How to Make a Spanner(wrench) Out of Pvc.

I've seen some pretty amazing pvc projects here and I thought I must do a nice and simple pvc project as my first instructable. It can be done in 5 minutes and costs about nothing.

Step 1: Required Stuff.

Materials needed:
Short piece of pvc pipe.
A source of heat (I used a tea candle).
A metal rod.
Bolts or brass fitting.
Pliers to hold the bolts.

Note: I'm having trouble adding notes to the image.So please bear with me. My problem has been solved thanks to Tool Using Animal.

Step 2: Forming Your Pvc

Just heat your bolt until it is extremely hot. Now take the pvc pipe and push it over the hot bolt.It will slowly start going on.Now cool and repeat on other side of pvc(only if you want to have a twin sized spanner).

Step 3: Drill and Add Handle

Drill a hole through the middle of your pvc and insert your metal rod. Your done. Now go and use your new pvc spanner/wrench.

Comments

[cgosh]

Technically, although this is a terrific idea, it's not a spanner. Check images.google.com to see some. They "span" a large gap.

BTW, if this tool isn't tough enough to suit you but you still don't want to spring for a metal wrench, try wrapping wire or strong cord around the outside, and/or coat it with epoxy (try JB Weld brand, cures very hard).

Hand-made tools. Gotta love 'em. Thanks for the idea.

[Oorspronklikheid]

Yes maybe spanner is something that span a difference maybe not. Quite frankly I'm getting kind of sick of this , I posted this I'ble in '07 but every few years some twaddle nit picks on my choice of words. I want you to realise two things. Namely that i was 18 at the time of posting and did not know much back then and that I speak a whole different language than you! Yes i speak Afrikaans and in our language we only have an equivalent word for spanner and not wrench. The correct translation would be "ring spanner" as it is used it here.So the moral of my story is that people on the internet actually speak different dialects(imagine that) and that simply googling things may not prove accurate. Anyway I have provided pictures and you can immediately see what i am talking about. Arguing about language and grammar usage is secondary of nature as it only concerns itself with the transfer of knowledge and not the information contained within witch is clearly visible from the pictures I provided. Next time before you comment take a while to read what has been said already

[PetervG]

So whats a spanner?

[Apples]

british english word for a wrench.

[servant74]

Two nations separated by a common language! :) ... I wonder which famous person I misquoted that from.

[Gorfram]

Oscar Wilde. He seems to be the source of all great quotes that aren't from Mark Twain or Winston Churchill. :)

[Phil B]

Actually, it was George Bernard Shaw.

[claudg1950]

To follow up on this funny thread; may I quote British-Hungarian humorist George Mikes? He wrote (more or less): "According to the US Constitution, the official language of the United States of America is English. Regrettably, it hasn't yet been put into practice."

[Oorspronklikheid]

I can't believe how this thread that started from a simple misunderstanding between two common language have steam rolled since the creation of this article and out of it has flown more wisdom than the original article itself. Good work everyone

[claudg1950]

Thanks a lot. In fact we are just a bunch of guys bragging about how cultured we are....:-) Good 'ible anyway.

[Legolutionary]

I may be mistaken, but isn't that Mike Skinner? The Streets - Two Nations...

[holeman666]

a spanner is a tool wich you use to turn around bolts and nuts with, and you americans prefer calling it a wrench :)

[JakeTobak]

I Googled "spanner" and it seems to be a wrench.

[finton]

Great idea! That would have been just the answer for spinning a nut onto a long bolt as I had to do recently. Instead I had to use a Crescent spanner (shifter, adjustable wrench, whatever) doing <180 degree turns once my socket set wouldn't reach any further. I'd be inclined to have some type of adaptor to connect it to an electric drill so one need not turn it by hand.

[frikkie]

Dis n oulike instructable .Nice work  ;)

[lemonie]

This type of tool is known as a 'box spanner'. PVC cannot take much torque, and that much is obvious. If you're using this on PVC nuts it'll have an advantage in not chewing them up. However, metal nuts will surely chew this tool up(?)

[binnie]

pvc will melt if you heat it. the nuts go bye bye lol

[jjsonp]

you can also heat the handle and melt/push it through the PVC if you don't have a drill handy. sometimes i've found melting a hole through PVC to be much more convenient than drilling, depending upon the application.

[crapflinger]

"back home" we had to turn off the water to our house at least once or twice a year in the winter because none of the pipe's were insulated (if we left the water on...the water would freeze and the pipes would burst...i love old houses)...well the only place to turn the water off was from the main "tie in" box to the city water supply..who sells wrenches for the contraption inside of that box? no one...how much did the city charge to come turn your water off/on when you wanted them to? about $100..IF they ever showed up...so we made our own wrench using roughly the same method as this instructable...and it worked great...

[Kiteman]

Do you pull the bolt back out to leave a hexagonal hole?