Circlips the forgotten fastener.

When people ask me, “What do I do for a living?” I generally tell them that I sell fasteners. For them to better understand my answer I tell them to think of nuts, bolts and washers. Yes, these are all types of fasteners. However I do not really deal with these type of fasteners.

So before that glazed expression comes over their face, I hit them with what I do sell, which is Circlips, Spring Tension Pins and Disc Springs and other spring type metal parts.

Admittedly not many people have heard of Circlips, hence the title of this article. So I’m writing this article to give the humble Circlip a little higher profile.

So what is a Circlip?

Well a Circlip is a semi-flexible ring that either offers a tight fit on a groove on a shaft or in the case of Internal Circlips, in a groove around the inner bore of a tubular component.

They are generally manufactured from a carbon spring steel but can be manufactured in a wide range of materials including stainless steel, beryllium copper etc.

Depending upon whether the circlip is Internal type or External type they are generally opened up (External) or closed up (Internal) by the use of Circlip pliers, then located on or in the groove of the component and then released and the pliers extracted.

The springiness of the circlip then holds it in place within or on the groove.

The beauty of this product is the variety of use.

You see these things everywhere, including cars, photocopiers, aircraft, exercise equipment, machines, locking mechanisms, power tools, to name but a few.

What makes these Circlips great is there reliability, once there in or on their groove they will just sit there without any problems for a long time. Also given the fact that they offer a respectively high shear force they can take quite a pounding before being unseated from their groove.

If a threaded item should shear or you strip a thread on a component you could have serious and costly consequences. However if a Circlip should ping off simply apply another in their place. If extra force is required then we offer a DIN 1460 range being extra thick and thus being extra strong within the component.

At Caleb Components we offer from stock circlips that fit shafts and bores ranging from a tiny 3mm up to 300mm and also many Imperial sizes in carbon steel and also stock many sizes in stainless steel.

As we also stock many variations of the Circlip, such as E-Clips, Crescent Rings, Snap Rings, and Wire Rings.

So if you are looking for that Circlip or Disc Spring or Spring Tension Pin we are sure that we can find the part you are looking for.