Tube Cutter

A tube cutter is the right tool for cutting metal tubing where a hacksaw would leave a ragged edge. The cutter rolls a hardened cutting wheel against the tube while applying inward pressure; the wheel scores the tube's outer surface, and as you rotate the cutter the score deepens until the wall is cut through. The result is a clean, square edge with no chips and no fragments inside the tube.

The 360/6A Tube Cutter is sized for the tubing a working bike shop typically encounters: hydraulic-brake-line tube (copper or steel braided overlay with internal poly), Kool-Stop-style frame protector tubing, certain accessory mounting tubes, and any other steel, aluminum, copper, or inox tubing up to 2 mm wall thickness. The 4-roller body keeps the tube centered against the cutting wheel as you rotate the tool, which keeps the cut perpendicular to the tube axis without wandering.

How the cutter works in practice

Place the cutter around the tube at the cut line. Engage the cutting wheel with the ergonomic knob; turn the knob clockwise to advance the wheel against the tube. With light pressure on the wheel, rotate the cutter around the tube once. Advance the wheel slightly, rotate again. Continue until the cut is through. Don't over-tighten the wheel: too much pressure flattens the tube or causes the wheel to dig in unevenly.

The cutter has a built-in deburring tip that handles the inner-edge burr left by the cut. Slide the tip into the freshly cut tube and rotate to remove the burr. The result is a tube edge that's ready to seat against a fitting without restriction from a sharp burr.

When to reach for the tube cutter vs. the hacksaw

• Tube cutter: for thin-wall metal tubing where the cut edge needs to be square and clean (brake lines, copper or aluminum accessory tubing)
• Hacksaw: for thicker steel sections (steerers, posts), for carbon fiber (use the ceramic blade), and for any cut that doesn't need to be perfectly square

The cutter and the hacksaw are complementary tools; neither replaces the other.

Specs

• Cuts copper, aluminum, inox (stainless), and steel tubing up to 2 mm wall thickness
• 4-roller centering body
• Ergonomic knob for cutting-wheel advance
• Instant wheel change
• Built-in deburring tip
• Spare cutting wheel stored in handle
• Steel threaded insert (for longer life)
• Article number: 360/6A

Built in Zreče, Slovenia

Unior has been forging hand tools in Zreče since 1919, and is the official technical partner of multiple World Tour and downhill teams. The 360 tube-cutter line is part of Unior's broader industrial hand-tool catalog, with the bicycle-workshop subset sized for the tubing thicknesses bike shops typically encounter. Same hardened-cutting-wheel construction as Unior's industrial-scale tube cutters, scaled for the bench.

Pro tip from our mechanics

The most common error with a tube cutter is over-tightening the cutting wheel on the first pass. Light pressure, multiple rotations, gradual advancement; that's the rhythm that gives a clean cut. Crushing the wheel into the tube doesn't speed the cut; it just deforms the tube and ruins the cutting wheel. Our workshop hand tools guide covers cutting and the rest of the workshop hand-tool layer: Workshop hand tools every bike shop needs →