You can find a lot of tools in the TME catalogue, where a special place is taken by tools for professional use, coming from specialist manufacturers. One of these manufacturers is Wera, a German supplier with a portfolio of high-precision hand tools in which a range of innovative solutions has been applied. The goal of these modifications is to eliminate typical inconveniences which engineers face on a daily basis, such as difficulty with loosening rusted bolts, slipping screwdriver blades, difficulty finding the right tools quickly, etc. Below, we present a series of Joker tools – ring, open-ended and adjustable spanners made to ensure comfortable, efficient, and safe work. They are an excellent example of an innovative approach to designing hand tools – intuitive to use, but modern.
Wera Joker series of spanners
The Wera Joker spanner series is divided into a few subgroups: Joker, Joker 6000/6001/6002/6003/6004. They feature some common characteristics, mainly in terms of design solutions. All of them are made of chrome molybdenum steel. They come in metric and imperial sizes. The products are easy to distinguish from one another thanks to clear, embossed markings and the “Take it easy” colour-coding identification system. The latter is a method used by the manufacturer consistently over a few series, thanks to which you can find the right tool in a matter of seconds.
Holding function
Joker spanners have been especially designed to make sure that the nut or head of the bolt does not slip out of the jaw. Thanks to that, the spanner can be used to move the installed element to the place where it should be tightened. This makes working with one hand and in confined spaces easier, for example in the car engine compartment or inside industrial machines.
Limit stop
Another design solution for improving the work ergonomics is the limit stop which prevents the spanner from slipping off the nut or head of the bolt. This speeds up the installation process, but also protects fitters from injuries caused by the slipping of jaws and helps apply more force (plus it eliminates the need for constant monitoring of the plane of rotation).
Anti-slip protection
Wera products offer another feature that minimises the risk of slipping of the spanner. Their jaws have a shape of a double hexagon. Thanks to the dense teething, the tool grips the bolt head firmly, even when it is hardly accessible, and at the same time the design does not reduce the torque transmission.
Small operating angle
The design of the jaws allows the user to comfortably operate the spanner, without the need to reapply it, even if it can only be turned at a 30° angle. Every 30°, the spanner can be taken off the bolt head and then reapplied with the arm placed at the starting angle – you do not need to flip the tool to the other side, as is the case with traditional spanners (where the jaws grip the bolt head every 60°).
Joker series
The Joker series comprises products which combine an open-ended spanner with an angled ring spanner placed in the ratchet (containing 80 fine teeth and a lever for a switchover of the ratchet mechanism in both directions). A special metal plate placed in the jaw of the open-ended spanner keeps the bolt/nut in place. The tools are available in metric versions, from 10mm to 19mm – with the handle length from 159mm to 246mm.
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The tilted head gives the user access to elements placed near rims.
Joker 6000
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Colour-coded markings are used by Wera in all of their products.
The Joker 6000 series has a similar design to the one described above, but it features longer handles (up to 246mm), ad its ring-end ratchet does not have a direction switch lever and is not angled. The spanners are suitable for hexagonal bolts in imperial and metric sizes. Like all products described here, these tools are made of chrome molybdenum steel and are chrome-nickel plated, which protects the tool from corrosion.
Joker 6001
In this group of products, there are tools which combine features of the Joker and the Joker 6000 series: they are compatible with inch elements (1/2″, 3/4″, 3/8″, 5/8″, 5/16″, 7/16″, 9/16″) and 8mm ones, and their ring has a lever switch (and a locking system) for the direction of turns and is placed at an angle of 15° in relation to the handle. This makes it possible to access hard-to-reach areas, while the fine toothing of the ratchet will speed up assembly/disassembly works.
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The lever switch has been placed in such a way as to prevent accidental change of direction.
Joker 6002
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Black elements are limit stops thanks to which the spanner jaws grasp the head of the bolt more easily.
The Joker 6002 group includes only open-ended spanners in the metric format. On opposite ends of the handle, there are jaws adapted to similar dimensions of bolts in sizes 10mm, 13mm, 17mm, 19mm, 20mm, 22mm, 24mm, 27mm, 30mm and 32mm. Because they are compact tools with a relatively low weight, they will be a good choice for equipping your tool bag.
Joker 6003
Joker 6003 are classic open-ended and ring spanners (without the ratchet) available in all typical metric and imperial sizes. A set of these will be excellent for equipping workshops and service centres where very often spanners are used to work with corroded bolts that are hard to loosen, placed in cavities, profiles and confined spaces.
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Chamfered edges and contoured handle of the spanner improves its ergonomics.
Self-setting spanners
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In the Joker 6004 series, the jaws are placed on a pivot joint with integrated ratchet mechanism.
The adjustable spanner is one of the basic tools in the equipment of every engineer/fitter/installer working in field. In the case of the Joker 6004 series, such spanners are highly advanced tools whose functionality reaches far above the possibilities of classic tools. The basic difference are the jaws with an automatic gripping mechanism. Depending on the model, they can work in ranges from 7…10mm to 24…32mm, which translates into imperial 1/4…3/8″ to 15/16…1+1.4″. Here, the jaws also feature teeth for gripping the bolt head at a 30° angle, and the tightening is even easier as the head is placed on a pivot joint with integrated ratchet mechanism. The length of the contoured arm reaches up to 322mm and the handle has a hole for hanging or securing the spanner.
Wera Joker spanner set
When it comes to equipping the workshop, tool bag or workstation, it is worth considering buying the Joker spanner set. This will ensure comfortable work with bolts of typical sizes while enjoying the convenience offered by the “Take it easy” system. The tools are delivered in a lightweight, roll-up pouch with a hook-and-loop fastener and dedicated partitions tightly fitted to the tools. The pouch can also be hung up on the board, thanks to a special hole secured by a metal ring. In these types of sets, metric and imperial Joker 6000, 6001 and 6003 spanners are available, including spanners with the ratchet mechanism, switch lever as well as open-ended and ring ones.
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Partitions and flaps protect the spanners to avoid blunting the jaw edges.
