A spanner (bronze I think, same as the one you dismantle generators and macerators with) is supposed to rotate an Iron Transport Tube, but it won't. The only way I have found that usually works is a redstone signal, so usually I place the tube, and if it's wrong then I remove it, lay down a redstone signal, place the tube, and then remove the signal which causes the pipe to flip orienation. If it's a a T-junction then redstone can rotate it through the three orientations and so that can be done after placement.
Any ideas what's up with the spanner not working?