title: python + matplotlib: how to insert more space between the axis and the tick labels in a polar chart?
body: <p>I'm trying to make a polar chart with matplotlib and python 2.7, but I'm struggling on how to increase the space between the X-Axis and the Tick Labels for that same axis. As you can see on the picture, the labels for 12:00 and 6:00 looks just fine, I wish the same space for all other labels. </p>
  
  <p>I tried with </p>
  
  <pre><code>ax.xaxis.LABELPAD = 10
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>but it doesn't have any effect. </p>
  
  <p><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/r2r8Q.png" alt="enter image description here"></p>
  
  <p>Here is my code (sorry for the mess....):</p>
  
  <pre><code>import numpy as np
  import matplotlib as mpl
  mpl.use('Agg')
  import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
  import matplotlib.dates
  from matplotlib.dates import YearLocator, MonthLocator, DateFormatter
  import matplotlib.cm as cm
  import matplotlib.ticker as tkr
  import pdb
  def plot_clock(data,filename,path,**kwargs): # (x,y,colors,lab_x,lab_y,xTicks,filename,legend,**kwargs):
      bins = [0,0.5,1.5,2.5,3.5,4.5,5.5,6.5,7.5,8.5,9.5,10.5,11.5,12,12.5,13.5,14.5,15.5,16.5,17.5,18.5,19.5,20.5,21.5,22.5,23.5,23.999999];
      data = np.array(data)/(60*60)
      DATA_ = np.histogram(data,bins)[0]
      def hour_formatAM(x, p):
          #pdb.set_trace()
          if x &gt; 0:
              return str(format(x*6/np.pi, "01.0f") + ':00')
          else:
              return '12:00'
  
      def hour_formatPM(x, p):
          #pdb.set_trace()
          if x &gt; 0:
              return str(format(x*6/np.pi+12, "01.0f") + ':00')
          else:
              return '24:00'
  
      '''font = {'family' : 'normal',
          'weight' : 'bold',
          'size'   : 12}
      mpl.rc('font', **font)'''
  
      mpl.rcParams.update({'font.size': 8})
      #sub plot AM
      theta = np.array(bins[1:13]) * np.pi / 6
      radii =  DATA_[1:13]
      radii[-1] += DATA_[0]
      width = 1 * np.pi / 6
  
      fig = plt.figure(figsize=(5.5,3),dpi=600)
      ax = fig.add_subplot(121, polar=True)
      bars = ax.bar(theta, radii, width=width, bottom=0)
      ax.set_theta_offset(np.pi/2)
      ax.set_theta_direction(-1)
  
      ax.xaxis.set_ticks(np.arange(0, np.pi*2, np.pi/6))
      ax.get_xaxis().set_major_formatter(tkr.FuncFormatter(hour_formatAM))
      ax.yaxis.set_ticks(np.arange(1,max(DATA_),1))
      for t, bar in zip(theta, bars):
          bar.set_facecolor(plt.cm.jet(t / 12.))
          bar.set_alpha(0.5)
  
  
      #sub plot PM
      theta = np.array(bins[14:26]) * np.pi / 6
      radii =  DATA_[14:26]
      radii[-1] += DATA_[13]
      width = 1 * np.pi / 6
  
      ax = fig.add_subplot(122, polar=True)
      bars = ax.bar(theta, radii, width=width, bottom=0)
      ax.set_theta_offset(np.pi/2)
      ax.set_theta_direction(-1)
      pdb.set_trace()
      ax.xaxis.set_ticks(np.arange(0, np.pi*2, np.pi/6))
      ax.get_xaxis().set_major_formatter(tkr.FuncFormatter(hour_formatPM))
      ax.yaxis.set_ticks(np.arange(1,max(DATA_),1))
      for t, bar in zip(theta, bars):
          bar.set_facecolor(plt.cm.jet(t / 12.))
          bar.set_alpha(0.5) 
      #pdb.set_trace()
      #fig.tight_layout() 
      #xlabels = [item.get_text() for item in ax.get_xticklabels()]
      ax.xaxis.LABELPAD = 10 
      #[item.set_fontsize(12) for item in ax.xaxis.get_major_ticks()]
  
      fig.subplots_adjust(wspace = 0.4) # http://matplotlib.org/faq/howto_faq.html
      fig.savefig(path + filename,format='pdf')  
  
  
  data = [ 10.49531611,  22.49511583,  10.90891806,  18.99525417,
          21.57165972,   6.687755  ,   6.52137028,  15.86534639,
          18.53823556,   6.32563583,  12.99365833,  11.06817056,
          17.29261306,  15.31288556,  19.16236667,  10.38483333,
          14.51442222,  17.01413611,   6.96102278,  15.98508611,
          16.5287    ,  15.26533889,  20.83520278,  17.21952056,
           7.3225775 ,  16.42534361,  14.38649722,  21.63573111,  16.19249444]
  data = np.array(data)*60*60
  plot_clock(data,'figure2_StartTime.pdf','./')
  </code></pre>