Cutting steel wire

[nigel newby]

How do you chaps cut steel wire, so you do not end up with frayed ends.

[Ron Gray]

If you are needing to cut Bowden cable then you need something like these: **LINK**

[Geoff S]

If you mean Bowden wire (ie multi-strand) I use the cutters I bought years ago to cut bicycle control/brake cables which makes a neat cut. I'm sure they'll be stocked by (say) Wiggle or Ribble cycles on line, if not in your local quality bike shop.

Geoff

[Don Fry]

Nigel, what are you cutting?

[Keith Berriman]

Hi Nigel I run solder into the area to be cut it has a two fold purpose

Easier to cut and does not splay out when wanting to feed into your connection

[Bruce Collinson]

Solder it then use side cutters.

BTC

[nigel newby]

Thanks chaps. Yes I am cutting the Bowden cable for the throttle. Tool station do a draper pair for about £11 so will pick up a pair from them tomorrow with luck.

Perhaps will run in a bit of solder to be on the safe side, but will do a test cut first.

Nigel

[Keith Berriman]

Another tip is running solder into the cable is a safety feature so the cable does not flex when out of the outer sheaf say from servos to outer covering or outer covering to throttle connection

[Geoff S]

When I was cutting motor cycle control cables I used the tinning method successfully but a lot of modern Bowden cable designed for gear/brake control is nylon covered to reduce friction so it might not be so conducive to tinning.

Geoff

[Joe Beavis]

The cutters in Ron Gray's post look good. Felco also make excellent cable cutters. You will never regret having the proper tool, as they also cut piano wire more cleanly than side cutters.

[PatMc]

I would silver solder a Z bent piece of bike spoke wire to one end of the cable before cutting it. Then tin the area of the intended cut with a small piece of silver solder & cut with a dremel disc. The silver solder can be neatly filed flush with the steel strands in order to be able to slide the cable through the bowden outer. A threaded clevis connector socket is then soft soldered to the cable. To avoid damaging the plastic outer it's best to use a crocodile clip on the inner to act as a heat shunt whilst soldering the connector in place.

[PatMc]

Posted by Joe Beavis on 11/12/2018 21:00:36:

The cutters in Ron Gray's post look good. Felco also make excellent cable cutters. You will never regret having the proper tool, as they also cut piano wire more cleanly than side cutters.

Side cutters are only good for "soft" metal they will be damaged first time they're used to cut piano wire & won't last long on steel bowden inner wire either.
IMO using a dremel disc is the most economical, satisfactory method.

[Ron Gray]

Using the 'correct' cutters the cable will not fray making soldering unnecessary for cutting purposes. Many years of cutting control cables for bikes and motorbikes proved this to me!

[PatMc]

Ron, I don't think many of us need to cut steel bowden cable often enough to justify the cost of specialised cutters particularly when the ends of the cable are going to be soldered anyway.

[Geoff S]

Posted by Ron Gray on 11/12/2018 22:22:24:

Using the 'correct' cutters the cable will not fray making soldering unnecessary for cutting purposes. Many years of cutting control cables for bikes and motorbikes proved this to me!

My experience exactly. But I've both built and maintained a lot of bikes so my cutters were worth buying.

Geoff

[Ron Gray]

@PatMc - very true, like Geoff, I bought mine some years ago before I got back into R/C so the cost didn’t come into it. Having said that, most ‘planes I built now have pull/pull systems so they are still used quite a bit. Still, is £26 a lot?

Edited By Ron Gray on 11/12/2018 23:07:28

[PatMc]

Ron, if I had the same interest in bikes & motorbikes as yourself I'm sure I'd have bought the same or similar cutters. But since I haven't I'm happy using a dremel to cut steel wire & cable.
I also often use pull/pull systems, the fishing trace wire I use is plastic coated, so there's no fraying problem & it's easily cut using side cutters.

[nigel newby]

Thanks a lot chaps. Will get a pair of cutters. Will also solder where necessary. I just don't want the end to fray, so I can stick it in a clevis and solder.

Geoff, the wire I have states that it contains lead, and if soldering beware of toxic fumes. So no nylon.

[Geoff S]

Nigel, I've been soldering using lead/tin solder for close on 70 years. The fumes you get with flux-cored solder is mostly from the flux. I'd be surprised if the Bowden cable itself had any lead content.

I once worked with a guy who had a habit of holding the solder in his mouth but I wouldn't recommend it

Geoff

[Peter Miller]

Lead solder is the only stuff worth using. It is safe for normal use, the problem is possibly in an industrial situation.

[Broken Prop]

The easiest way to cut a Bowden cable inner is to use a hammer and sharp chisel. Cuts clean as a whistle with no frayed ends.

Back in the day we used to cut brake cables this way. It is a lot cheaper method than than using specialist cutters!

[Stuphedd]

I use the same method as Patmc , ie silver solder BUT then I use the Zed pliers on the soldered end to save having to put an adaptor on .

Use this a lot where the bulkhead is close to the carb , most 4 strokes ! saves a good deal of space !!

cheers

[Bruce Collinson]

Two things. As a returnee I hesitate to tangle with my elders and betters, but my sidecutters regularly go through piano wire upto about 18 swg as well as any bowden cable and they have one mark, which was some 16 g wire. Knipex, not cheap.

Lead solder has become inapplicable through plumbing requirements and I'd guess plumbers use tons, or even tonnes of the stuff for every ounce we modellers use. Thorough nuisance where a LiPo eg has been tinned with lead-free.

BTC