On Fri, 21 Jul 2017 15:21:22 +0100, Arfa Daily
wrote:

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,

I have been searching for that a wile as well. It seems they are
called flat nose snap ring pliers or flat nose retaining ring pliers.
I have not found any cheap ones, though.

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.

That's what I did. I used an angle grinder to remove some material
from the inside of the jaws, so that they close a little tighter. On
the outside, I simply used a bench grinder. I have left the surface
plain flat for now. I have used it only once, but it worked fine.
--
RoRo