DIY Softbox from an umbrella

Step 6 Cut the shaft down

Now the center shaft needs to be carefully cut down, so as not to protrude through the center of the face of the softbox. My center shaft was aluminium and if you have a pipe cutter, use it! I didn't so I used wire cutters to slowly crimp/cut the shaft while rotating it. This produced a fairly smooth, non-jagged end of the shaft. It took about 30-40 gentle crimps with the wire cutters, evenly distributed around the circumfrence of the shaft.