic - handles on pliers, wrapped and seated.
Instead of tape, I packed wires into bundles and tied cardboard boxes. Sometimes the tape runs out at the wrong time.
The pipe was leaking - the tap under the thread was cracked, took a rubber glove, cut it into tape, wrapped it tightly, then wrapped it with PET tape, waited for the plumber and he already turned off the water in the house and changed the tap.
Homestead farming:
This is not a plowed field, parallel to the garden twine, something to tie, tie, hang, pull, even used instead of nails when I ran out - I made a temporary greenhouse. We cleaned the young garden, made stools for resting in a couple of minutes, dragged branches and logs with an improvised thick rope made of PET tape, in any way easier than with our hands.
I like to go to the forest for picnics and just spontaneous walks with a group:
The bottles themselves were brought with water and or other liquids, they were emptied and used. Hang a washstand from the same bottle from which you got the ribbon, tie stools or even benches and chairs, pull up an improvised awning from a raincoat or polyethylene film, collecting and carrying branches and logs is easier with a rope. While fishing, I set up an improvised sun awning from a blanket - I forgot my umbrella :) It’s natural to clean up trash after yourself.
In short, I don’t fanatically run with PET tape as an advantage, but I use it where there are unnecessary plastic bottles and no ropes, or it’s not rational and a pity to waste a normal rope, and PET tape will solve these problems. I don’t do mountaineering with such a rope. Waste household rope that you don’t mind, it’s also heat shrink and reuse plastic.
It is easier and faster to make a rope from a plastic bottle using a device or tool such as a bottle cutter. I will dwell on it in more detail.
I became infected with the idea after Lawyer Egorov’s video. But he didn’t make his bottle cutter, like other options from corners, washers, meat grinders, bars and pipes, etc. I don’t have a workshop or a garage, I don’t have such materials and tools, I have an electric meat grinder, I’m too lazy to make them, and I don’t really need a machine for cutting bottles. Therefore, I decided not to repeat it, but to make it even simpler, the most important thing available materials and more compact (manual), so that bottles can be cut into strips at the point where the rope is used. I have made many versions of bottle cutters, ranging from mini and micro to an ax bottle cutter. In order not to bore you, I will demonstrate the simplest ones to choose from...
The very first was a bottle cutter made from a pencil sharpener. It's very simple to do - unscrew the blade, turn the blade over, insert it into the sharpener at a slightly angle, screw it on without fanaticism, and you're done. Well, 20 seconds maximum. It is advisable to use aluminum pencil sharpeners, although I have already seen pictures on the Internet with plastic sharpeners; the blade was soldered into the body with a soldering iron.
I immediately noticed that a sharpener is not a bad tool when hiking - you can easily get shavings from a dry stick and use it as kindling for a fire or even tinder. Therefore, this option began to be positioned for me as a hiking, lightweight and compact one. And so began the modernization of this bottle cutter, sharpening it for hiking - cuts on the screw so that you can unscrew it with a coin and use the blade to prepare the bottle (the knife is no longer needed), for convenience, I added a mini knife to the sharpener body and additional cuts to obtain ribbons of different widths. This is cool, but it tends to become more complicated, although it turned out to be multifunctional and most often I use it and am satisfied.
Two sections of clerical or construction knife. The bottle itself is prepared with this blade, a bottle cutter is made from a bottle cap, and this blade almost replaces a stationery knife if necessary (to open a parcel, etc.), and is itself compact. I made a simple envelope out of a bottle and threw it in my wallet as a NAZ, now I always have a small household blade with me.
It is better to use this option, it is a little more complicated but also easier to use.
And for dessert - bottle cutter scissors. Just scissors and the bottle itself, and that’s it. We prepare the bottle with scissors, remove the ring from the neck, make a guide from the ring and then cut the tape, you just need to see it. The scissors should preferably be sharp and without play. If there is play and the bottle is biting, then you need to pull the tape out from above the scissors.
I tested it on small scissors (Swiss knife), it’s not very convenient and flimsy, but it works. The test on the pruning shears (the lower half with the serrations) failed, but there are pruning shears that are also used as scissors. I also changed the width of the resulting tape, fishing line and did not try to cut it, but the width turned out to be 2mm, preparation of the bottle is important. The principle itself is very workable and can be developed - instead of the neck ring, use other materials.
Cool way.
When designing these bottle cutters, I was guided by the following principles: the use of available materials, simplicity, ease of manufacture, repeatability, and cutting at an angle.
The bottle cutters provided in this post are manual (these are not machines); therefore, when used, they require some experience, dexterity and safety measures. You can cut yourself on paper, not to mention tape, and it’s very painful and unpleasant and unnecessary. Try to work with gloves, carefully, safely, etc.. The quality of the cut is greatly influenced by the preparation of the bottle; for wide tapes you need a smooth start, although bottle cutters will still straighten the tape but you will end up with a piece with waves. It is recommended to pull the tape, trying to press it slightly against the blade, this way the bottle is pressed harder against the stop and is directed to be captured by the blade, which makes it more accurate.
I don’t have such obvious preferences when choosing bottle cutters; I use what’s on hand. at the moment and with less fuss - usually an improved sharpener, scissors, blade or knife and a lid, if I can find a meat grinder then that will do. I demonstrated for your reference the simplest, most repeatable and compact ones. I think you will find a sharpener, a stationery knife, scissors, gloves, bottle and quickly get the tape from the bottle, and don’t have to go to construction stores behind the rope. There are many other different bottle cutters online, ranging from simple ones to machine tools.
Total
An unnecessary plastic bottle can also serve as PET tape (rope) and heat shrink.
Naturally, you shouldn’t treat this with fanaticism, but it’s also useful to just know that this is possible and PET tape from a plastic bottle is very easy to obtain and can help out.