7 Facts You Never Knew About Snap Ring Pliers

What Is a Snap Ring Pliers Set?

In colloquial terms, snap ring pliers are designed to remove the snap ring or C-ring or install them into a groove. However, the difference between a standard plier and the snap ring plier is the way their tip is designed and works variedly. 

The tip of the snap ring plier has a precise shape. The shape is unique and fits the circlips' grip holes. So, you can maneuver and manipulate the circle clip grip hole for installation or removal into a groover for assembling components. 

7 Facts You Never Knew About Snap Ring Pliers

Retaining or snap rings are part and parcel of assembling or installing components into a shaft. Also, the rings are used to accommodate pieces into a groove section mostly. And the tool you use to deal with the snap rings is the snap ring pliers. 

Without much ado, let's dive deep into the unknown world of the snap ring pliers. 

1. Alternative names?

Did your parents call you with a nickname and friends with another one? If so, then you will understand this point better. Although most workshop workers and cyclists know the snap ring pliers as the name comes first, it has several alternative names.

For instance, you will see hard some people talking about Jesus clip. Well, they don't mean to speak about the clipping Jesus anyway. Jesus clip is another synonym of snap rang clippers. Some common alternative names also include Circlip or Roctor clip.

The name 'circlip' is interesting since it is the acronym of two words, circle and clip. The name is given because the tool is used to assemble circled or ringed clips. 

2. Use as a simple wrench:

When fitted rightly with the nuts and bolts, you can actually use the snap ring pliers set as a regular wrench, Yes, I am talking no rubbish here. With a little adjustment and hard work, you can transform the pliers for snap rings into a useful wrench set. 

It won't require any special tricks from your parts. Just make sure that the pliers fit the nuts and bolts and then carefully use them to function as a wrench. However, its effectiveness is questionable.

3. Gettable in various size:

Did you think that the snap ring pliers are available in one standard size only? How wrong you are! Here is another eye-opening information for you about the handy tool. 

The snap ring pliers set is available in two sizes, large and small. The larger pliers set are designed to deal with larger C-clips or snap rings with a diameter of up to 20". The smaller snap ring pliers set will work fine with the lowest .02" rated C-clips. 

Did this fact surprise you? Well, here's another fact that will surprise you even more. 

Some of the largest snap ring pliers are capable of dealing C-clips having a diameter as large as 40" or 1000mm. That's huge!

4. Interchangeable pliers tip:

Some high-end snap ring pliers set doesn't depend on the fixed tip. Instead, you can change the pliers' tip to accommodate a varied size of C-clips. The interchanging capacity of the snap ring pliers tips brings enormous versatility and flexibility at work. 

Since you can quickly change the tip to fit the rings of different diameters, you can perform several installation or removal with one tool only. It saves money and time both- incredible! Also, it helps you get healthy machinery with the least effort. 

5. Not for crimp connection:

When you have stealthy and super-strong pliers set such as the snap ring pliers, temptations are high for using them to make a crimp connection. Well, to be honest, you can use the pliers to make the crimp connections somehow. 

But that's not recommended. The pliers set will create an indent on the center half of the crimp ferrule and affect the connection longevity. An expert electrician inspector will quickly identify the fault. So, I advise you not to use the snap ring pliers for the crimp connection to stay on the right side of your inspector. 

6. A must tool for cyclists:

Whether you are a mountain biker or a regular cyclist, your bike would go through some sort of maintenance and repair work now and then. None of these component repairings is possible without the snap ring pliers. 

7. Alternatives of snap ring pliers:

Sometimes you may not want to use the snap ring pliers or also, don't have access for it. What do you will do then? Well, there're two alternatives of the snap ring pliers. These are the needle nose pliers and a pair of punches. 

When you use the needle nose pliers, you might need to grind it for some little adjustments before inserting it inside the snap ring of the bike. Also, you can insert the pair of punches inside the snap ring. You need to also use a dowel rod along with the punches.