Originally Posted by
FBinNY
Yes, using one of the stones or mini grinding wheels that Dremel makes. You can also use the cut off disc, but you have to do it as a skim cut from the rim, not from the side or you'll shatter the disc.
Must be the Dremel stone cut off wheel are pretty thin.
I now use the Craftsman brand 15/16" stone cut-off wheels that are labled "Heavy-Duty", part # 95314.(the 9 is much smaller and has a line under it, so maybe it's part # 5314 of group 9?)
They are much thicker than the ones i used for 35 years in my jewelry repair. (for cutting through rings for sizing work). Because of it's thickness it has greater strength and it's easy to trim up to flat after making the initial cut without breaking.
I take about 20 seconds to cut my cable to prevent heat buildup and melting of the outer cover. Basically just cut a few seconds, blow on the cable to cool it, cut a bit more and blow again, and 3rd cutting usually gets me through with a final cooling bit of breath.
I then do a final true up of the end using the side of these Craftsman stone discs, something you can't do if using a metal saw type cutter in your Dremel or other flex shaft. I still have my heavy duty aluminum frame and handpieced Foredom jewelers lexble shaft machine that's 25 years old and i used a LOT every day in my jewelry work. I put new brushes in every year or two and a new armature once or twice over that time, but at $400 to $600 today for a new one worth the rebuild.
OH,...and then you of course have to open the hole in te center t feed the cable in. One of my smaller diamond setting burs works great or this, Push it in as a tight fit and it pulls out the bit of cable liner.
Originally Posted by
FBinNY
Even though I posted advice about how to grind the end of the housing square square, the face is that it isn't necessary if a decent cut is made with a cable cutter. It won't be perfectly square, but that's OK because a decent ferrule will take care of it. 99.9% of bikes, including the top end stuff ridden by the pros are put together with housings that weren't ground square, and work perfectly well.
All this obsessiveness is really a case of gilding the lily. If the newly cut housing is that far off, you don't need a grinder, you need a decent cable cutter.
Over 30 years of working on my own bikes, i've never found the need for a separate cable cutter. Good ones aren't cheap today (or ever!), where 20 of these heavy duty Sears Craftsman stone cutters are 20 for $7.50 or so and will last a LONG time if just used for cable cutting.
......but i use the stone cutting discs for lots of chores, like cutting down eyelet screws for a good fit without sticking out. (especially the cassette side where a too-long screw interferes with the chain on the smallest cog :-)
Originally Posted by
MichaelW
You need to cut close to the end to get a square cut. I chop the cable about 1cm too long then finish it with a dremel.
I think you mean you chop the cable about 1mm too long and finish :-)
1cm is a LOT of grinding!