Another Tube Squeezer

Another tube squeezer.

All the designs I found seemed to have the same problem. Either they were too loose or, more often, it was impossible to get most tubes started because you had to push the crimped bottom of the tube through one or more narrow openings. I wanted a design which allows you to slide the tube in the squeezer and the reel sideways. Accordingly, this design.

So far it has worked great but it's weakness is clearly the roller part. I expected it would break. When designing it, I saw the printed part as a prototype and planned on replacing it with an aluminum piece from my lathe. However it's still going after several months. So who knows?

There are two versions, the original body and the short version. The short one takes less plastic but works exactly as well as the original.

To use, slide the end of the tube into the roller, then slide the tube into the body from the side. The knob then slides on the end of the roller and locks on with a twist. Final