Overkill, maybe. But works a treat:

Thinking about the cable end soldering method, and realized that it’d be pertinent to make sure the drill is spinning in the correct direction. Otherwise, you could end up with a real mess on your hands.

Dan

I tried it on SS cables with a torch and flux, but still didn't get what I would call decent solder penetration. Went back to crimped spoke nipples or the aluminum cable ends.

Twist weld is new to me, and it sure looks like the best way to do the job. I have used the Grant Peterson method, beeswax. It works well enough for me and is reusable, however the twist weld is such a good idea I have to try it!

That is very cool. I'll bet it costs more than the Hanau Torch though.
NB: I wouldn't buy this torch solely for soldering cable-ends. And it doesn't even cut the cable.
I had to buy mine when I was in dental school, and it was a hell of a lot cheaper (1986).

I'm liking the simplicity of that twist-weld process!! Be trying that next time I'm wrangling w/new cables.

Not sure what’s behind that photo. Maybe they are showing that the tips can be used on a damaged cable? Anyway, I took these photos of a tip that’s been on my rear derailleur cable for quite a while, and what the cable end looks like if I remove the reusable tip.

I've tried silver solder and clear fingernail polish. Neither worked. I'm going to try that twist weld method just because.

I'm not sure that welding is the best method. With soldering you're not heating the cable enough to change the composition of the metal so much. Raising the heat to the welding stage lets things move around and exposes corrodible bits to the elements. To properly weld stainless you need to passivate the surface afterwards so it doesn't corrode. I'm not a metallurgist but I know enough about it that there's more to it than simply welding stainless and it staying stain less

Somehow I come away thinking that twist-welding isn't true welding in any way.

Yes, the wire strands are being heated to a point where the material loses much of its resistance to deformation. Twisting, done at this point, imparts significantly more contact between the individual wire strands than what they'd had in their original layup as wire 'rope'. Once cooled the affected strands are held tighter together as a result; they ought to be separable still, if done with some care, but are likely to be more brittle.

Propane, burned in air, isn't going to achieve temps that will 'weld' stainless steel, but it will make it more malleable.

Tension, applied to pull the heated area apart, is simply taking advantage of the reduction in tensile strength from heating to separate one section from another.

That's true, but the point I was making is that heating the stainless cable too much will lead to corrosion issues. The video posted on the first page pointed that out as well. They recommended priming the end of the wire to protect it after 'welding'. That's also in an aviation scenario where the cable end is probably in an enclosed engine compartment, not the underside of a MTB

I'll just say that I have probably done about 50 stainless shifter and brake cables with this method. I don't grind the end down as shown in the video, just leave it as is and don't use any primer or coating, just bare metal. I once tried to separate the strands at the end of the twist with my fingernails and could not do it so don't feel the need to tempt fate with every other cable. Many of these cables were taken out of the housings and re-installed for various reasons and were easy to thread back through the housing with no fraying. The heat used doesn't travel far away from the heated spot on the cable so not nearly hot enough to weaken any other part of the cable. I live in sunny San Diego but still get out in a few rainy days a year and live 1/2 mile from the salty ocean air and a fair amount of time riding closer than that to salt water along my routes and corrosion has never been a problem using the twist welds. Just my experience.

In full agreement with you both, RS & CC. This procedure's a mechanical one, aided by heat, which 'burns' the metal in a way that reduces or eliminates its resistance to corrosion. It does eliminate the need for something extra to hold the wire ends together, unless you include the needed heater in that category, and isn't something I'd want to be prepared to do while out on a ride somewhere. Where corrosion may become an issue with cables on bikes depends so much on conditions of use and maintenance it's got to be a personal choice whether to use it or not; limited to the very ends of cables exposed to the elements, to my mind doesn't preclude using it for my needs.

For years now I have used my TIG wire feed welder that is near my bike stands and wholeheartedly agree with you.

Screw it, I'm using Thermite to weld mine from now on!

Wouldn’t heat compromise the cables strength?

Yes, but as your working with the bitter end there's no significance to the loss of strength in that part of it.

You do want to have a proper amount of cable free after the last point of contact with the device it's operating, and with heat it's A Good Idea to have a heat sink between that point and the cable end you're about to twist-weld. Pliers works for most folks, or a Vise-Grip if you think losing your grip on a pair of pliers could happen.

Thinking back (way back), the bike shop I worked in as a kid lead soldered nipples on, later on as a teen working at a surgical instrument firm we did silver solder nipples onto stainless cables (they were used as a sort of third hand nokon knuckle arm) but obviously they didn’t go thru as many stress cycles as a brake cable, and cable replacement was just part of the maintenance of them, also the flame was well ahead of the nipple and the silver flowed back a fair way

Nope, that shop in Evanston isn’t there. Turin in Chicago is however owned by the same guy mentioned there.

Anyway, I use a blob of superglue on cable ends, which works just fine.

I used to use some type of silver colored glue. Like Duco Cement, if you remember what that is.

My dad use to love silver-colored anything. Sliver paint, silver glue. Half the stuff in our basement was silver painted..."let me just clean off this brush....."

Now I use those crimp on cable ends.

Hey, gonna give this one a try. Put a spoke nipple on the end of a cable, then melt some solder into it. Not really soldering but adding material into the nipple to hold it on the cable...

The issue with soldering stainless steel cables [as I'm sure has already been mentioned...] is that you need to use flux, a torch, and silver solder. Tin/lead solder will not stick to stainless well enough to hold it on--and because a cable is inherently helical, all you are going to wind up with is a nipple that takes longer to fall off.

Spoke nipples crimp almost as readily as a regular cable end...

I have soldered numerous stainless steel cables using silver solder using only my industrial grade soldering iron, no flux or any other aids. However when that roll of solder ran out, I couldn't find anything as good. I assume that good silver solder is almost impossible to find anymore

Silver solder is widely used to solder copper water lines, being lead-free. Just Google "silver solder".

I have bought silver solder since my first roll ran out. none of it did the same job since my first roll ran out