Topic: Making cables

[eigenvector]

Plenty of very helpful videos on it, have seen them all. 

That said, I've never done it before.  The only question I have that isn't really addressed so far is should I make the cable longer than the only one I have to use as a template?  I'm thinking if I make it say an inch longer than called for it will give me some room to work with, some room to play with if I mess up the soldering of the barrel and have to cut it off.

I guess I'm asking, are there good reasons why those cables should be made exactly as long as is called for?

[Steve F]

I found that the hardest part of making a cable is keeping the length relationship between the inner and outer pieces the same as the original.  In other words, you don't want the inner too long, or it will not work as expected, too short and you'll never get the travel you need.  Figure out how much longer the inner needs to be and keep that relationship.  You can extend the working length of the cable by extending both the inner and the outer by the same amount.  Different ends I made myself depending if it's for the clutch, the throttle or a brake.  I used silver braze or "silver solder" to hold them in place, I never got standard solder to ever work for soldering the ends on as they just pull off.
Silver solder requires an oxy-acetylene torch and proper flux.

[eigenvector]

I got one of those build a cable kits and it's been sitting on the dining room table staring at me.

Now that the bike starts and idles fine, I need to get moving.
I figure I'll cut the damaged head off the old cable, thread the new cable through the sheath and solder it on.  Interestingly they used brass barrels with set screws of all things.  I'm certainly not going to trust a set screw, so I still need to solder it.  Have the flux, just need the solder.

[70CB750]

Dorothy had home soldered end of the throttle cable for 20 000 miles or so.  It was never a problem, I used one of those small torches and plumbers flux to solder that blob on and shaped it with a file.

For cable length, you could use a piece of hose or something similar for routing and measurement.  Good luck and show us pictures

[eigenvector]

I found that the hardest part of making a cable is keeping the length relationship between the inner and outer pieces the same as the original.  In other words, you don't want the inner too long, or it will not work as expected, too short and you'll never get the travel you need.  Figure out how much longer the inner needs to be and keep that relationship.  You can extend the working length of the cable by extending both the inner and the outer by the same amount.  Different ends I made myself depending if it's for the clutch, the throttle or a brake.  I used silver braze or "silver solder" to hold them in place, I never got standard solder to ever work for soldering the ends on as they just pull off.
Silver solder requires an oxy-acetylene torch and proper flux.

I thought about what you wrote and I believe I understand now.

As long as the exposed cable length is maintained the sheath can be made longer than normal.  But otherwise it does sound like the cable should be kept as long as was original if at all possible.

[Steve F]

I got one of those build a cable kits and it's been sitting on the dining room table staring at me.

Now that the bike starts and idles fine, I need to get moving.
I figure I'll cut the damaged head off the old cable, thread the new cable through the sheath and solder it on.  Interestingly they used brass barrels with set screws of all things.  I'm certainly not going to trust a set screw, so I still need to solder it.  Have the flux, just need the solder.

Be careful about just cutting off the old end and soldering on a new one as this MAY leave you with a cable that won't have enough travel.  You can get around that by maybe cutting off the same amount on the sheath as you removed from the cable if your cable is ok being a tad shorter than before.  Remember what I said about keeping the exposed cable relationship the same on the new cable as you have on the original.

[eigenvector]

Oh no no that wasn't my plan at all.

I am going to cut off the old barrel, so that I can reuse the sheath with a new cable.  Assuming that's possible, don't know if I can feed the new cable through the old sheath.  The kit comes with sheaths, cables, barrels, and all the hardware necessary to make 2 cables.  I figure I can save myself some grief by just feeding a new cable.

Not even sure I'm going to make a push cable - don't see the need.

[754]

 when you solder the fitting on the end, get about 3/16 of cable past the fitting, then flare it out like a tree or flower..then solder..holds better.    the screw clamp type are often emergency fitting to get you home, or for very light use like throttle cable for a set of Webers..