WINTER 2023

10 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S

10 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK Laurence Claus Laurence Claus is the President of NNi Training and Consulting, Inc. He has 25 years of experience with a medium sized automotive fastener manufacturer, holding positions including Vice President of Engineering, General Manager, Director of Quality, Director of New Business Development and Applications Engineer. In 2012 he formed NNi offering technical and business training courses as well as technical consulting, expert witness and consultation work. He can be reached at 847-867-7363 or by email: Lclaus@NNiTraining.com. You can learn more about NNi at www.NNiTraining.com. RETAINING RINGS A couple of months ago my mother called me with a strange question. She had cut her lawn the day before and noticed afterwards that the patterns made by the blades were uneven, with one side higher than other side. She has a large yard and her lawnmower is a riding one with about a four foot wide cut. Over the phone I told her that it sounded to me like the mower deck (mechanism that houses the lawn mower’s cutting blades) had been somehow knocked out of alignment and was not running level with the ground. I told her I would look at it the next time I visited. Not wanting to wait for me to come by, she ventured back out to the garage to take a look and discovered that the mower deck was seemingly fine because the right rear tire was completely flat. Of course this would explain the odd cutting pattern and prompted her to call me right back and tell me that she had discovered the problem. She now asked how she should get it repaired. I told her I would come right over and take it off so that she could take it in and get the tire repaired. Not knowing the size of the lug nuts retaining the tire, I grabbed a socket set and headed over. To my surprise and chagrin, my first discovery was that there were no lug nuts, only a large plastic cap in the center of the wheel. Not to be daunted and expecting a large, single nut holding the wheel in place, I got to work removing the cap. Once I did so, I got my second surprise. There was no nut at all, only a C-shaped retaining ring. I popped it off, pulled off the tire, had it repaired, and replaced it in no time. TECHNICAL ARTICLE This experience was, once again, a reminder that the fastening world is full of creative solutions to many design challenges. Instead of a more complicated, traditional means of attaching the wheel with studs and nuts or a nut and cotter pin on the end of the rear axle shaft, it was all accomplished with a simple retaining ring. For the most part, fasteners widely go about their business in obscurity. It isn’t until an experience like mine that the creative genius of fastener engineering is exposed. So, let’s take a closer look at this interesting family of fasteners that can be used for critical applications like holding gears and bearings to shafts all the way to lighter duty applications like retaining parts to a moving shaft on a children’s toy. What Are Retaining Rings Retaining Rings, also known as Snap Rings or Circlips are metal fasteners that, generally, are applied to rotating components and fit into a groove to create a shoulder which prevents components from moving out of position during operation (Figure 1). These fasteners replace traditional joining methods such as drilled holes and cotter pins or threaded ends and nuts. They possess multiple advantages over these traditional methods including cost savings by reducing fastener preparation steps and components, eliminating the complexity of threaded components, lightening the assembly by utilizing a single, lightweight component, and fostering easy assembly. CONTINUED ON PAGE 96