Colleague asked me today what the right sort of circlip pliers for
removing the type of clip that needs expanding, but has just a pair of
sort of 'opposite-facing "C"s' on the ends of the arms, rather than the
more usual holes in the arms. He needs to remove a number of them that
are securing fan blades onto a small motor shaft. The clip fits in a
groove in the motor shaft. He has tried expanding pin-nosed circlip
pliers that are the right size for the job, but because the pins are not
locating in holes, they just keep slipping out. I'm sure that I've seen
them with a small groove in the outer faces of the pins, but I can't for
the life of me find any that look like that now. About the only other
thing that I could suggest to him was that he take a pair of 'tradional'
pin-tip ones, and Dremel a slot in each pin with a diamond cutting wheel
like I keep in mine most of the time for jobs like this.

Anyone know if there is a specific tool readily available for this type
of clip or if the clip or tool has a unique name rather than it just
being a variant of an 'external circlip' ?

Arfa