Reference Section > Shape Library > Other Shapes

The Spanner is a flat open-end spanner (wrench) profile: a jaw with a half-hexagon seat that fits a hex nut, a straight handle with a rounded end, and a round hole in the handle end. The jaw opening is sized across flats, so Size is the nut size the spanner fits. The outline is one closed path and the hole is a separate circle. Use it to cut a flat open-end spanner from plate.

It appears in the shapes library under Other Shapes and Tools.

Insert point and orientation

The insert point is the tip of the upper jaw. The jaw opening faces left (−X) and the rest of the shape lies to the right (+X) of the insert point: the lower jaw tip is Size directly below the insert point, and the handle runs to the right along the centre line of the opening, Size/2 below the insert point. The two arcs of the head bulge outwards, so the head reaches above the insert point and below the lower jaw tip.

The seat is half of a regular hexagon whose flats are the two jaw faces, Size apart. Each jaw face is Size/√3 long (0.577 × Size), and the back of the seat comes to a point 0.866 × Size to the right of the insert point. The outside of the head is two arcs, one from each jaw tip back to the handle. The handle starts 1.2 × Size to the right of the insert point, and its rounded end is centred Handle Len. further along the centre line.

Properties

Property	Description	Default
Size	The jaw opening, across flats – the distance between the two parallel jaw faces, which is the hex nut size the spanner fits. Length (mm or inch). Size also scales the head: the handle starts 1.2 × Size from the insert point.	50 mm (2 in)
Handle Len.	The length of the handle, from where it meets the head to the centre of the rounded end. Length (mm or inch). The rounded end adds a further Handle Width/2, so the overall length of the spanner is 1.2 × Size + Handle Len. + Handle Width/2.	150 mm (6 in)
Handle Width	The width of the handle, centred on the jaw centre line. Length (mm or inch). The end of the handle is a semicircle of radius Handle Width/2. The hole in the end is smaller than this; see Notes.	50 mm (2 in)
Fillet R	The radius of the two fillets where the handle edges meet the arcs of the head. Length (mm or inch).	12.5 mm (0.5 in)

The defaults are set from the 100 mm / 4 in base size of the current units, so in inch units they are 2, 6, 2 and 0.5 in.

Notes and limits

•Cannot build shape. If the geometry raises an error, the property page shows the red warning Warning: Cannot build shape from these parameters below the shape's own properties. Dimensions are not drawn while the warning shows, and the warning clears on the next change that builds. The shape does not check its values against each other, so check the outline when the values are very small or the handle is much wider than the jaw opening.

•One case that raises this warning is a very small Handle Width above 0. The hole radius is Handle Width/4 and the shape sets no minimum, so the hole circle is built at that radius; if the geometry kernel rejects it, the warning appears.

•Hole. The hole has no property of its own. It is centred on the centre of the rounded end, and its diameter is half the Handle Width (radius Handle Width/4). With the default Handle Width of 50 mm the hole is 25 mm (1 in) across and sits inside the rounded end, not on its outline. A Handle Width of 0 gives a point at the centre of the rounded end instead of a hole.

•Fillets. If a fillet cannot be fitted at the radius entered, that fillet is left out and the corner is sharp. The shape does not check Fillet R against the geometry, so check the outline at small or zero values.

•The dimensions drawn on the shape are Size (across the jaw opening), Handle Len., Handle Width (across the handle end) and Fillet R (on the upper fillet).

Every 2D shape also has the Transform properties (Base X, Base Y, Rotation, Scale, Mirroring X) and the Polar Array properties, listed after the shape's own properties.