He all,

I have the Park Tools CN-10. It's an OK cable cutter, but when I cut cable housings, the metallic inner shield is always collapsed and I need to use a pointy tool to restore it to a somewhat usable form.

Is there a tool that would produce a bit better results? 5 years ago I would just suck it up, but as a father and husband nowadays I just don't have the patience - I invest all of it in parenting.

I use a Shimano ATBC007 (black nickel plated high-carbon steel) diagonal cutters for both coiled cable housing and the constant length stretchless stuff. Cuts like a charm. These are sold under the "Brutus - Black Nickel" line of pliers and cutters used for fishing and cutting leader wires. I haven't had much issue with having to re-spread the opening on housing after cutting. And the cutters still cut just great after a LOT of use.

Sounds good. It's a cheap enough tool, so I won't be too disappointed even if it doesn't perform as hoped - actually, the shipping expenses will hurt quite a bit more than the tool itself. It's times like this I wish I lived in the USA

the inner liner should be reamed with an awl anyways. it gets crushed even with my felco c7

I've found that a dremel tool with a thin cut-off wheel works very well. It doesn't collapse the inner spiral. Just don't forget to wear eye protection as the thin wheels are prone to shattering.

+1 in the dremel if you dont have a cutter. I believe i have a pedro or a bike doctor one, does almost the same but doesnt crash the thing like yours that much.

So I'll use my Dremel knock-off. Thank you very much, guys.

I use a CN-10 and clean the end with a Dremel sanding drum.

Another +1 on the Dremel. But if using cutters, be sure to cut quickly, as this minimizes crushing.

I find that putting a bit of old brake / gear cable (depending on the housing you are cutting) inside the housing and then cutting both, tends to produce better ends. If I don't put a cable in it before cutting I find I get the same issue as you.

Daven

in the shop, rather than a Dremel, the bench grinder ,
makes the ends of coil cables flat, quickly.

compression-less linear bundled housing to make indexing work.
is less needing that end surfacing

The Dremel works but it's a hassle. I find that I have to get the tool out, find the appropriate wheel, assemble it, plug it in, cut the cable housing, get a new inner cable because I cut the existing one, unplug, disassemble, put the appropriate wheel in a place where I won't forget where I put it (and find 10 other wheels in the same spot)) and, finally, put the tool away.

I just use the cable cutters and then grind the end flat with my grinder that is too big to lose

I find that sneaking up on it and hiding the cutters until the last second works best.


Definitely a cutoff wheel, sanding drum or grinder. I used a cable cutter to cut the housings a tad longer then squarely lop the last bit off with a cutoff wheel... or square it up afterward if necessary. For brake cables this isn't anywhere near as critical as it is for shifting cables.

I seem to use the piano as a guitar tuner for the same reasons,
too big to lose track of where I put it.

For brake housing, I use regular diagonal cutters, which can be used a second time to nip off any crushed part of the spiral. Then I open up the liner and mill the end with the side of a Dremel fiberglass-reinforced cutoff wheel, which isn't prone to shattering, and open up the liner again as it tends to melt a little from the heat.

The bench grinder does the job with less melting, but is considerably more dangerous, so I usually skip that unless I'm doing a lot of sections of housing in one shot.

Also why I often use the bench vise in place of pliers.

Does your piano have red and green LEDs that light up to let you know when you're close enough?

Have used Shimano, EVO, Pedro`s and Park Tool cutters. The Park Tool has the advantage of a second function. Behind the main jaws are a second set that can be used for crimping or for correcting deformation in outer cable housing. It works beautifully.

Regardless - the best, fastest spiral wound cable-end finish is achieved with a bench grinder which preps a housing perfectly for a brake ferrule.

I just use ****s to cut the housing. If you bend the housing, it spreads the coils and allows the blades to slip between them more easily without crushing. After cutting, I square the ends on the bench grinder.