[hatcher]

Does anyone know of an easy way to remove the snap ring on Mil-spec fasteners as I am ready to paint the cowl

 

[sjhurlbut]

good luck

I'm painting now as well and just removed a lot of these fasteners. Short answer is no. I did have some luck getting some off by using a pair of pliers with really thin flat ends on them. Then grind the ends down a bit to create and circle shape. This way you can get the pliers in closer to try and pry the ring off.

I ended up using a Dremel tool and small cutting blade to cut the rings off of a few persistant ones.

Steve
7A

 

[erich weaver]

I have the Skybolt fasteners, but I assume they work the same. This is one of those things that are a pain in the butt at first, but gets easier with practice. I use one of those micro flathead screwdrivers and pry them off using a twisting motion at the point where the break in the snap ring is. Hint: Because the cut in the snap ring is on a bevel, it will be easier to pry off by lifting on one side of the ring than the other - experiment a little and you will figure it out. I think it took me something like two hours to get them all off the first time when I was getting ready to prime the cowl, and blood was spilled. Recently did them again before final paint job - down to about 15 minutes.

Be patient - it requires a lot more technique than force.

 

[mike109g6]

snap ring removal

Does anyone know of an easy way to remove the snap ring on Mil-spec fasteners as I am ready to paint the cowl

Just talked to Jeremy today about doing that exact same thing. He advised using a small(electrical) flat blade screwdriver to go under one side of the split, hold the opposite side of the ring with your finger so the ring doesn't turn and lift it off. Be careful that you don't pop yourself in the eye with the ring. He said that he has extra bags of rings if needed if you can't bend the ring back into shape.
Mike H 9A/8A

 

[flybill7]

Removing Mil-specs

I just finished removing all of them from my cowl. The snap-rings were challenging but I eventually developed my technique. I ended up using this dental pick thing I picked up a few years ago at Oshkosh. It had a narrow, flat thin pick at each end. I'd slide it under one end of the snap-ring then lift it up and over the edge. After that the snap-ring would come off easily. I would file the pick end occasionally to keep it sharp which was necessary to get it under the snap-ring.

I'd hold the ring in position with my left hand and use the pick with the right. After sticking the pick into my fingertip a few times, I started wearing a glove on my left hand.

I was pretty good at getting them off towards the end. Got all of them off and none were damaged.