Kitchen Roll Holder - Standard Stick Size?

[tekno.mage]

I've been asked to make a freestanding kitchen roll holder - which is easy enough, until upon inspection of kitchen rools on sale in the local supermarket, I realised that the size of the inner cardboard tube varies between brands :-( In particular the cheaper rolls have bigger holes up the middle than the expensive ones (you get more sheets on the expensive rolls).

Does anyone know if there is a standard size for the diameter of the shaft that the roll fits on to so as to maximise the usability of the holder across multiple brands, but still leave the holder sturdy enough for use? Or do I have to resort to taking my vernier to the supermarket and measuring the hole size in as many as possible

 

[Racers]

Hi, Kym

I made a couple with quite thin shafts (15-20mm) and thickish bases for stability, they seem to work well.
I do a slight cup on the base to stop the roll spinning round, the kitchen roll is in contact with the base not the tube.

Pete

 

[tekno.mage]

Hi Pete,

Your idea of slightly cupping the base is a good one. I use a wall mounted kitchen roll holder so am not really aware of the potential problems with the freestanding variety! I was thinking about 25mm for the shaft, but maybe that is a bit thick.

 

[nev]

Our holder is about an inch in diameter and never found a roll that didnt fit.
rather than cupping the base why not have a cone, either incorporated or floating, on a thinner pole, that way it would be suitable and stable for all roll sizes :idea:

 

[Racers]

Hi, Kym

I made a swinging arm toilet roll holder for the toilet as the kids where all ways leaving a big pile of toilet roll on the floor!
My garage roll holder it the same, I can pull of one sheet then a sharp pull tears it off.
The kitchen one you can do the same thing at the beginning of the roll, but it gets a bit dicey towards the end.

Pete

 

[Hutzul]

We make hundreds of these at my local charity workshop, we use standard broom handles cut to length.

 

[tekno.mage]

I went with 25mm in the end - or about the same diamter as a standard 1" broom handle! Seems to have worked ok.