I need my steer cut

[youngoldbloke]

You can use a fine hacksaw (32tpi) but a Tungsten Carbide Grit Hacksaw blade (Toolstation £2.58) is better. Cut smoothly and gently, you don't want to snag and pull fibres or cause the carbon to delaminate.

 

[mickle]

Emery paper is emery paper, also known as J-cloth or wet and dry depending if it comes on a thin roll or in sheets, it doesn't come in coarse grits, you are thinking of aluminium oxide paper which is not the same thing so learn your abrasives before you comment.

Wrong.

http://www.suttontools.co.uk/acatalog/Sutton_Tools_Abrasive_Papers_325.html

 

[mickle]

Carbon dust - as it's just one job and there is not enough present to persist in a dangerous manner than masking up and working outside will be fine, a hoover is not the same thing as a proper workshop extractor, the filters are not rated the same way and neither are the bagging arangements so just using a hoover would be no better than not using one.

I know even you don't believe this. You seem to be suggesting that cutting a carbon steerer will generate enough dangerous dust to justify masking up and decanting to the great outdoors, but not enough to justify the use of the obvious piece of domestic micro-filtering equipment that everyone has lying around the house. Of course a domestic vacuum cleaner isn't the same as an industrial extractor. Just as a B&Q decorators mask the same as a positive pressure ventilator. What happens to the dust when you cut your carbon steerer in the garden?

Go on, try to argue that a poxy face mask is better filtration than a domestic hoover. I dare you.

And how exactly do you get your bench vice out in to the garden??

 

[mickle]

In the absence of a proper steerer cutting guide you can indeed use the edge of an old stem if you happen to have one lying about.

If you don't happen to have an old stem - but do have a stem spacer you don't mind sacrificing you can achieve the same result. Just line the edge of the spacer up with the intended cut line and bolt the bike's stem behind it to stop it moving. Voila, undamaged stem, and a steerer spacer which can be used time and time again as an edge guide.

Please don't use a pipe cutter on a carbon steerer - even if it's just to mark a cut. Designed to to roll (metal) material away from the blade it'll crush the underlying fibres.

 

[Yellow Fang]

Ermmmm

I think I'll just ring my LBS

:-)

Good idea. There's also the hassle of inserting the star fangled nut. I found that more tricky than cutting the steerer tube.

 

[youngoldbloke]

Good idea. There's also the hassle of inserting the star fangled nut. I found that more tricky than cutting the steerer tube.

DO NOT USE a star fangled nut in a carbon steerer tube. Use a carbon steerer expander plug.

 

[Mark_Robson]

Go on, try to argue that a poxy face mask is better filtration than a domestic hoover. I dare you.

I'm not taking sides here but most "poxy" face masks offer little or no protection at all. The reason being that you can't get a proper seal, especially if you need to bend the wire strip around the bridge of your nose. The simplest way to check a mask for leaks is to cover the inlet valves and breathe in, thus causing a vacuum inside the mask. If the mask is sealed then you will maintain the vacuum and if it's leaking you'll lose the vacuum. The cheaper disposable masks don't have inhalation valves so you have no way of knowing if they are providing any respiratory protection at all.

MY advice would be to stick with the hoover.

 

[slowmotion]

When I cut mine I just used a jubilee clip to give me a edge for the saw and cut around it. Don't forget though, measure twice, cut once.

I've never cut a steerer tube, but I have cut loads of tubes of different materials and diameters. I use a bit of masking tape as a guide rather than something rigid. That way, you can correct any minor blade wandering easily. If you wander into a rigid guide, the whole world goes t*ts up. Whatever you do, cut nice and slowly with a fine tooth blade or similar.

IMVVHO.

Edit: cross-post with Mr Paul, #22.

 

[Yellow Fang]

DO NOT USE a star fangled nut in a carbon steerer tube. Use a carbon steerer expander plug.

Has gb155 mentioned the type of steerer? Although I admit I did not know about using an expander plug for carbon steerers.

 

[Mark_Robson]

I've never cut a steerer tube, but I have cut loads of tubes of different materials and diameters. I use a bit of masking tape as a guide rather than something rigid. That way, you can correct any minor blade wandering easily. If you wander into a rigid guide, the whole world goes t*ts up. Whatever you do, cut nice and slowly with a fine tooth blade or similar.

IMVVHO.

Edit: cross-post with Mr Paul, #22.

Good point but I used a Dremel on mine and the clip helped a lot.

 

[slowmotion]

Good point but I used a Dremel on mine and the clip helped a lot.

Yep, a Dremel is a whole different scene. Thanks.

 

[slowmotion]

Do you know about cnczone.com? http://cnczone.com/

A fantastic website populated, as far as I can tell, by semi-retired aerospace engineers and other brilliant people, each with a lifetime of engineering experience. They know about everything. Log on and read the stuff that they have posted about the safety aspects of cutting carbon fibre.

The chances of coming to any harm by cutting a single CF steerer look as good as me winning the Lottery after failing to buy a ticket .

 

[youngoldbloke]

Has gb155 mentioned the type of steerer? Although I admit I did not know about using an expander plug for carbon steerers.

No he didn't - IF a carbon steerer ...... apologies if I appeared to be shouting

 

[raindog]

Ermmmm

I think I'll just ring my LBS

:-)

 

[yello]

Is this something most LBS' should offer ? What sort of cost am I looking at ?

Mine did it for free. Admitted, it was a steel steerer and he was sitting around doing nothing, and I bought something from him too, but it was such a quick and easy job that I guess he thought it worth more in goodwill than cash.

Ask them, see what they say.