Stuck seatpost, mangled inside the frame - what now?

[Mr Panda]

@rse - depending on how you paid for the frame, paypal? may offer some buyer protection. Worth checking.

The post will come out but as already suggested here best take it to local engineering company rather than expose yourself to the "curses, bloody knuckles and swearing" methods

 

[Mossy]

Engineering shop is the way forward. Will cost you £10 - £20 tops.

 

[sancho]

@rse - depending on how you paid for the frame, paypal? may offer some buyer protection. Worth checking.

It's probably worth a shot. I recovered money from an ebay seller who sold me a wheel that was basically trashed about a year ago.

However, I think paypal has made it much more difficult, if not impossible to recover funds due to items being "significantly not as described."

Another option would be to reverse the charges if your paypal account is backed up by your credit card, but I've heard this is something paypal really hates and they may cancel your account if you go this route.

 

[95explosif]

Good news! Post now dissolved using caustic soda! Seriously evil stuff requiring gloves, mask and goggles but it violently did the trick. Took some pics and will post them up later.

Took about 5 hours in total and have just finished filing the inside of the seat tube.

Next test is whether a 27.0 fits and clamps up ok.

 

[MJN]

I've just had the same thing happen to me with a frame I got from e-bay,after a bit of force with a long thin chisel I managed to hacksaw the remains,then got some threaded bar with a nut at the bottom and slide hammered the pieces out,borrowed a hand reamer from work and all is well.Only took about an hour and after contacting the seller(with 200 odd 100% feedback) got a partial refund

 

[95explosif]

Seller pushed for a bank transfer, no mention of the stuck seatpost so thought nothing more of it.

Took three strong solutions of caustic soda rinsed out each time to get rid of inch or so of remaining post.

 

[Retroms68]

well done mate.. didnt mention the caustic soda method as it is seriously nasty stuff ... dissolves people as well as ally .. then theres the hydrogen !! glad your sorted

 

[neilll]

Dave Yates Cycles....£30....done

He has a six week waiting list currently though :cry:

 

[waluyo]

Up concerning the caustic soda technic!

Hi to all!

A little UP for this old thread.
I have pretty much the same problem of having some remainings of an old seatpost (alloy) stuck into a frame (steel).

I tried pretty much everything before I eventually decided to saw the seatpost out, according to Sheldon's technic.

Unfortunately, I only managed to get little pieces out.... but the main part of the seatpost still remains in the frame and it's actually getting harder and harder to saw anything of the seatpost without touching the frame...

I would really like to try to caustic soda technic, to see if this can help....
But I am wondering how to proceed...?

because there is still a bottom bracket in the frame. This one is a least doing its job very fine. But I couldn't manage to open it either without starting to damage the lockring... So I would really like to leave it on the frame.

What do you suggest me to do?
I could hang the frame upside down and insert the caustic soda through the holes of the bottle cage, but then what?
I believe that it won't do the trick magically in a minute....
So how could I leave it long enough for the magic to operate?
I have hard time to see how to proceed. Please help me out if you can!


PS: my current situation looks pretty much like the one seen in the picture on the first post.

 

[coomber]

No expert but could you not put a bung in to stop it pouring straight out? Ie do what you were suggesting hanging upside down?