Originally Posted by
Spaghetti Legs
There's a thread somewhere in the bowels of this site on soldering cable ends. I tried this a couple of years ago with a success rate of about 1/5. I think trying to do it on previously used cables that I couldn't get clean enough might have been the problem. Anyway, I like the concept but couldn't pull it off. I tend to cut my cables a little longer after the first build and shorten a little after things are dialed in. I still like the ends a little longer though because I re-use cables all the time.
The issue of soldering cable ends came up on the I-Bob list not too long ago, which prompted me to try it on a cable that I was removing and replacing. The new steel cable (not stainless) was quite easy to solder with a 15 watt iron. The old corroded steel cable wouldn't accept the solder, even after using solder flux paste.
The lesson was that a galvanized steel cable is pretty easy to solder, but you have to do it when it is new.
Another alternative is to put a bit of heat shrink tubing over the cable. Between this and the other alternatives, I suspect that they all work fine, and you should use whatever is easier or more convenient.
As far as length is concerned... an inch or two is fine.
Steve in Peoria