# Best way to cut carbon seatpost?



## Pinhead (Jan 30, 2004)

What's the best method for cutting a carbon seatpost (i.e. Carbon Alien)? Hacksaw, rotary blade, etc?


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## mward (Apr 7, 2004)

Use a hacksaw. Wrap the cut point in masking tape to prevent fraying of fibers. Keep the cut wet to reduce dust. Don't inhale the dust under any circumstances. Easy peasy. There is a 'how to cut' on easton's site also that says basically the same thing in 2000 words.


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## top_ring (Feb 9, 2004)

*Save yourself the hassle...*

of a hacksaw cut. It`s never a straight 90 degree cut anyway. A super clean, hassle free way to cut carbon is with a pipe cutter. Buy yourself a small hand held pipe cutter (under $10.00) and get a nice straight, clean cut with NO dust. I use it for handlebars too.

Photo is just an example. You can buy them smaller than this one.

Click here


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## Wrenchester (Jan 13, 2004)

*fine-toothed hack saw worked for me...*



Pinhead said:


> What's the best method for cutting a carbon seatpost (i.e. Carbon Alien)? Hacksaw, rotary blade, etc?


Sure, the cut isn't straight, but that end is inside the seat tube anyway--I never see it.

I like the pipe cutter idea. But then, how often will I need to cut seat posts and handlebars? So far, only once.


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## leichtreiter (Apr 22, 2004)

top_ring said:


> of a hacksaw cut. It`s never a straight 90 degree cut anyway. A super clean, hassle free way to cut carbon is with a pipe cutter. Buy yourself a small hand held pipe cutter (under $10.00) and get a nice straight, clean cut with NO dust. I use it for handlebars too.
> 
> Photo is just an example. You can buy them smaller than this one.
> 
> Click here


ouch! its absolutely not recommended to use a pipe cutter for carbon tubes as the pipe cutter in fact doesnt *cut* carbon tubes; it just "squeezes" the tubes splitting and breaking through the carbonlayers and hurting the structure above and below the "cut".

the tape&hacksaw-method will do 
use a fine hacksaw and after cutting seal the cut with epoxy, clear varnish or a few drops superglue


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## rockhound197 (Apr 30, 2004)

*I strongly agree....*

don't use a pipe cutter! I have seen them used to cut carbon successfully and I've seen it go horribly wrong, and I mean horribly. Because of the pressure generated by pipe cutter it doesn't take much to over do it and crush whatever you're cutting. The tape and hacksaw method works great. You can actually pick up special blades for carbon fiber which look like a non-toothed blade with sandpaper grit glued onto it. That's not necessary as long as your blade is sharp and has a medium to high tooth count.

To keep your cut straight there a lots of methods you could employ. The easiest is to find a piece of scrap metal and hold it flush against the seatpost right where you want it cut, hold tight and cut away. Have fun!


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