W01

Role: Industrial design
Material: S2 steel / Al 6061-T6
Tools: Fusion 360 / Blender
System: 2–8 mm metric

Precision hex system

A seven-piece steel hex wrench system exploring the ordinary hand tool as a permanent precision instrument.

The complete W01 system: seven hex wrenches seated in a machined aluminum storage block, with one wrench lying beside it on a pale surface.

The hex key,
reconsidered.

Hex keys are typically treated as inexpensive accessories: manufactured cheaply, stored temporarily, and replaced without consideration. W01 approaches the same object as a permanent tool.

The familiar L-shaped geometry remains intact. The intervention instead occurs through proportion, material, surface treatment, identification and storage.

01/System

Seven tools.
One geometric system.

Seven metric sizes form a controlled progression from 2 mm to 8 mm. Arm length, stock dimension and bend geometry scale with the functional requirements of each tool while preserving a consistent visual relationship across the set.

2mm
2.5mm
3mm
4mm
5mm
6mm
8mm

Dimensions of each wrench in the W01 set
Across flats, mm	Long arm, mm	Short arm, mm	Bend radius, mm
2	95	20	2.5
2.5	105	23	3.125
3	115	26	3.75
4	130	30	5
5	145	34	6.25
6	160	38	7.5
8	175	44	10

02/Geometry

Bend geometry

Controlled bend radii replace the visually abrupt bends typical of commodity hex keys. Every size follows one rule: a bend centreline radius of 1.25 times the across-flats dimension.

Wrench tips seated in the storage block, with size numerals etched beside each recess. — **02.1**/Working interface

A laser mark along a wrench arm reading 05 / 5 mm / S2. — **02.2**/Identification

End-on view of a hex wrench: a six-sided working face with a small chamfered edge, in soft focus along the arm. — **02.3**/Working end

03/Material

Wrench bodies

Tool steel

The wrench bodies are specified in S2 tool steel, through-hardened and tempered to 56–60 HRC, with a fine micro-bead-blasted finish and exposed, honest metal. The hardness range and across-flats limits follow ISO 2936.

Storage

Al—6061—T6

CNC-machined aluminum forms the storage architecture, allowing the individual recesses to follow the geometry of each tool.

04/Process

CAD to
visualization.

Fusion 360 supports parametric CAD development, dimensional control and the technical drawing set. Blender is used for material studies, lighting and final object visualization.

Fusion 360: Parametric CAD / assemblies / drawings
Blender: Materials / lighting / rendering
Outputs: 3D model / drawing set / presentation renders

05/Identification

Information,
not ornament.

Identification is deliberately subordinate to the physical object. Minimal laser-etched size and material information is readable at close range and quiet at a glance. The storage block carries the system name along one edge.

The edge of the storage block, engraved: W01, Precision Hex System, S2 Steel, S/N 000124. — **05.1**/Storage block, engraved edgeW01 | Precision hex system | S2 steel | S/N 000124

06/Documentation

From object
to specification.

Each wrench is documented on its own A3 sheet: top and side views, bend and tip details, laser mark, tolerances and mass. Three of the seven sheets are shown here. The supplied development set retains the earlier titanium material callout; the current wrench specification is S2 steel.