Author Topic: Cut mudguard stays how?  (Read 17266 times)

Cut mudguard stays how?
« on: 28 January, 2012, 10:33:46 pm »
How do you folks cut mudguard stays?  Too thick for any of my wirecutters, too hard for my (blunt) mini hacksaw.

Am I missing a magic tool in my toolbox?  Or do I just buy a another sharper mini hacksaw?

--
Bryn

Re: Cut mudguard stays how?
« Reply #1 on: 28 January, 2012, 10:36:09 pm »
I use a pair of boltcroppers, easy and quick :thumbsup:

Re: Cut mudguard stays how?
« Reply #2 on: 28 January, 2012, 10:41:10 pm »
I always use a junior hacksaw.

A new pack of blades will cost very little.
Those wonderful norks are never far from my thoughts, oh yeah!

marcusjb

  • Full of bon courage.
Re: Cut mudguard stays how?
« Reply #3 on: 28 January, 2012, 10:42:32 pm »
Dremel with a cutting blade on it.
Right! What's next?

Ooooh. That sounds like a daft idea.  I am in!

Re: Cut mudguard stays how?
« Reply #4 on: 28 January, 2012, 10:47:33 pm »
I always use a junior hacksaw.

A new pack of blades will cost very little.

+1

Re: Cut mudguard stays how?
« Reply #5 on: 28 January, 2012, 10:55:41 pm »
I just had this issue, and after half an hour of hacksawing half through one of the 8 stays I went to the local builders merchant and bought a pair of bolt croppers. They cut through mudguard stays like butter and enable you to join the criminal fraternity on your nights off (joke).

Biggsy

  • A bodge too far
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Re: Cut mudguard stays how?
« Reply #6 on: 28 January, 2012, 10:58:53 pm »
Get a pack of 32 teeth-per-inch blades for your junior hacksaw anyway.  Good for many a bike bodge.

It helps a lot to put the stays in a vice if you have one.  If you don't have one, buy one or bolt croppers.
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Re: Cut mudguard stays how?
« Reply #7 on: 28 January, 2012, 11:01:35 pm »
Get a pack of 32 teeth-per-inch blades for your junior hacksaw anyway.  Good for many a bike bodge.

It helps a lot to put the stays in a vice if you have one.  If you don't have one, buy one or bolt croppers.

And shut your eyes as you do the finial 'cut' each time  ;D

corshamjim

Re: Cut mudguard stays how?
« Reply #8 on: 28 January, 2012, 11:49:09 pm »
Thanks for the timely question.  I was going to use a hacksaw, but that doesn't involve shopping for new tools so bolt-cutter it is.  :thumbsup:

Biggsy

  • A bodge too far
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Re: Cut mudguard stays how?
« Reply #9 on: 29 January, 2012, 12:40:03 am »
With a good blade, it takes literally seconds to saw through a mudguard stay when held in a vice.  But sawing is hopeless if you can't or don't want to use a vice, like if your stays are already fitted and you CBA to remove them.  (You don't need a proper bench to fit a small vice to.  An old kitchen table is ok).

I don't have bolt croppers yet.  I'll have to think of an excuse to get some.  What else (legal) could I do with them?
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Re: Cut mudguard stays how?
« Reply #10 on: 29 January, 2012, 12:55:24 am »
I don't have bolt croppers yet.  I'll have to think of an excuse to get some.  What else (legal) could I do with them?

Cut the rigging off your boat when you get dismasted ?
Rust never sleeps

Re: Cut mudguard stays how?
« Reply #11 on: 29 January, 2012, 12:55:58 am »
I don't have bolt croppers yet.  I'll have to think of an excuse to get some.  What else (legal) could I do with them?

Cut the rigging off your boat when you get dismasted ?

Cut a padlock open when you lose the key ?
Rust never sleeps

Re: Cut mudguard stays how?
« Reply #12 on: 29 January, 2012, 08:49:54 am »
I don't have bolt croppers yet.  I'll have to think of an excuse to get some.  What else (legal) could I do with them?

Free students trapped in clothes horses.

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: Cut mudguard stays how?
« Reply #13 on: 29 January, 2012, 08:51:28 am »
I fit them, adjust them, mark the final length and then take them off to use a big hacksaw on them.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Re: Cut mudguard stays how?
« Reply #14 on: 29 January, 2012, 08:54:02 am »
Boltcroppers :-)

Re: Cut mudguard stays how?
« Reply #15 on: 29 January, 2012, 08:56:21 am »
Dremel or 115 mm grinder - but if you are working near plastic shift them down and grip with pliers to stop the plastic melting

Re: Cut mudguard stays how?
« Reply #16 on: 29 January, 2012, 09:01:19 am »
Park cable cutters will do it, incidentally, but it's probably not that good for them.

Rig of Jarkness

  • An Englishman abroad
Re: Cut mudguard stays how?
« Reply #17 on: 29 January, 2012, 09:20:53 am »
I've always used a hacksaw and finished off with a file.
Aero but not dynamic

AndyH

Re: Cut mudguard stays how?
« Reply #18 on: 29 January, 2012, 09:28:57 am »
4" grinder here, the 9" one is a bit unwieldy for stays ;). I always do it off the bike. If I didn't have a healthy selection of power tools it would be a hacksaw / vice.

Re: Cut mudguard stays how?
« Reply #19 on: 29 January, 2012, 09:30:02 am »
I've always used a hacksaw and finished off with a file.

+1
Never knowingly under caffeinated

Re: Cut mudguard stays how?
« Reply #20 on: 29 January, 2012, 09:53:08 am »
[quoteI don't have bolt croppers yet.  I'll have to think of an excuse to get some.  What else (legal) could I do with them?][/quote]

Crop bolts  ;)

Dave Yates
It's not just hitting it with a hammer but knowing where to hit it and how hard

zigzag

  • unfuckwithable
Re: Cut mudguard stays how?
« Reply #21 on: 29 January, 2012, 10:00:43 am »
as many above i use junior hacksaw and a file. if you have time and a bling bike you could always go an extra mile and make the ends perfectly round and polished (if you want them to stick out a bit). both mudguards should be at the same distance from the rims around their circumference (use vernier caliper to measure).

MalRees

  • Hayes - centre of no known universe
Re: Cut mudguard stays how?
« Reply #22 on: 29 January, 2012, 11:48:09 am »
Dremel 'em

Biggsy

  • A bodge too far
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    • My stuff on eBay
Re: Cut mudguard stays how?
« Reply #23 on: 29 January, 2012, 12:00:28 pm »
I don't have bolt croppers yet.  I'll have to think of an excuse to get some.  What else (legal) could I do with them?

Free students trapped in clothes horses.

No, that's a reason NOT to get boltcroppers.  Students?!  I'd leave them there.  ;D
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Re: Cut mudguard stays how?
« Reply #24 on: 29 January, 2012, 06:20:42 pm »
Thanks for all the replies folks, just a bit sad how many of you were sitting in front of a computer on a Saturday night!

Couldn't find any bolt croppers in Halfords.  The chap in the cycle department sold me some cable cutters which didn't do the job -and that was after I had to explain to him exactly what mudguard stays were :(   Also bought another mini hacksaw which turned out to be just as blunt as my old one, probably a H&S directive.

The best tip was clamp the stays in a vice to cut them.

Overall the job took a fraction less than 6 hours, much of it spent crawling around the garage looking for the bits I'd just dropped. And it wan't even my bike.  I don't think I'll open a bike repair shop any time soon.

--
Bryn