Abstract An investigation of the impact of particle size on the mechanical retention of particles in a fibre network has been conducted. The particles used were five sets of quartz particle fractions having fairly narrow particle size distributions with average particle size ranging from a few μm to around 100 μm. The particles were used to model flocculated filler aggregates as part of a larger study of the effect of pre-flocculation on mechanical retention. Pre-flocculation of the filler is a possible strategy to increase the filler content of paper without deterioration of strength properties. A modified laboratory hand sheet former, known as the Rapid Drainage Device (RDD) was used. The major modification consisted of a long pipe that acted as a suction leg, which provides a dewatering vacuum at the same level as on a paper machine. The experimental results showed that mechanical filler retention increased linearly with particle size and grammage of the fibre layer above a critical grammage which depended on particle size. The linear relation was also seen in a pilot scale trial on the FEX pilot-paper machine at Innventia. During this trial fine paper was produced using pre-flocculated filler where the mean particle size of the flocs and fibres was measured in the flow to the headbox. The results from this pilot trial show that mechanical retention is an important part of the total filler retention. Drainage time and therefore drainage resistance increased with the grammage of the fibre layer and amount of quartz particle added. Drainage time, compared at total grammage (i.e. the sum of fibre and quartz particle grammage) was lowest for a fraction of medium-sized particles, with a median size of 35 mm. There was no obvious effect on retention or drainage resistance of a change in the dewatering pressure from 27.5 to 41.5 kPa.