Making Cables

[DesmoDog]

I have multiple projects going on right now and I think it's finally time to make good on my threats and start making my own control cables.

I worked as a bicycle mechanic for a lot of years and know all about cutting housings and getting the routing correct, etc. What I'm not sure of is, for someone who's not making them all the time, can a torch and silver solder be used instead of buying a solder pot? Seems a little simpler for someone who'd only be making them once in a while.

And yes, I know I can get custom cable from Motion Pro for about $35 each. But when you have two or three projects, each requiring four cables, all of them non-stock lengths due to different bars, brakes, and/or rear sets, that $35 adds up. The bulk components aren't expensive and the convenience of being able to fit one to the bike then and there without having to send things out and wait...

So what's the general view on this? Torch or solder pot?

[DewCatTea-Bob]

" I worked as a bicycle mechanic for a lot of years and know all about cutting housings and getting the routing correct, etc. "

____ Well wha da ya know, I also worked on bicycles (Schwinn only!), prior to switching-over to Ducati-cycles, AND always made my own cables for them (whenever I wasn't working at a Ducati-shop where I could simply order stock items).
__ As for the 'tip-ends' on my cables, I'd always make -(on lathe & drill-press) my own 'clamp-on' type tip-ends, out of brass-stock. _ Very quite similar to the steel cable-clamps that Ducati employed!
And they never fail to keep hold of the cable either! _ (Unlike std.solder, which is known to pull-loose on brake-cables!)
__ Sorry I can't reply specifically to your question, as my experience with silver-solder is limited, (although I'm positive that it holds much better than std.solder).

GoodCheers,
-Bob

[DesmoDog]

____ Well wha da ya know, I also worked on bicycles (Schwinn only!), prior to switching-over to Ducati-cycles,

I worked in a Schwinn shop also, for about ten years. We did sell other brands too though.

Some days I miss that place...

[Pete]

In Mick Walker's book, Ducati Singles Restoration, he shows it being done with a soldering iron. I would think a torch and hard solder would work just fine. I am interested in seeing how you make out with this project.

[captpaul]

I've made most of my cables also,solder and solder iron, is harder, but I feel it's stronger,because of less heat.
I've never though about a solder pot but that would be super easy, better solder tinning.
I've silver soldered, but it takes the temper out of the hi strength cable strands, if I hold the torch on the cable a tiny bit too long,because of the much higher melting temp of the silver/bronze rod.

[kmev]

I've had good luck with brass round stock for ends soldered with a propane torch. I drill a hole through the stock and then file a V-shaped notch lengthwise over one of the holes. I tin the wire, and add just enough solder to hole the cable in the end so about an 1/8 inch protrudes from the side with the v-notch. Peen the end of the wire over into the notch, fill with solder, and finish with a file.

The braided cables can't take much heat, so you have to be carefull with the torch.

[DesmoDog]

I ordered a bunch of stuff from Flanders today. In looking at things, I may be able to get away without making any new cables after all, I can probably just replace the housing. The bars are lower, the housing will be shorter, only one end is frayed... we'll see how it goes.

[Pete]

Here is a page from the Flanders catalog. I don't know if it is helpful.

http://www.eurospares.com/graphics/cable8.jpg

[JimF]

I have successfully made a few cables. I am by no means an expert.

When I first started attempting to make my own cables I bought a solder pot on eBay having seen cable making instructions on-line from which I inferred that I needed that amount of stored thermal energy to properly terminate the cable ends.

The solder pot was cumbersome to use and I had mixed results.

The goal (as I understand it) is to solder the ferrule to the cable end after adding a little flaring to the cable where it exits the ferrule so the hardened solder in the flared cable end will prevent the cable end from being able to pull back through the hole in the ferrule when the cable is under tension. To extend the life of the cable you have to solder the flare and the ferrule without allowing the heat to get so far along the cable that solder will 'wick' up the cable strands . I believe it is capillary action that draws the molten solder up the stands, particularly because the flaring of the end has created air gaps between the cable strands.

That's sort of the trick to making cables I think - you want to make the solder fill up the flare, but at the same time not flare the cable so much that the capillary action goes too far beyond the opposite side of the ferrule (where the cable enters the ferule) as that makes the cable less flexible and brittle. The cable entrance to the ferrule is where the cable assembly will interface with the lever mechanism on the motorcycle, so that's where the majority of the stress occurs when the cable is pulled taught and thus is the worst place for the cable to be be made artificially inflexible and brittle.

If you accidentally make the cable brittle at the ferrule entrance the cable may break prematurely. If you don't have enough solder or a large enough flare on the cable where it exits the ferrule it may break by pulling through the ferrule.

A couple of months after making some of my own cables I was in a shop in Chicago (the Triple "O", sadly now gone) and I watched as Fred Cousins attached a ferrule with an 'old school' soldering gun. Similar to this one:

http://www.electrion.ro/documentatii/le ... /55008.jpg

I went to the hardware store, bought a soldering gun and have since thrown the solder pot in the trash. The gun works fine and it allows you to bring the heat to the cable and ferrule on the bike as opposed to the huge inconvenience of having to bring the cable assembly to the heat (the solder pot.)

This is just sort of my amateur conclusion from having made some cables.

[captpaul]

Kmev:

I like all the ideas you guys have,but the brass stock is a good idea.You know on the rear brake thick cable,where they pull the cable through, then they insert a very small pin into the cable strands, then pull the feral tight to trap the cable like a Chinese handcuff.the harder you pull the stronger it gets.
What if you drilled a hole through the Ferrel the size of the cable, then drill the opposite side larger half way through.
Then push the cable in insert a piece of brad in the strands then pull the ferrel out till it's good and tight.
carefully grind off excess strands. I worked for years with heavy equipment, and cranes & drag lines use this method of trapping cables instead of clamping cable ends. Do you think it might work? no solder, no heat!

Capt Paul