Circlips · Retaining rings · E-clips
Circlips and retaining rings, listed by the size they fit
55 metric parts to DIN 471, DIN 472 and DIN 6799, sold by the pack.
Size not listed, or an imperial or obsolete reference? Ask the trade desk.
No VAT charged
The Maximum Industrial Group Limited is not VAT registered, so the price shown is the price you pay.
£4.95 tracked UK delivery
Flat rate per order, typically 2–4 working days.
30-day returns
On unopened packs, whether you ordered as a business or a consumer.
Browse by fit
Three families cover the metric range in stock listings.
3–26 mm
External circlips
Retaining rings that sit in a machined groove on the outside of a shaft.
23 sizes
8–31 mm
Internal circlips
Retaining rings that sit in a machined groove inside a housing or bore.
21 sizes
1.5–10 mm
E-clips
Pushed on from the side where there is no axial access to the shaft end.
11 sizes
Jump straight to a size
Every size we stock, by what it fits. External by shaft, internal by bore, E-clips by groove.
Commonly ordered sizes
A starting point for maintenance and repair work.
Not sure which ring you need?
Which standard applies, what the nominal size refers to, and how to measure what you have.
DIN 471, DIN 472 and DIN 6799 explained
Three standards cover almost every metric retaining ring you will meet. Picking the wrong one is usually a matter of measuring the wrong surface, not of choosing the wrong part.
How to measure for a circlip
The ring you pulled out is the least reliable thing to measure. Measure the feature it sits in, and the size falls out of the standard.
Fitting and removing circlips safely
Most circlip failures are fitting failures. A ring that was over-expanded on the way in will not hold, however right the part number was.
Circlip materials and finishes
Carbon spring steel does almost every job. The cases where it does not are predictable, and they are worth knowing before the assembly is closed up.
How much load can a circlip take?
The ring is rarely the weak part. In almost every failure the groove yields first, and the ring only dishes and rolls out afterwards as a consequence.
Cannot identify the part?
Send the shaft, bore or groove dimensions, the ring thickness if you have it, the material and the quantity. If it is an imperial size, an old reference or something outside the listed range, the trade desk will tell you what is needed to identify it.
Every dimension names its source
Groove diameter, groove width, ring thickness and edge margin are published per standard with the specification they came from cited on the page. Where our sources disagree we publish the figure two of them give, flag the size on the table, and name who differs.
Listed by the feature it fits
Every part shows its standard, the shaft, bore or groove it fits, material and pack quantity — so it can be checked against a drawing before ordering rather than after it arrives.
No stock claimed that is not held
Every line reads "Available to order" because the opening stock has not landed. Each order is placed with our supplier when it is placed with us, and the lead time is confirmed by email before anything is processed.
Imagery on this site is illustrative of a family, never of a specific part. Dimensions are governed by the applicable DIN standard — check the groove sizes against your drawing before ordering, not against a picture.