Better Than NASA Ratchet
Description
Inspired by the infamous NASA space-ratchet, but designed from a blank canvas. The only part copied from the original part is the 3/8" square drive because I liked how theirs was tapered and it saved me the time of designing it. The NASA ratchet is cool, but the fit is sloppy. Even my bone stock Ender 3 Pro can print gaps a third that size reliably. Also, the ratchet mechanism is a cylinder, with 45-degree chamfers. This makes it quasi-spherical... sphere-like part in a sphere-like hole results in a large amount non-preferred-axis rotational play. Basically it was way too loose. Also the ratchet spring being permanently attached to the sidewall (rendering the tool useless if it let's go) is a failure point which could easily be eliminated. Lastly, the darn thing is non-reversible. I just felt like it wouldn't be that hard to do better, even for someone like me whose design skills are just so-so. So here is the better-than-NASA ratchet prototype. Its only my 3rd alpha-testing print (the first two have been split apart to examine what wasn't working as intended), and I was shocked when the darn thing functioned perfectly. Feedback is welcome, I had fun designing this and can totally make improvements to it. I plan on refining the radiussing and improving the hand-feel now that the internals are happy.
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