Ratcheting Light Duty Vise/Holder (OpenSCAD)

This is a holder for things. It is easy to assemble – just slide the parts together. And easy to use – just push the jaws and ratchets together to get a snug fit; and squeeze the ratchet tooth parts to release. This works great with my funnels for transferring the last dribble from the old bottle to the new one.

Customizing

With the OpenSCAD customizer, you may create a custom sized holder. Here’s the features:

• Base
  • Length, width, and height
• Jaws
  • Mix and match two jaws to suit your needs
  • Make an opening for bottles with a wide base
  • Close the opening for straight vertical things
  • Add reinforcement to the slider area to keep the jaw from tipping (in multiples of the jaw thickness)
• Ratchet
  • Control the height and thickness of the ratchet part
• Printing Options
  • You may leave all parts displayed for display, but during rendering you must uncheck all but the one part you are rendering.
• Display Options
  • The display and position of the second jaw and ratchet are only for visualization and they need to be unchecked to make the STL file.

Assembly and Usage

At a minimum, you will need one base and 2 ratchets. In most cases, you will also need 2 jaws.

Slide the jaws and ratchets onto the base. They should fit snugly but still slide. Note the ratchets slide on with the release tabs away from the center of the base.

To tighten against the object to be held, simply push the ratchets and jaws together toward it. If the ratchet is too stiff, you may squeeze the release tabs while sliding.

When finished, release the object by squeezing the release tabs and sliding the ratchet back off the base.

Notes:

• The jaws don’t need to be identical.
• The ratchet teeth are spaced at 2mm. If you need finer gripping resolution, consider 
  • changing the thickness of one or both jaws, 
  • or making a thin shim (a jaw with no reinforcement).
• If the object has a wide bottom and you want to grip it higher up, make jaws with an opening big enough to straddle the wide bottom. 

• If the object is thin, turn the jaws so the reinforcement is facing away from the center.

• You can handle wider objects by turning the reinforcement in toward the center.

• You can make the base height higher than the 10mm default if you want (I found no need). The height of the ratchet tooth channel is one half of the base height. And, of course, if you change the base height, you will need new matching jaws and ratchets.
• To determine the length you need for the base:
  • Set the jaw positions for the size of your biggest object. Hint: the sliders move in 1mm increments from the zero center of the base.
  • Set the ratchet positions to just touch the jaws. Hint: the position is the jaw position plus the jaw thickness times the multiplier.
  • Set the base length to be at least a couple of teeth past the end of the ratchet.

Printing

Printing is easy with no supports.

I recommend PETG for the ratchet to make the release tabs stronger. I used PETG for the base also but it is not required.

The ratchet is printed upside down and did not need as much sliding clearance (I used 0.1).

The jaws are printed laying down so the sliding part is more subject to your layer height (I used 0.2).

I recommend a layer height of not more than 0.20. I found the ratchet teeth were more rounded (and therefore less functional) with 0.25 and 0.30.

Using OpenSCAD and the Customizer

If you are new to using OpenSCAD and changing parameters, I’ve included my tutorial that may help.

Please note that you do not need to know anything about programming. All you need to do is move some sliders on the screen.

Other links

Here is another bottle holder to consider.

See my funnel collection for various funnels I have designed.