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.

You dont solder them, you twist them into a semblance of order and
push them through the cable cover tube. And you cut off LAST, after
its been installed


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On 9/06/2016 6:24 AM, David Billington wrote:

A fly press can do many things, I use mine for punching holes,
etc..

I know you're trying to be helpful and appreciate it. But for my work
environment, a fly press is not a good match at all. For home use,
different story.

Jon

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On 9/06/2016 9:16 AM, Larry Jaques wrote:

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

I've had a good pair of cable cutters for years, usually could cut a
cable and if any wires strayed, could twist them back into line.
For soldering, I used an acid flux. Don't remember what exactly, was
something in Dad's box of welding stuff. Any chance the cable has
some sort of anti-friction (Teflon?) coating?
Assume you're soldering the end barrel? Far end should have a
of chamfer or counterbore. You want to fray the cable a bit right
at the end before soldering.

Jon

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Oh derr, bicycle cables... Yeah, what others said, cut after assembly...
(must have skipped over bicycle and thought you were doing motorcycle
cables)

Jon

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On Thu, 09 Jun 2016 00:20:25 -0700, Gunner Asch
wrote:

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.

You dont solder them, you twist them into a semblance of order and
push them through the cable cover tube. And you cut off LAST, after
its been installed

You don't remove them, flush the cable jacket, lube the cable and
jacket, and reinstall? Or do you just throw away a perfectly good
cable and buy new each time you lube your bike? That's not very
eco-friendly.

The cuts from the factory are melted, probably a cutting torch cut.

--
Energy and persistence alter all things.
--Benjamin Franklin

On Thu, 9 Jun 2016 19:52:54 +1000, Jon Anderson
wrote:

On 9/06/2016 9:16 AM, Larry Jaques wrote:

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

I've had a good pair of cable cutters for years, usually could cut a
cable and if any wires strayed, could twist them back into line.
For soldering, I used an acid flux. Don't remember what exactly, was
something in Dad's box of welding stuff. Any chance the cable has
some sort of anti-friction (Teflon?) coating?

Cheap cables, galv wire rope, likely not coated. I'll try an acid
flux. Do they list neutralizers for each type on the can/bottle?


Assume you're soldering the end barrel? Far end should have a
of chamfer or counterbore. You want to fray the cable a bit right
at the end before soldering.

Definitely NOT the end barrel. The cut end. And I don't want to fray
the end because it would not fit the cable jacket or ferrule ends if
it were knowingly enlarged.

--
Energy and persistence alter all things.
--Benjamin Franklin

On Fri, 10 Jun 2016 06:59:21 -0700, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Thu, 09 Jun 2016 00:20:25 -0700, Gunner Asch
wrote:

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.

You dont solder them, you twist them into a semblance of order and
push them through the cable cover tube. And you cut off LAST, after
its been installed

You don't remove them, flush the cable jacket, lube the cable and
jacket, and reinstall? Or do you just throw away a perfectly good
cable and buy new each time you lube your bike? That's not very
eco-friendly.

Most bike cables that are used on medium priced, or higher, and
probably on some of the cheaper ones, now have plastic lined housings
and even some also have with plastic coated cables. No lube required.

Just for information, the housings for brake and shifting cables are
different in construction and should not be exchanged.

The cuts from the factory are melted, probably a cutting torch cut.
--
cheers,

John B.

On Fri, 10 Jun 2016 06:59:21 -0700, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Thu, 09 Jun 2016 00:20:25 -0700, Gunner Asch
wrote:

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.

You dont solder them, you twist them into a semblance of order and
push them through the cable cover tube. And you cut off LAST, after
its been installed

You don't remove them, flush the cable jacket, lube the cable and
jacket, and reinstall? Or do you just throw away a perfectly good
cable and buy new each time you lube your bike? That's not very
eco-friendly.

The cuts from the factory are melted, probably a cutting torch cut.

I cut them with a cutoff wheel on a Dremel. Gently grind off any
burrs. Until I figured that out, I always threw them away.

Then you very carefully feed them through the jacket, making sure that
you keep the jacket as straight as possible and that it doesn't hang
up. If it does, you'll probably have to throw it away and start with a
new one.

I lube the cable before threading it. I clean the end off, after
fishing it through the jacket, with white gas or naptha. There used to
be an end fitting that you could clamp on with a chisel or a special
clamping tool, which has a cone-shaped end into which you could flare
the cable. Then you applied a drop of solder to the flared end. I
haven't looked for one of those for fifty years, which was the end of
my bicycle racing, so there may be a better solution now.

The last time I did this, for my wife's bicycle, was maybe 25 years
ago. I didn't try to put a strong fitting on the end. I just applied a
drop of epoxy to keep the cable from unraveling and clamped it in the
derailleur.

--
Ed Huntress

On Fri, 10 Jun 2016 10:29:10 -0400
Ed Huntress wrote:

snip
The last time I did this, for my wife's bicycle, was maybe 25 years
ago. I didn't try to put a strong fitting on the end. I just applied a
drop of epoxy to keep the cable from unraveling and clamped it in the
derailleur.

An old spoke nut is commonly used to crimp on the cable end to stop
fraying. I've used small electrical crimp-ons too...

--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b
Remove no.spam for email

On Fri, 10 Jun 2016 13:02:15 -0400, Leon Fisk
wrote:

On Fri, 10 Jun 2016 10:29:10 -0400
Ed Huntress wrote:

snip
The last time I did this, for my wife's bicycle, was maybe 25 years
ago. I didn't try to put a strong fitting on the end. I just applied a
drop of epoxy to keep the cable from unraveling and clamped it in the
derailleur.

An old spoke nut is commonly used to crimp on the cable end to stop
fraying. I've used small electrical crimp-ons too...

The spoke nut sounds like a good one. I'll try to remember that.

--
Ed Huntress

On Wednesday, June 8, 2016 at 4:15:25 PM UTC-7, Larry Jaques wrote:

... 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?

Locate for the cut, whip just past it with a strand of copper wire, then
flux and silver-solder with a propane torch. Cut and
use a grinder to shape the end.

That's for stainless steel cable, of course. Presumably, the zinc-ed steel
would be soft-solderable, but haven't seen that stuff in recent years.