I’ve got a Novatec D792SB QR that I’m trying to convert to 142x12mm. I was ordering something from Wiggle, and thought I’d take a punt on one of these as they’re less than half the price of the largely unobtainable Novatec alternative:

https://www.wiggle.co.uk/prime-rd020-conversion-kit-12mm-x-142mm/

It seems that the RD020 is a rebranded D792SB CL (centerlock) and I’ve got the 6-bolt version, and whilst the axle is the same (yay, I’ve now got a spare axle) the top hat is a bit too tall.

I’m now trying to think of an easy way to neatly trim it down without easy access to a lathe. Any bright ideas? I think hacksaw + file is unlikely to be sufficiently precise.

In case anyone stumbles here trying to figure out which hubs are which, I’m pretty sure the Prime RD010 is a rebranded D412CB-CL-11S (same axle, top hat different again), and the old 6-bolt Cosine wheels I’ve got are D771SB (threaded variant) and D772SB.

I got novatech spares / axle caps from the european distributer directly with no issues

This sounds like a classic case for the electric drill ‘lathe’…
Clamp it to a work top/bench/Workmate, find a way of mounting the end cap, and use a file/Emery paper.

Any chance you are in Bristol? You are welcome to pop round and use my lathe, or I can do it. Should be easy enough to keep a distance and you can cycle round as your exercise

https://www.eshop.novatecwheels.eu/eshop/axle-multi-x12-al-15-12×142-thru-w-sc-black-for-d792sb-d772sb-xd612sb-xd312sb/p-329087.xhtml

this the badger? 22Euro from novatech

Thanks for the offers & suggestions. I was thinking about the “drill lathe” method but was struggling with how to get it mounted straight, or indeed, at all. Then I realised I had device for making it spin with perfect alignment: the wheel. Some appalling bodgery involving electrical tape and an impact wrench on the other end of the axle and…

The wrench flats were more of a pain than the end face.

It’s not identical to the correct part, as the hat isn’t threaded all the way through, and the real one has an extra lip (I’m guessing to protect against dirt and jets of water), but it’s solved my immediate problem.

I had a novatec front hub that wouldn’t take a 12mm axle – by a small amount (under 1mm I reckon – suppose it was designed to home a 10mm QR)
fixed it REALLY tight in a vice and worked my drill and a 12mm bit pretty hard. Worked fine and the resulting wall thickness seems sufficient to me (though IANAE)

Sounds like a D711SB (slightly concerned about my knowledge of these hubs now!) What I think you can do with those is remove the axle entirely and replace it with a spacer between the bearings and then use D771SB end caps.

I’m sure what you’ve done is fine (IANAEE), as it’ll be no thinner than the 12mm end caps on the D771SB. Novatec have a handy page on this http://www.nguide.eu/faq/hub-d711sb-vs-d771sb.