Snap Ring Design Concept

This is a spin-off design concept resulting from another project I was working on.

I needed to secure a circular shaft to a bore, but somehow "locked" in place and not rely solely on tight friction fit (that requires fine-tuning of inner/outer diameters!). I also had limited accessibility - the other side of the bore was blocked, and the sides were blocked. The lock had to be inserted from the direction shaft was inserted.

So I propose a snap ring design concept, where a snap ring is inserted into the bore's snap ring groove so that the shaft cannot be easily pulled out. A metal snap ring has existed for decades, but I had to adapt the geometries so that the design is both effective and printable.

Both the STL files and STEP files are uploaded, so if anyone thinks this design is worthwhile can have a look and adapt it to their designs.

Some of the design considerations in this design are:

• The lead-in at the bore is chamfered at 45 deg for 1mm, to allow easy insertion of the snap ring.
• The snap ring groove for the bore is tapered at 45 deg, so it is printable without supports. The tapered groove also allows the snap ring to "bite" into the groove.
• Snap ring is designed to have a larger outer diameter than the bore's inner diameter, meaning the snap ring is in compression when inserted. This allows the ring to "bite" into the bore and requires additional force to take it out.
• The hexagonal key is chamfered to the circular shaft so that it is printable without supports.

Short video available here:
https://youtu.be/sv_xUyv75G4

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