Ratcheting Lighting Focus Wrench rev2

Stronger than before, and now printable with a 0.6mm nozzle!  Still not quite as durable as a metal wrench, but plenty strong for the amount of torque you should be applying to light fixtures, and coming in at ~$1.50 each.  Multi-color printer not needed, single color files available!

I am a huge fan of the Klein Tools 68204 wrench for hanging theatrical lighting instruments, however they keep getting more and more expensive.  Working in an education world with students, they tend to get “lost” or wander off, so I wanted to find a cheaper solution to hand to them.

These 100% 3D printed/print in place ratcheting wrenches have a 12 point 3/4 inch socket for a standard yoke bolt, an 8 point 1/2 inch socket for a standard (square head) pipe bolt, and a pair of non-ratcheting 5/16 8 point sockets for the (square head) pan bolt.

Unlike the previous version, I recommend printing these in PLA.  It's plenty stiff and plenty strong.  If you'd like to go the extra mile, PC does tend to hold up even better, but isn't necessarily worth the extra cost (and doesn't come in such fun colors).  More flexible plastics (PETG, ABS, ASA, etc.) don't work particularly well for the body of the wrench, as they bend too much for the ratcheting mechanism to stay within tolerance.

Recommended settings:

• Layer Height: doesn't matter much, I print these with a 0.6mm nozzle at 0.3mm layer height or 0.4mm nozzle at 0.2mm layer height

• Seam position: nearest seems to speed up prints when batching out multiple

• Avoid crossing walls: on

• Reverse on even: on - helps with the overhangs

• Wall loops: 5 (you want the "sockets" to be entirely solid)

• Infill: 25% gyroid - this might be overkill, I haven't tried turning it down yet

• Brim: none

When printing on my H2D, I like to color the "sockets" differently from the handle for a pop of color, but this is entirely optional (and too wasteful to be worthwhile on AMS style machines imo).  The files are available as 3MF exported from Fusion.  You may be asked to scale from millimeters - select "No".  You may be asked if this should be imported as a single object with multiple parts - select "Yes".

Full Color includes the labels as separate objects that can be mapped to a different color.
No Color skips the label objects all together and simply leaves debossed outlines.

If you have a multi-nozzle printer and/or a tool changer, the strongest combo I've found is a PC handle with the "sockets" printed in PA.  Add CF or GF variants if you please, though I don't like the way they make my hands feel.