Mantis Clamp - End caps, grip wheel and updated stand

The mantis clamp is a nice design, clever use of planetary gears.

I noticed however that when you add some torque, the gears tilt and jam. Each of the four “planets” have a hole in the center, this opens up the possibility to add axles to the gears, so I made two simple end caps/plates to add 4x M3 L=20mm as axles. This makes the mechanism more rigid. As a bonus you can fill the inside with grease, I used Superlube and now clamp is buttery smooth.

The stand is updated with the new width that the end caps add. There is also a hole for hanging it up on a peg board or similar which was a feature I needed.

The grip wheel is a glue-on to the existing wheel, not really necessary but will add a bit more torque control.