Dremel?

[etu]

noticed Dremel was recommended for cutting cable housing
anyone have recommendations on model and accessories?

[sales guy]

doesn't matter the model. but a cordless is easier. the reinforced cutting wheels are best. last the longest too.
I use Shimano TL-CT10 cutters and a bench grinder to smooth them down. Sadly they don't make them anymore. They are the best.

[cmbicycles]

doesn't matter the model. but a cordless is easier. the reinforced cutting wheels are best. last the longest too.
I use Shimano TL-CT10 cutters and a bench grinder to smooth them down. Sadly they don't make them anymore. They are the best.
It's funny, I have heard multiple people tell me the Shimano cutters were the best thing since sliced bread... then I used them and they were meh. Didn't see them working any better than Park, which weren't as good as Felco, nor knipex which is my current go to cable cutter. Different strokes for different folks.
Anyway, yes the reinforced wheels do last longer for dremel, just don't heat up and melt the liner. I prefer a decent sharp file to getting out and setting up a dremel. The best was having a small bench mounted belt sander to dress the ends, that thing had so many great uses, but I don't have room for one in my garage.

[sales guy]

It's funny, I have heard multiple people tell me the Shimano cutters were the best thing since sliced bread... then I used them and they were meh. Didn't see them working any better than Park, which weren't as good as Felco, nor knipex which is my current go to cable cutter. Different strokes for different folks.


I think it depends on the cutters. The ones I am talking about are not made anymore and haven't been in some years. The ones I am talking about are the blue/grey ones. And no, the Jagwire versions in blue/grey are not even close to the same. The new black ones, for whatever reason, they aren't even close to the originals.

[cmbicycles]

Those are the ones I am referring to as well. I didn't care for them, but I know others did.

[sales guy]

Those are the ones I am referring to as well. I didn't care for them, but I know others did.

You are literally the first person who's ever said that to me. Usually it's them saying they miss them or wish they could buy them again.

[JWDR]

You are literally the first person who's ever said that to me. Usually it's them saying they miss them or wish they could buy them again.

I’ve got a pair of the blue and grey shimano cutters sitting in my tool box but always reach for my felcos when i need to cut cables.

[ultraman6970]

Oh cutters... I have I think a pair of pedros or is ice toolz? :/ and they worked ok, the problem is that you have to snap super quick to get a clean cut.

Dremel works but is not the same. Love the dremel tool but is not good IMO for bike cable cutting.

[oldpotatoe]

noticed Dremel was recommended for cutting cable housing
anyone have recommendations on model and accessories?

Any Dremel(cordless is nice but gotta charge) and this wheel.

[etu]

thanks for the advice
will go cordless as outlets in my garage are not very conveniently located
wanting it more for a multi-tool and to file down sharp edges

[VoyTirando]

using quality cutters (for me, the Park Tool version) and a dremel to clean it all up, i discovered a true ah ha! moment in bike maintenance: suddenly my shifts were crisp, my rear brake no longer mushy. I use an older plug-in dremel, and a little sanding barrel rather than a disk, with a small bench vise to hold the housing.

[redir]

If you already have a Dremel or you foresee using one in the future then fine but, a dedicated cutter is the way to go imho. A bench grinder is real nice too but you can use a file as well.

[unterhausen]

I have a dremel, and I've never done it this way. maybe I should try. My Pedros cutter works fine for me, and i don't think I will wear it out.
Have thought about getting a Knipex though.

[merckx]

My preference are these SunTours. I purchased them in the mid-80's. Second best are the blu/grey Shimano.

[marsh]

I have an ancient pair of Nashbar cutters that work way better than my newer Park cutters.

[sales guy]

I’ve got a pair of the blue and grey shimano cutters sitting in my tool box but always reach for my felcos when i need to cut cables.

Wanna sell them? If they are the Shimano ones, i'd be interested in them.

[shovelhd]

My preference are these SunTours. I purchased them in the mid-80's. Second best are the blu/grey Shimano.

That's what I have, except the handles are red.

[chrismoustache]

There's a pair of the red Suntour cutters on ebay right now. A little pricey, but who doesn't swoon a little for some vintage Suntour tools?

[etu]

i discovered a true ah ha! moment in bike maintenance: suddenly my shifts were crisp, my rear brake no longer mushy.
As a home mechanic, I've haven't paid careful attention to the cable housing ends. This sounds like something to try and see if it makes a noticeable difference for me.

[cmbicycles]

I have a dremel, and I've never done it this way. maybe I should try. My Pedros cutter works fine for me, and i don't think I will wear it out.
Have thought about getting a Knipex though.

I tried a dremel to dress the cut housing afterwards, the cutoff wheel works, as does the drum sander. When I used it for cutting it tended to melt the housing liner at the ends.
I really like the knipex cutters, I use them more than my old felco, and the built in crimper is nice as its the perfect size for housing ferrules. For brake housing I find a good set of diagonal cutters work best to not fold over the housing coil if you cut the direction of the coil, for derailleur housings I go with the Knipex and a file to smooth it out.

[staggerwing]

I have an ancient pair of Nashbar cutters that work way better than my newer Park cutters.

FWIW, my Parks work better, like night and day better, after I carefully honed and deburred the cutting slot with ceramic hand stones, applied a drop of chain lube to the pivot, and tightened the pivot bolt just a smidgen (honestly, no more than 10 degrees).

[dddd]

I wondered if marsh had the same style cutters that I bought at Performance nearly 20 years ago. These have green handles, thick blades, have flawlessly cut literally thousands of cables and housings, and still work like new.
It's as fine of a tool as my Shimano chain breaker, with similar service history duration and performance. Truly remarkable tools!

I can't think of a worse way to cut any housing than a Dremel.
The dust contaminates the inside of the housing with exactly the sort of detritus that degrades housings under CX conditions.
Many cable housings today come pre-lubricated with the choicest silicon/ptfe lubricant of the sort that will never dry, thicken or permeate away from the working surfaces through the liner, so the last thing you would want is for this to be contaminated or flushed away.

Virtually all shift housing ferrules (even the metal ones, sealed or otherwise) have a polymer surface inside which is specifically designed to allow the right degree of penetration/embedding of the ends of shear-cut wires, so that with a normal post-install cable pre-stressing, the alignment of the housing end, the distribution of compressive force among the wires, and the robustness of final adjustment are assured.

Brake cable housings are different and are sensitive to cutting technique using normal cutters, so I routinely rotate the already-cut end to a precise position to enable the cutters to bite the very end of the coil a second time so as to flatten the end of the housing and with the liner unobstructed. I don't find it necessary or even useful to cut either kind of housing to any higher standards than these.

One special step that I do include is to flex the ends of each housing in all directions where it enters a ferrule, while applying the modest pre-stress tension to the cable. I feel that this best simulates the real-world stresses each housing might endure, so my final adjustment that follows this step is a more-robust adjustment that suffers less loss of adjustment in use.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4480/37757099246_81b9970471_z.jpg

[Louis]

I can't think of a worse way to cut any housing than a Dremel.

And I can't think of a better way.

I've been using cut-off wheels to do this for years, and haven't had any issues with dust or other contaminants and have gotten thousands of miles of great service from Dremel-cut brake and shift housing.

YMMV

[dddd]

And I can't think of a better way.

I've been using cut-off wheels to do this for years, and haven't had any issues with dust or other contaminants and have gotten thousands of miles of great service from Dremel-cut brake and shift housing.

YMMV

But why contaminate your shop, your housing, your eyes and your breathing air with dust and shards from a cutoff wheel?

I'm sure that the OP will be more efficient, clean and happy with a good cable cutter.

They are cheap enough, and as with the spoke tensiometer that I bought all those years ago, money really well spent (I'm understating this).

Put another way, if an employee of mine one day started cutting housings with a Dremel tool, I would almost definitively conclude that they had just been smoking pot.

[Corso]

Another Dremel user here. I find the thin-non-reinforced cutting wheels work just fine for cables.

I wrap the housing tight with masking tape before I make the cut-keeps the outer housing from fraying or distorting from the heat.

I always blow air from the opposite end - to clean out the housing.

[cmbicycles]

But why contaminate your shop, your housing, your eyes and your breathing air with dust and shards from a cutoff wheel?

I'm sure that the OP will be more efficient, clean and happy with a good cable cutter.

They are cheap enough, and as with the spoke tensiometer that I bought all those years ago, money really well spent (I'm understating this).

Put another way, if an employee of mine one day started cutting housings with a Dremel tool, I would almost definitively conclude that they had just been smoking pot.

When I worked at an equipment dealer we cut hydraulic hose on a chop saw with a metal cutoff disc. Made a nice burning rubber smell.

[xjoex]

I have a few dremels and use them for so many things. Do yourself a favor and buy the adjustable chuck :
http://www.marshallshardware.com/images2/productimages/19305-l.jpg

It is just a few bucks on amazon and so worth it. I also grab my cordless dremel stylus more than the top of the line plugin one I bought.

As an aside I use the knipex cutters for cable:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Zc_Gny9424I/TnU5vLY1XGI/AAAAAAAAD14/TFhDzKbsh-Y/s600/IMG_1653.jpg