I know many folks on here probably already know about this method, but I thought it worth bringing up for those who haven't tried it. If you have the stuff on hand already it's an easy and satisfying way to terminate cable ends that allows for easy removal of the shifter and brake cables for cleaning and lube, and to my eye provides a much more aesthetically pleasing result.

Equipment/supplies needed:

Soldering *** (most soldering irons have way too low wattage to sufficiently heat the thick cables used on bikes)

Tin of flux

Good quality rosin core solder of heavy gauge

rubbing alcohol

Normal bike hand tools

[IMG]P1030706 by mtypinski, on Flickr[/IMG]

Total time; about 5 minutes per cable end

Benefit: allows complete removal and re-insertion of cables for cleaning and lube with no fuss and never re-trimming, Basically lets you run the same cables for decades and guarantees they'll never fray.

Step one, once cable end is trimmed to desired length use needlenose pliers to carefully unwind the last 1 cm or so. The purpose here is to let you clean the cable end thoroughly of any oil or grease with the alcohol. I then use a paper towel wet with alcohol to completely douse the cable end. Once done, do not touch again especially with oily or greasy fingers. An oil-free surface is key for the solder to flow properly.


[IMG]P1030705 by mtypinski, on Flickr[/IMG]


Now, once the alcohol is dry dip the cable end in the flux. I just push it into the tin.

[IMG]P1030707 by mtypinski, on Flickr[/IMG]

Now you can use your clean fingers to re-wrap the cable end by just twisting it back tight, leaving a generous amount of flux on the wire (be super careful around food at this point, even a tiny amount of flux makes an excellent laxative...don't ask how I know this)

[IMG]P1030709 by mtypinski, on Flickr[/IMG]

Next, you are ready to solder. Heat the tip up and place it about 1 cm UP CABLE from the tip, this will draw the solder up into the strands. Place the tip on the back side of the cable and the unrolled solder wire on the front with the cable in between. Once the heat permeates the cable end, the solder will quickly melt (push in gently with the solder to fill the cable end). It doesn't take much solder and only about 10 seconds to complete this operation. The flux will smoke initially, indicating it's heating and etching the wire, then just as the smoke slows the solder will melt. Don't sweat drops that roll off the end of the cable, they cool immediately when they hit the floor. If they hit skin they'll leave a mild burn though, so pay attention to not "flick" the cable end with the soldering *** as you pull away.

[IMG]P1030713 by mtypinski, on Flickr[/IMG]

Very quickly grab your alcohol dampened paper towel (folded into a pad) and firmly squeeze the cable end and wipe in a downward motion. This, if done immediately, will smooth the end of any excess solder and also clean off any remaining flux, leaving you a very tight, clean end that is soldered together:

[IMG]P1030716 by mtypinski, on Flickr[/IMG]

This takes way more time to write and read than to do. If you find the solder doesn't penetrate into the cable and rolls off like water, then the cable was not prepped properly with the alcohol and flux. Simply go back to step one. If the end is slightly rough you can either reheat and wipe down with the alcohol pad, or use sandpaper to smooth (reheating is much easier).

The first time you go back to that bike and do an overhaul you'll be rewarded with not having to cut off old alum caps and shorten the cable each time you remove it. It's also just one of those slightly more involved but ultimately more satisfying methods of doing something. I figure our group would appreciate that philosophy.


Oh, and this was generated by replacing the too-modern levers on my Comp GS with period-correct drilled Campy ones:

[IMG]P1030699 by mtypinski, on Flickr[/IMG]

The cables are the same height, it's the wide angle lens making the left look so tall. Also, yes, I know the right lever is the front brake. I ride motorcycles too, so run most of my bikes this way.

One last shot; if you're ever in Germany and need to trim a fork steerer tube, this is what you need to ask for:

[IMG]Gabelschaftabschneider Geeignet by mtypinski, on Flickr[/IMG]

Those guys have a word for everything!

Edit:
Wow...when you type in GspaceUspaceN it gets auto-starred out by the forum. That's new....

Same basic steps I use. I use a small butane torch, gets more than hot enough. Also comes in handy for heating stuck cotters and pedals.

Aaron

I have tried, and failed, to do this in the past; perhaps it was my technique. I'll try again!

One question: does it matter, what kind of cable? Galvanized steel, stainless, either one?

Probably error in technique. Must be clean (not greasy or oily). And you must use enough heat. A 50W to 80w soldering iron will be adequate. No need for a torch.

And, you can't solder dirty or corroded cables.

Exactly so. Doesn't matter if it's galvanized, bare steel, or stainless. The above technique works great and you don't even need special stainless flux (acid based) like you would for bigger projects.

very nice! I always wondered how people avoided fraying cables every time they had to remove and reinstall them. Thanks for the tip!

I used a regular bic lighter the other day when I installed a new cable on the RD. its been a week now and still holding up. usually by now ill notice some fraying when I don't use end caps. I didn't think it was going to work but so far so good.

Good tutorial, Poprad.

Super glue will do that also.

That's a really nice Raleigh Competition!

I use a small piece of heat shrink tubing in place of cable ends. It slides off easily to remove the cable, and it keeps the cable end from fraying. One bag of heat shrink tubing lasts forever.

Thanks for the tutorial! I've tried this a few times but must have neglected on the prep end of things. I'll give it another try.

No acid flux? Just regular electronics flux paste? I wonder how liquid flux would work...

Thanks for sharing! That's the way I'd like to go; I'll give it a try. BTW, currently, I don't cut off the old crimp ends; I just uncrimp them; and typically, am able to re-use them a few times.

English: fork-cutter-offer ..."geeignet für" means "suitable for".

I used liquid flux in the past when I thought it was necessary (I used to be in electronics) for stainless cables. It works very well, but I later discovered it's not needed. If you follow the prep thoroughly the paste is fine, and both cheaper and easier to find. The key step is the unwinding the cable end to allow the flux to penetrate into the cable and then re-wrapping it. It only takes a minute to do, but if this step is skipped then you get little to no solder flow into the cable, and the joint will just unravel as if it was never soldered.

I'll give it a try later today. I am in electronics, and have both paste and liquid flux. I had not unraveled the cable nor cleaned it as you note, so the solder just balled up and dripped off. I had thought I would need special flux for stainless steel, so had kind of given up on doing this (was using super glue). I got really tired of dealing with crimps

Excellent write-up.

I have done this on most of my "keeper" bikes (PX-10, etc).

Maybe I am being overly anal, but I then follow up crimping on a new cable end. It can easily be removed without damaging the soldered cable by squeezing out the crimp with a needle-nosed pliers.

This habit was born decades ago prepping my race machines (motorcycles and snowmobiles). I worked hard to minimize anything that would slice, impale, stab or otherwise shred me when I crashed (which was often). My pet peeves were carelessly installed cotter pins and those hard plastic zip-ties whose snipped off tag end was left razor sharp.

This is what I've been doing, but you can't push the cable into a housing with it.
I used to solder cables until stainless cables came along and I couldn't get solder to stick to them.
I'm going to try the OP's method next time.

Thanks, this is really helpful! I think I know what I've been doing wrong now and why soldering has never worked for me. Looks so much better than the aluminum tips! I'm going to try this later this week on my refurbished 84 Fuji Del Rey.

Yes. It is not so much that the Germans have a word for everything, but they can make a compound word for anything.

You aren't trying to use silver solder are you? 60/40 is getting harder to find, since it was outlawed years ago, but it's still available. It flows much better than silver, at a lower temperature, and is not as easy to overheat. When you overheat silver solder (or don't have enough flux), it acts just like 60/40 when you are not using enough heat.

I usually only treat brand new cables, and no matter what they have been made of, they have been perfectly clean out of the package. I don't lubricate the cable before inserting it, or trim the new cable before treating it. No need to unravel the cable before treating. Install the cable and tension to figure out the right length. Clean the iron tip and tin, apply the iron to the cable where you want the solder, touch the solder to the cable, and let it flow. Remove the iron, wait for the solder to cool, and cut the cable through the solder. Done.

Thanks for the demonstration. I've only had fair success in soldering ends. Might be my prep in not thoroughly cleaning the Tr-flow off the cable. Also had difficulty with stainless cable. Home Depot had a clearance on the now banned mentioned above. Ten cents a spool.

Pb-Sn solder is an easy match with Zn treated steel cables .. Acid flux core better than Rosin core for steel,
but Rosin core, the electrician's choice for Cu wire, will do .

Inox/Stainless steel .. a Low Temperature Silver-Solder and a Different Flux are Needed ..

Solder - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



I, best case, solder the place in the cable that, when installed, will be where it's to be cut .

In a new cable I mark that spot , pull the cable out, solder it then put it back in, grease it , then Cut it. .

Interesting. I tried that with a SS cable and could not get adequate penetration of the solder, which is when I bought some liquid sulphuric acid based flux and special solder a few years back, but later found that if I used the above method to really penetrate the paste flux into a pre-cut cable I didn't need the special SS materials.

Also, with the Jagwire cables and sheathes I use nowadays I don't grease them, I run them dry.

It's worth mentioning that if you used modern cables in housing, in most cases they are not meant to be lubed and doing so only attracts dirt and causes more friction. I used to lube lube lube, no I don't bother and my cables generally run fine all season long and I replace housing at the high bend points once a year. I never have problems. I mention this to point our that there shouldn't be that much grease on your cable to begin with. Some shimano cables come pre-lubed. I prefer sram's 1.1mm derailleur cables anyway, way less friction.. but then I am talking about running modern 10 speed drivetrains. Still I will use sram on anything indexed, just better (just as shimano chains are better).

The soldering ends is a nice touch.

I should be doing something like this, but often just squeeze on an ugly end.

However, I have done the superglue in the past, with good results.
I've even followed that up with Plasti-dip, with good results, and it can be removed later.
If the superglue is under the Plasti-dip, you can often re-use the cable with no issues.

Used Zn-steel brake cables on my Brompton switching to Another Brake lever ...

had enough time with rust in upbent Brake-routing on girls bike repairs in past repairs .. that seized solid
Folding them has routed them from under the brake lever..

so grease was added.. [ Nice Upgrade they did was a V Brake rubber bellows between the side pull brake arms

so water was not so easily leaking down into the housing,]

the Soldered end makes Re greasing easier...






[welders supply has the 400F low temp, silver solder to try on stainless.. ]