SAE Prusa X Axis Smooth Rods Length

I am building a SAE Prusa and I am in the middle of assembling the X axis. I ordered all my rods precut from eBay and they all came a little longer than needed. I know using larger rods won't have any effect on the Y and Z axes, but I need to know if it will have any effect on the X axis. The X axis instructions call for 2 15 1/8" smooth rods and my rods are about 16". Before I go any further I need to know if I am going to run into any issues with the X axis. Can any one confirm one way or another if I will have any issues? Thanks

with the x axis it will depend on the idler mount and the motor mount, if they are the ones out of the official set and they are captive(the rods don't go all the way through) then yes you will run into trouble, if you cut them and end up too short an easy fix is to pack the end of the holes with small balls of plumbers tape

this is part of the reason i use the clamp style x axis in my parts kits

That's what I thought, they are captive, I guess I'll have to cut them. Anyone has any good tips on cutting smooth rods? I do have a Dremel. What about the Z axis, I should be able to get by with the longer rods or will I have to cut them as well?

Depends on what the rods are made of.
I recently cut a couple of precision stainless rods that had hardened exteriors, and the only thing I had that would cut them was my angle grinder.
You can probably do it with a dremel and a carbon fiber cutting disk.
My bandsaw did squat until I had ground off the hardened outside.
I probably could have removed the hardening by wrapping it in a wet cloth and heating the area to be cut, this is commonly done when trying to machine ballscrews.
If it's just drill rod or it's not hardened, you can cut it with a hacksaw or pretty much anything else.

I think they're 304 stainless steel. I also have a mini hacksaw, I might just try that because I am not sure if my cutting wheels are carbon fiber or not.

Maybe this is a dumb suggestion, but couldn't you simply drill out the back end of the plastic parts? Don't they butt up against the upper frame mounts anyway? (I don't know for sure, as I'm still collecting parts for my own, but I thought that's how they looked in various photos I've seen)

@Xiando, I guess I could have drilled out the back, however, I just cut the rods with my dremel. Looking at the rest of the instructions, I might have to cut the threaded rod that connects the 2 Z stabilizers as well. I'll cross that bridge when I get there. Thanks guys.

Understood. Good luck with your build. I'm still waiting on a few things.

i wouldn't drill out the back that part is kind of critical, it's part of the design, there will be nothing to secure the rods inplace