Cutting Carbon Fiber adjustable pole

Cutting carbon fiber with a hack saw could leave minute cracks or splintering in the pole that may not be known until it fails sometime later. What I would use to cut carbon fiber is a high speed, small diameter and very thin abrasive wheel, such as a Dermel Tool with an abrasive disk. This should give you a clean cut without crushing or splintering the fibers while doing this task. Just take it slow and have the tool running at a fairly high RPM.

Hmm….I was hoping it wasn't going to take something like a dremel…..a tool that I don't have. I should really probably get one since it seems like its recommended so often…

Ruta locura said a hacksaw is perfectly fine, you could use a knife, or anything.

What you need to do is pay attention to any carbon that chips. You should sand several milimeters off the ends to make sure its smooth. Carbon is very easy to cut, and sand, so go for it!

The pole we bought for our supermid also turned out to be a bit long for tight to the ground pitch – 66" pole and 63-64" ceiling hight.

However as it was only a couple of inches we thought of a workaround – dug a small hole in the ground and in went the pole. This had an unexpected advantage of keeping the pole steady when dogs (and us on occasion!) bumped into it, it was truly solid. Now we wouldn't have it any other way.

My thoughts matched Terry's exactly, but if you use a saw, use the finest blade you can find, and I'd probably wrap the area to be cut with tape to make the line easier to see and perhaps reduce splintering a bit. You could seal any small chips or cracks with epoxy. There is essentially no bending stress at the end of the pole so you should be fine either way.

The recess in the ground method is interesting. Might make it more likely to break the pole instead of knocking it out of the way if hit hard, but for small bumps and nudges it sounds good.

I also like the idea of just burying it a bit, though I also have a MLD innernet so that would be a no go.

On my recent trip I just offset the pole, but even doing a generous offset only put the supermid at a slightly higher then ideal pitch.

Wrap the area you want to cut with masking tape and use a tubing cutter (like a plumber uses to cut copper water pipes) and only tighten a little at a time. Once cut you will need fine sandpaper to clean up the end. If you worried about future fraying hit it with some clear nail polish.

Thank you all. I was lucky and my neighbor had a tubing cutter and it worked well. Then I just used a bit of sandpaper to smooth it out and done! Perfect height now…and….a bit lighter of a pole.

Exactly what I was clicking on here to recommend. I'd throw some clear nail polish or epoxy on the end as well to prevent any splintering or fracturing over time.

+1 on sealing the end in epoxy as insurance. Once a CF rod starts to split there is no stopping it.

Ok….so new project. This time, drilling a hole. I have two packraft carbon fiber paddles, and 1 has 3 holes, so you can rotate the shaft to get either a right or left handed preference (if you don't like the paddles straight). But, the second paddle only has 2….the straight option and a left hand, but I need the right hand preference, so I need a 3rd hole. Now I need to drill…what is the preference on technique here?