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I have cut many a steerer in my mtbing life but never a carbon one. So what is the easiest and safest method to shorten a carbon steerer? I have heard horror stories about inhaling carbon dust?
32tpi blade at least, lots of guides on YouTube... Obvious stuff like use a saw guide, file the burs so if there are any carbon fibres splitting away you don't make them worse.
I go over the top.
Outdoors
Carbon specific hacksaw blade
Respirator
Tape over the cut
Soapy water sprayed on as I'm cutting
Wet and dry (wetted) to finish.
Probably because I get annual refresher training about asbestos so treat carbon and concrete/cement in a similar fashion.
Outdoors, Dremel disc, wind blowing away from me.
Measure twice, cut once, as always!
32tpi blade and an old stem as a cutting guide.
No need to over-complicate things.
Not nearly as terrifing as cutting an inegrated seatpost. I've had a couple of theose in my time, Scott Plasma, Yeti ASR-C. Taking a hacksaw to a brand new £2.5k frame.... Measure 17 times cut once, do not * this up, do not * this up, do not **** this up
hacksaw. Set your length. I use an old spacers as a guide. Cut it off. Bit of sand paper or file to tidy. Took you longer to start this thread.
Or you can consult umpteen youtube videos, buy an expensive specialist tool and treat the whole operation like brainsurgery.
You will get exactly the same results with a bread knife.
I do wonder what we are coming to some time!
I go over the top.
Outdoors
Carbon specific hacksaw blade
Respirator
Tape over the cut
Soapy water sprayed on as I’m cutting
Wet and dry (wetted) to finish.
This isn't OTT... If a job's worth doing etc. Fitted covid mask would do i/o respirator and I'm fine with doing it indoors if it's all cleaned up properly. The right blade and prep is worth it and wetting the area is sensible. A 32TPI blade ideally inline teeth will be ok if you're not cack-handed.
hacksaw. Set your length. I use an old spacers as a guide. Cut it off. Bit of sand paper or file to tidy. Took you longer to start this thread.
Or you can consult umpteen youtube videos, buy an expensive specialist tool and treat the whole operation like brainsurgery.
You will get exactly the same results with a bread knife.
I do wonder what we are coming to some time!
Well yeah, I've seen the same attitude to process in factories making the carbon forks in the first place. So fk it... who cares ; )
Don't rush it and measure more than once.. just speaking from experience 🤣
https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/arrrrrrgh-ive-cut-my-steerer-too-short-help-please/
Apart from going outside I don't do anything different from a metal steerer tube. No idea what blade is in my hacksaw. It's a big one though!!
I do use a cutting guide though, and usually masking tape and draw a line where I need to cut.
Regarding masks etc I drill hundreds of holes in carbon daily working for a very risk averse organisation who have zero concerns about carbon dust! We're literally made of the stuff! Get a carbon splinter and that's taken far more seriously as the body doesn't recognise it and expel it like wood or metal splinters... so glove up folks!
I use two old stems as a cutting guide.
Regarding masks etc I drill hundreds of holes in carbon daily working for a very risk averse organisation who have zero concerns about carbon dust! We’re literally made of the stuff!
But it's the tiny fibres in dust that cause the risk/lung damage, not the material the fibres are made from? Asbestos isn't a carcinogenic material either. There's some suggestions that resins with carbon nanotubes in can create dust with the potential for the same damage as asbestos.
We're mostly made of water, you don't want to be breathing too much of that in either...
The resins are normally pretty bad for you too. Just because the carbon itself is inert, that doesn't mean you want to be ingesting it.
We spend a lot of money on fit-testing and providing masks for our composite trimmers, because we don't fancy prison time courtesy of HSE or employees in hospital..
But to answer the question if I'm just cutting a steerer tube once in a blue moon, I'd do it the same as an alloy one but go outside to do it. Use a good blade (or carbon specific one) to reduce the chance of splintering.
Toolstation sell a blade that's made for the job (but without bike tax), part no, 48146, tungsten carbide grit hacksaw blade, at £1.86 inc vat.