AI've never had a tiered cake fall over, but the thought of that freaks me out! I buy the thick plastic dowel rods and cut them with some wire cutters of my husbands, but I'm always open to suggestions of better products that offer better support. The day i get an order for a 5 tier wedding cake I'm going to tremble a bit, so I'd love to know what support rods you use and how you cut them... Thanks!

Your plastic rods are OK.  

You need to cut them with a mitrebox (miter box) to make sure the ends are all square and that they are all the same length per tier.  Make sure there are no sharp nubs along the ends (you can use sand paper and then wash them).

I use bubble tea straws for supports and cut them with a scissors--strong, simple, cheap. 

For a very tall cake like that, I'd also put in 2 full length wooden dowels (cut with branch pruner, sharpened in a dedicated pencil sharpener, wiped down with grain alcohol, greased with crisco, and gently hammered in) if it's going to travel stacked.

I place all of my cakes on 2 layers of memory foam in the back of my van, too.  Road vibration can kill a cake quicker than a hungry toddler.

HTH

Rae

the sps is the way to go. I did a five tiered cake this summer. not only was it tall and heavy, it had to be moved from a display room to the main room for cutting.  it made putting the cake together an cinch and there were no problems at all in moving it from one room to another. even better, the catering team thought it was the easiest cake to cut that they'd ever done. 

here's a long CC thread which describes it all

http://cakecentral.com/t/603925/sps-instructions

AWhat is sps ?!

SPS is Single Plate Seperator

I use bubble tea straws for all my cakes (including the 5 tier cake in my pictures).  I then hammer (literally) 2 wooden dowels with a sharpened end through the entire cake.  I offset the wooden dowels from the center.  This way the tiers can't "spin" like they could with 1 center dowel.

For SPS info, read my signature line.  Once you use it, you'll never cut a dowel again.

I see the thin plastic, hollow tubes sold for supports on tiered cakes at cake stores.  I have tried to use PVC pipe, since it runs the drinking water you consume it is "food safe"?,   I cut with a saw and file shavings, then run it through the dish washer.  How do you all feel about this solution.?

A@best. SPS is waaaay easier.

Best, I had thought of that a few years ago and tried it out.  I didn't like how much thicker the thickness of the pipe is compared to the purchased tube.  I didn't like how it pushed down on the cake more, even if I tapered the downward edge.  Plus the extra work to saw and file the edges, takes more time.  I decided against sticking with the pvc.