Seatpost for Mecacycle or How to Void a Warranty

I really enjoy looking through manufacturer's catalogs, there's always that page with a picture of some product surrounded by contrived blueprints and notes, with some sort of precision measuring apparatus, machined metal shavings, and a random tool or two. This is how an art director envisions how consumers envision how bike parts are made. It's especially funny when said part is made of carbon fiber This is how Graveltech's art director put together the shot for the Mecacycle Turbo (see later posts) seat-post project. The file on the bench is for filing, the poker is for poking, the beer is for concentration, and the metric dial calipers are for measuring the amount of beer left so as to better time the transition to the next beer. The metal shavings I keep on the bench next to the beer so I can be certain that they aren't in my beer- oh, and that other stuff is for the Thomson seat-post I cut in half.
As you may recall, the Mecacycle requires a seat-post with an expanding wedge, like a quill stem, since it has no seat-post binder or clamp on the frame. I needed a long post with no off-set in a 26.6mm diameter, I could only find a Thomson.
Hacksaws away!

The binder fastener is accessed underneath the opening in the seat-tube. Thomson tells me this voids my warranty. They also suggest that if you simply must shorten their posts, one should use a guide so as to get a perfect 90 degree cut. Don't use a Latvian angled pipe cutter like I did.