On Wed, 08 Jun 2016 16:16:03 -0700, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Wed, 8 Jun 2016 18:33:16 +1000, Jon Anderson
wrote:

On 6/06/2016 12:40 AM, Larry Jaques wrote:

Jon lives in a rural part of Australia, Gunner. The pickin' is a mite
sparse Down Under.

And standard 6-10 week shipping to Oz costs an arm, a leg, and your
left nut. Airmail? Send your wife and all daughters.

Unibit clones are readily available, I bought several for the sparkies.

Slow boat shipping isn't too bad, just slow. A small flat rate box is
$34. But unless I need something from the States badly, I have stuff
shipped to my folks who collect and forward. Costs a good bit of money,
but that's just the way it is....

Yet I just bought a set of Chiwanese wire rope cutters for $12 with
free shipping all the way from Hong Kong, just a hop, skip, and jump
north of you. They work a treat on bicycle brake cables. Speaking of
which, how do you solder the ends of those things so they can be poked
through a cable housing after cutting and lubing?

Is there a special flux? I couldn't get it cleaned and soldered even
with a butane torch.

The better bicycle cables are, I believe, stainless of some sort. Or
at least the cable on my bikes never seem to rust. Looking at the end
of a new cable with a magnifier it is discolored and the end appears
to be fused as though by heat.

If you coat the end of the cable with super glue or even epoxy (and
let it dry of course) before cutting it helps. But most people cut the
housing to length then insert the cable in the housing and connect the
brake or shifter and then than cut the cable :-)
--
cheers,

John B.