I'm currently in the midst of removing a stubborn seatpost from my Kilauea that was stuck right down to just above the top seat tube bottle boss.
The previous owner (a local shop) had already attemted the 4 vertical cuts method and in the process had well and truly mangled what little of the pin was left visible thus meaning as soon as it got in a vice and any twisting force was added it just snapped of the protruding bit. :cry:
Anyway, the method that's working for me now is to use a metal cutting hole saw. The seat tube is 27mm dia so I bought a 27mm dia hole saw and it fits snuggly in the seat tube and so uses it as a guide and stops the possibility of it cutting the inside if the frame.
It basically mills out the pin from above and leaves nothing but a thin film of metal on the inside of the frame that is easily tapped off with a flat blade screwdriver.
It's blunted one hole saw so far but I think that's because I bought a cheap one to try it on !
One thing I would say though is check the saw before using as a couple of the teeth on mine were angled outwards a little which would have cut into the tube, a quick tweak with the mole grips sorted that though.
Obviously this method depends on being able to get a hole saw with the right diameter to fit nicely down the tube.
The previous owner (a local shop) had already attemted the 4 vertical cuts method and in the process had well and truly mangled what little of the pin was left visible thus meaning as soon as it got in a vice and any twisting force was added it just snapped of the protruding bit. :cry:
Anyway, the method that's working for me now is to use a metal cutting hole saw. The seat tube is 27mm dia so I bought a 27mm dia hole saw and it fits snuggly in the seat tube and so uses it as a guide and stops the possibility of it cutting the inside if the frame.
It basically mills out the pin from above and leaves nothing but a thin film of metal on the inside of the frame that is easily tapped off with a flat blade screwdriver.
It's blunted one hole saw so far but I think that's because I bought a cheap one to try it on !
One thing I would say though is check the saw before using as a couple of the teeth on mine were angled outwards a little which would have cut into the tube, a quick tweak with the mole grips sorted that though.
Obviously this method depends on being able to get a hole saw with the right diameter to fit nicely down the tube.
