cable wire fray stop with solder

[Lhoffman]

Wanting to prevent my new cables from fraying, I thought I might apply some heat to the ends and
touch them with a little solder. I have not seen this advocated anywhere, but I haven't seen it
discouraged either. Is there some obvious reason I'm missing why I should not do this, or is this a
legitimate way to prevent fraying?

 

[Fred Marx]

lhoffman wrote:

> Wanting to prevent my new cables from fraying, I thought I might apply some heat to the ends and
> touch them with a little solder. I have not seen this advocated anywhere, but I haven't seen it
> discouraged either. Is there some obvious reason I'm missing why I should not do this, or is this
> a legitimate way to prevent fraying?

worked realy well for me until I went to Ultegra stuff the cables seem to have alot of grease/lube
on em and I was unable to get the solder to take, even with flux and a torch...

 

[Richard Ney]

lhoffman writes:

> Wanting to prevent my new cables from fraying, I thought I might apply some heat to the ends and
> touch them with a little solder. I have not seen this advocated anywhere, but I haven't seen it
> discouraged either. Is there some obvious reason I'm missing why I should not do this, or is this
> a legitimate way to prevent fraying?

I silver-solder the cable ends on my bike.

If you clean (acetone) and flux the cables you should be fine. Be careful not to overheat the cable
end else you'll burn off the solder.

 

[Dan Daniel]

On 6 Jul 2003 12:41:46 -0700, [email protected] (lhoffman) wrote:

>Wanting to prevent my new cables from fraying, I thought I might apply some heat to the ends and
>touch them with a little solder. I have not seen this advocated anywhere, but I haven't seen it
>discouraged either. Is there some obvious reason I'm missing why I should not do this, or is this a
>legitimate way to prevent fraying?

I've done it and it works fine. I have had problems getting solder to work with stainless steel
cables, though. So I have gone to heating the cable tip with a lighter and then sticking the heated
tip into a block of bee's wax. Not quite as effective as solder, but it does work.

 

[Jeff]

I found soldering does not work with stainless steel cables. It can actually make the wire ends
burst apart like a flower opening.

I recommend crimp-on end caps.

> On 6 Jul 2003 12:41:46 -0700, [email protected] (lhoffman) wrote:
>
> >Wanting to prevent my new cables from fraying, I thought I might apply some heat to the ends and
> >touch them with a little solder. I have not seen this advocated anywhere, but I haven't seen it
> >discouraged either. Is there some obvious reason I'm missing why I should not do this, or is this
> >a legitimate way to prevent fraying?

 

[Tbgibb]

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected]
(lhoffman) writes:

>Wanting to prevent my new cables from fraying, I thought I might apply some heat to the ends and
>touch them with a little solder. I have not seen this advocated anywhere, but I haven't seen it
>discouraged either. Is there some obvious reason I'm missing why I should not do this, or is this a
>legitimate way to prevent fraying?

It is a legit method, but stainless doesn't solder well. Kester has a web site that talks about
soldering stainless, it would be worth the search. I do this with cheap cables and it usually holds.
The trick is the right amount of heat and (for me) acid flux with a plumbing type solder (you have
to wash/soak the flux off when done). A large soldering iron doesn't work very well (not enough
heat). A standard propane torch can provide too much heat (and has the capacity to shorten the life
span of your tires if you are doing this on the bike). A small flame in a pencil type torch has been
best for me.

Many here talk of using "super glue" or even a bit of shrink wrap.

Tom Gibb <[email protected]

 

[Steve Hambley]

> Re: cable wire fray stop with solder From: [email protected] (TBGibb) Date: 7/6/2003 7:26 PM Central
> Daylight Time Message-id: <[email protected]>
>
>In article <[email protected]>, [email protected]
>(lhoffman) writes:
>
>>Wanting to prevent my new cables from fraying, I thought I might apply some heat to the ends and
>>touch them with a little solder. I have not seen this advocated anywhere, but I haven't seen it
>>discouraged either. Is there some obvious reason I'm missing why I should not do this, or is this
>>a legitimate way to prevent fraying?

I use a little dab of JB Quickweld. Works great. Steve

 

[Paul Southworth]

In article <[email protected]>, lhoffman
<[email protected]> wrote:
>Wanting to prevent my new cables from fraying, I thought I might apply some heat to the ends and
>touch them with a little solder. I have not seen this advocated anywhere, but I haven't seen it
>discouraged either. Is there some obvious reason I'm missing why I should not do this, or is this a
>legitimate way to prevent fraying?

The only reason I know of to not do it is because you might not want to breathe what you are
soldering it with.

--Paul

 

[Dan Baker]

[email protected] (lhoffman) wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> Wanting to prevent my new cables from fraying, I thought I might apply some heat to the ends and
> touch them with a little solder.
--------

you'll have a hell of a time getting solder to stick to SS cable, and might want to avoid the heat
creeping upstream and melting any high-end teflon or gortex housing liners. you're better off with
some AL cable caps crimped on....

d

 

[David L. Johnso]

On Mon, 07 Jul 2003 00:26:20 +0000, TBGibb wrote:

> Many here talk of using "super glue" or even a bit of shrink wrap.

Nail polish. Can even match the color of the frame.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | The lottery is a tax on those who fail to understand _`\(,_ | mathematics. (_)/ (_) |

 

[Ari]

why bother when superglue does the job perfectly.

p.s. crimp on cable end caps suck

"lhoffman" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Wanting to prevent my new cables from fraying, I thought I might apply some heat to the ends and
> touch them with a little solder. I have not seen this advocated anywhere, but I haven't seen it
> discouraged either. Is there some obvious reason I'm missing why I should not do this, or is this
> a legitimate way to prevent fraying?

 

[Shaun Rimmer]

lhoffman <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Wanting to prevent my new cables from fraying, I thought I might apply some heat to the ends and
> touch them with a little solder. I have not seen this advocated anywhere, but I haven't seen it
> discouraged either. Is there some obvious reason I'm missing why I should not do this, or is this
> a legitimate way to prevent fraying?

Lead/tin solder won't *bond to stainless steel. All I do, is roll up the excess cable inner and tuck
it out of the way, the factory sealed end is still there then. Oh, it adds a few grams to the weight
of the bike, but you can apparently strip the frame of paint to lose it again, heheheheheh......

Shaun aRe - Least ways I could never get it to, and part of my job is soldering. Silver solder or
brass might do it, heheheh.....

 

[Werehatrack]

On 6 Jul 2003 12:41:46 -0700, [email protected] (lhoffman) may have said:

>Wanting to prevent my new cables from fraying, I thought I might apply some heat to the ends and
>touch them with a little solder. I have not seen this advocated anywhere, but I haven't seen it
>discouraged either. Is there some obvious reason I'm missing why I should not do this, or is this a
>legitimate way to prevent fraying?

If the cable is stainless, soldering can be a *****. If you have the cut-off end laying around, use
that to test the technique before you try to solder the one in active service. You may discover that
the cable you're using just won't submit to this readily...or it may wick up the flux and take the
solder with ease. The only way to find out is to try.

---
My email address is antispammed; pull WEEDS if replying via e-mail.

Yes, I have a killfile. If I don't respond to something, it's also possible that I'm busy.

 

[Shaun Rimmer]

ari <[email protected]> wrote in message news[email protected]...
>
> "lhoffman" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Wanting to prevent my new cables from fraying, I thought I might apply some heat to the ends and
> > touch them with a little solder. I have not seen this advocated anywhere, but I haven't seen it
> > discouraged either. Is there some obvious reason I'm missing why I should not do this, or is
> > this a legitimate way to prevent fraying?

> why bother when superglue does the job perfectly.

*Hmmm......

> p.s. crimp on cable end caps suck

I concur - they make the cable fray inside the cap IME, and should you desire to separate inner and
outer cables for cleaning etc, you have a frayed cable in hand anyway. *Superglue will need to be
scraped/burned (etc.) off before pulling the inner from the outer as well, and you may well end up
in the same boat as with those pesky little alu caps.

Shaun aRe - just leave the new cables full length why not?

 

[Ted Bennett]

While we're on this topic, does anyone know how to replace those (lead?) buttons on the end of
the cable?

I know it's not cost-effective for bike cables, but it sure would be for motorcycle cables, at least
mine, and my clutch cable dies regularly.

--
Ted Bennett Portland OR

 

[Chris Zacho "Th]

Actually soldering the cable ends used to be a suggested way to prevent fraying. It seems to have
passed by the wayside however.

Ask at your LBS for some cable ends. These are little aluminum caps that slide over the ends of the
cable, Pinch them shut with a pair of pliers. No more split ends!

May you have the wind at your back. And a really low gear for the hills! Chris

Chris'Z Corner "The Website for the Common Bicyclist": http://www.geocities.com/czcorner

 

[Fritz M]

[email protected] (Chris Zacho "The Wheelman") wrote:

> Ask at your LBS for some cable ends. These are little aluminum caps that slide over the ends of
> the cable, Pinch them shut with a pair of pliers.

This is so obvious, but I've never thought of it! *doh* I've always used crimping wire connectors.

RFM
--
To reply, translate domain from l33+ 2p33|< to alpha. 4=a 0=o 3=e +=t

 

[Suzy Jackson]

[email protected] (Chris Zacho "The Wheelman") wrote:

> Ask at your LBS for some cable ends. These are little aluminum caps that slide over the ends of
> the cable, Pinch them shut with a pair of pliers.

And then when you want to take the cable off, pull the little aluminium caps off the end of the
cable only to find that the cable inside has been deformed by the pliers and now won't fit through
the outer, so your cable gets half an inch shorter each time.

I'll stick to my nice neat soldered cable ends. Stainless (I use Campy ergo cables) is no problems -
just need to use the right flux.

The best thing about soldered cable ends is that you can file a little bevel on the end of the
cable, so that it finds its way into buried cable ends easier, making working on ergo levers without
removing the bar tape _much_ easier.

Regards,

Suzy

 

[Mark Hickey]

"Suzy Jackson" <[email protected]> wrote:

>[email protected] (Chris Zacho "The Wheelman") wrote:
>
>> Ask at your LBS for some cable ends. These are little aluminum caps that slide over the ends of
>> the cable, Pinch them shut with a pair of pliers.
>
>And then when you want to take the cable off, pull the little aluminium caps off the end of the
>cable only to find that the cable inside has been deformed by the pliers and now won't fit through
>the outer, so your cable gets half an inch shorter each time.

You don't have to crimp the caps that hard - I always put three light crimps in the "size small
caps" (aligned with the wind, of course). It's never caused any problems with getting the end of
the cable back through the cable (though I seldom have to do that since my frames have split
cable stops).

Mark Hickey Habanero Cycles http://www.habcycles.com Home of the $695 ti frame

 

[A Muzi]

"Ted Bennett" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> While we're on this topic, does anyone know how to replace those (lead?) buttons on the end of
> the cable?
>
> I know it's not cost-effective for bike cables, but it sure would be for motorcycle cables, at
> least mine, and my clutch cable dies regularly.

If you melt the lead off an old cable head , you'll see how the wire is formed before the lead is
poured around it. I once bought gear wires which were made without pre-shaping the wire. The heads
pulled right off with little effort.

There are aftermarket devices which are small steel cylinders the size of an MTB brake cable end
(and even smalller) with a setscrew to hold the wire. Algi made them and also Avid . You'd think
they'd be unsafe but I have one on a brake I installed in 1975 that is still fine ( same wire, too)

Non-bicycle cables ( such as the MotoGuzzi clutch control) frequently are sold double-ended with the
casing in place making proper lubrication difficult. At least try to get some lube in the next new
one before installation, it helps a lot.
--
Andrew Muzi www.yellowjersey.org Open every day since 1 April, 1971