I received a consultation from a customer.
A pressure anchor stuck in their carbon steerer tube won't come out, and they want to cut the steerer, but don't know what to do about it.
↑To knock off the stem cap that's dug in from this state,
you do need to tap it lightly with a plastic hammer through an Allen key,
but at the shop they first brought it to,
they were hitting it hard with a hammer in a way that made the customer think
"wait, is it really okay to hit it that much?"
Yet they said "this anchor can't be pulled out of the steerer" and
sent it back. But honestly, this anchor
has a structure that's harder to remove than a standard anchor
for reasons beyond just the stem cap being dug in.
I won't write about it here though.
But if you understand the structure,
you can recover the anchor from the steerer without resorting to
abnormal impact loads (lol).
In fact, it came out like this.
Even if you were seeing this pressure anchor for the first time (like I was),
hitting it with a hammer and then saying you can't remove it
just shows a real lack of sense.
I bet they have a low threshold for saying "this is just how it is (I can't fix it any further)"
or they're refusing jobs that most techs with real skill wouldn't turn down.
Addendum: I had it backwards in what I wrote, so I've corrected it.
Thanks for pointing it out in the comments!
This anchor has a △stem marking on it.
It's an instruction to align this arrow with the stem's slot.
Like Ritchey stems that have the slot cut at an angle,
the stress when you spread the slot is designed to do minimal damage to the steerer.
↑There are marks around the anchor's flange that look like file scratches,
but apparently someone filed it down thinking the diameter in that area
was relevant to pulling out the anchor(it's not, dummy).
One more thing I'll say with some authority:
If you've done irreversible modification, you should push through until you get results.
If that seems impossible, just decline the job from the start.
I haven't heard all the details, but I suspect the customer is having their labor charges stolen here too,
just because the shop "had to do something once they touched it."
A pressure anchor stuck in their carbon steerer tube won't come out, and they want to cut the steerer, but don't know what to do about it.
↑To knock off the stem cap that's dug in from this state,
you do need to tap it lightly with a plastic hammer through an Allen key,
but at the shop they first brought it to,
they were hitting it hard with a hammer in a way that made the customer think
"wait, is it really okay to hit it that much?"
Yet they said "this anchor can't be pulled out of the steerer" and
sent it back. But honestly, this anchor
has a structure that's harder to remove than a standard anchor
for reasons beyond just the stem cap being dug in.
I won't write about it here though.
But if you understand the structure,
you can recover the anchor from the steerer without resorting to
abnormal impact loads (lol).
In fact, it came out like this.
Even if you were seeing this pressure anchor for the first time (like I was),
hitting it with a hammer and then saying you can't remove it
just shows a real lack of sense.
I bet they have a low threshold for saying "this is just how it is (I can't fix it any further)"
or they're refusing jobs that most techs with real skill wouldn't turn down.
Addendum: I had it backwards in what I wrote, so I've corrected it.
Thanks for pointing it out in the comments!
This anchor has a △stem marking on it.
It's an instruction to align this arrow with the stem's slot.
Like Ritchey stems that have the slot cut at an angle,
the stress when you spread the slot is designed to do minimal damage to the steerer.
↑There are marks around the anchor's flange that look like file scratches,
but apparently someone filed it down thinking the diameter in that area
was relevant to pulling out the anchor
One more thing I'll say with some authority:
If you've done irreversible modification, you should push through until you get results.
If that seems impossible, just decline the job from the start.
I haven't heard all the details, but I suspect the customer is having their labor charges stolen here too,
just because the shop "had to do something once they touched it."