http://www.screwfix.com/p/rothenberger-automatic-tube-cutter-22mm/24477

this kind of thing?

i need to narrow the bars on my wifes roadrat, they need about 20mm off each end. i could hack saw it but maybe this would make a neater job of it

Just hacksaw & file

Yep, I’ve got a similar thing. Can pop it in the post if you want to borrow, save buying one?

Oh thanks. Next door neighbour has one though!

there is less remedial work needed if you hacksaw. the razor sharp lip left by pipe cutters need filing both inside and out . if you hacksaw you barely need to touch it .

that said given most people cant hacksaw in a straight line to save them selve you might want to get a pipe cutter and put up with the extra filing time.

I use this style of cutter for fork steerers and seatposts, nevr cut a set of bars (always found wider to be better) but should work fine

http://www.screwfix.com/p/rothenberger-no-35-telescopic-tube-cutter-6-35mm/61463

Hacksaw.

You’ll just blunt the pipe cutter, and the rollers will mark the bars. Been there, done that.

As per pretty much everyone else.

Blunted a telescopic pipe cutter doing some bars – hacksaw was a quicker solution.

That pipe cutter is £45. A cutting guide for fork steerers is only £16 (Link)

I can’t cut straight so use it for bars as well. Sharp hacksaw, tidy up with a file.

Right. Measure twice and all that I’ll stick them unwanted end first in the band saw

simons_nicolai-uk – Member
That pipe cutter is £45.

Wow, it is. I have two of them, somehow, and I didn’t pay for either of them. Someone just left them in my shed.

Cheaper version here

http://www.screwfix.com/p/rothenberger-minicut-2-pro-tube-cutter-6-22mm/71782

Should we just double check that we’re talking aluminium and not carbon here…? 🙂

I did. Much neater and more accurate than using a saw. Didnt need any filing after as the cutter left a chamfered edge

Pipe cutter is quicker and leaves a neater outside edge, and usually includes a deburring tool to remove any residual internal lip if you want. Hacksaw requires guides and files. Either will work.

I’ve used one, much neater and easier than a hacksaw. I only paid a few quid for mine, nothing like £45.

I use two old lock-ons from grips ‘back to back’ as a saw guide – seems to work fine

http://www.screwfix.com/p/rothenberger-automatic-tube-cutter-22mm/24477

this kind of thing?

i need to narrow the bars on my wifes roadrat, they need about 20mm off each end. i could hack saw it but maybe this would make a neater job of it

I used one of those. It works but had to do too much ‘making good’ with a file to make the saving worthwhile as the cutting wheel isn’t good enough for the task (it’s meant for copper piping at the end of the day).

My advice is to use a cutting guide and saw.

Twas actually one of these i used http://www.screwfix.com/p/tube-cutter-3-28mm/49428?kpid=49428&cm_mmc=Google-_-Product%2520Listing%2520Ads-_-Sales%2520Tracking-_-sales%2520tracking%2520url&gclid=CjwKEAjwoLfHBRD_jLW93remyAQSJABIygGpS23a_oNl7Bz3WGQCZ2jmz6DhQPYlG5TF788g-cmj2xoC7vjw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=CIDe5ICJn9MCFVGeGwodExIJPw

phil56 – Member
I use two old lock-ons from grips ‘back to back’ as a saw guide – seems to work fine

‘Like’

Hacksaw requires guides

no it doesnt. maybe if it was 7″ OD

top tip. dont force the blade and try to rush it,

trail_rat is right about this. I always use a pipe cutter on aluminium because it gives a nice straight cut. Then when I’m filing off the lip it has left I think to myself that I should have just used the hacksaw and taken a bit of care 🙂

I use two old lock-ons from grips ‘back to back’ as a saw guide – seems to work fine

Like that as well. Using a saw to cut straight is easy if you can do it, very hard if you can’t

Reminds me that a mate was proudly telling me that he bought a guide and special saw to cut down the steering column on his carbon forks. 😆 🙄
Pillock!

Rio – Member
Pipe cutter is quicker and leaves a neater outside edge, and usually includes a deburring tool to remove any residual internal lip if you want. Hacksaw requires guides and files. Either will work

How rubbish are you with a hacksaw 😯

How rubbish are you with a hacksaw

Me, terrible, did a couple of fork tubes and always wander off, looked like it was cut with a snow plough. I think it is my soft office workers hands.
However I am not really an advocate of using the pipe cutters either as they cause a little raised up bump at the cut, increasing the diameter so the headset wont go on. My last forks where I used a posh pipe cutter I spent ages filing this down.

My genius solution? Use a hacksaw, but find someone who knows how to use it…

you did put the steerer in a vice right or were you trying to cut it on the floor secured between your feet ?

Clamped to bench with home made wooden v blocks, held down with diy quick clamps. It was straight and level and secure. I confess to it being an issue with the hacksaw pilot.
I have since googled it and despite following instructions I am still rubbish. I believe it is an experience thing, like plastering, seems easy, bloody hard to do unless you have lots of practise.

How do you get to Carnegie hall dougal ?

Practice. Exactly…

(although I can’t decide is it practise or practice http://www.future-perfect.co.uk/grammar-tip/is-it-practise-or-practice/)

Pah, you lot are amateurs – I’ve just bought one of these:

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYV8yIQ9AV0[/video]

😀

Fly as **** that

As above – the pipe cutter doesn’t remove material, it just squishes its way through the metal, causing a lip each side of the groove which is quite hard to file off perfectly.

I use pipe cutters to score it, then get the hacksaw and make shallow cuts in the groove all around. So cut shallow groove, rotate, groove, rotate, groove and so on until through.

Don’t try and be a hero and just saw straight. The cost of failure is too great. Use your brain not your ego and come up with a foolproof method 🙂

Ben i thought you had a motorhacksaw?

Ben i thought you had a motorhacksaw?

That stopped working and I haven’t bothered fixing it because it was very slow anyway. For cutting tubes I mostly use either one of these:

Or one of these with a cutting guide:

But for some processes I’ve been using a hand tube cutter and I thought a powered one might speed things up.

Still looking for the best tube deburring solution, however.