Hey guys,
I just broke my throttle cable right at the grip end.  The cable stop just came right off, probably from me twisting and turning it (weakening the strands) while trying to install. Normally I would just get another S40 cable, but it's not the stock item.  It is a custom Barnett cable that goes with a Mikuni VM carb.  

The cable is long enough for me to mount another cable stop and reuse it.  I have tried machining a nut and bolt into a small cylinder, which I set the cable in and tried to solder them together, but apparently with steel, the solder won't flow to where the flux is and bond properly, like it does on copper or brass.  I have searched and found that the soldering can be done, but you have to have a particular kind of solder and a heated solder pool to dip the connection in.

So I found these screw-on type cable stops.  It looks like it will hold about as long as the previous one that I mangled.  Anyway, I got one and cut it down to the size it needs to be.  I will reinforce the connection with some JB weld and install it, unless someone has a better idea.  

As a last resort I'll just take the whole cable out, measure and describe it carefully, then just contact Barnett for another cable.  Recommendations on other cable makers would be good too.  

I could take my cylindrical nut-and-bolt thing and hit it with a mig welder.  But I think the cable has to go into a softer material.  Otherwise it will just break again at the edge of the weld.   Thanks for the suggestion though, it gives me an idea.  If the screw-on connector fails, I'll go back to the nut/bolt thing, weld it, and make a transition out of JB weld, maybe 1/2" long(?)  

One thing the screw-on cable stop has going for it is that the hole that pinches the cable is soft brass.  Perhaps a judicious combination of torque and epoxy will make that work "as long as I have the scooter." That would be awesome.

Verslagen1 probably has a fine TIG welder that bathes the metal in argon while heat is applied with a needle-point electrode, resulting in a jewelry quality and food grade weld.  But mine's a Miller 211..  POP!  Where'd that connector go?  Oh, I see NASA has just picked up another piece of orbiting space junk  

You can make the cylinder out of brass or steel, both will work with normal solder.

The way to do the trick with solder is to thru drill the cable hole at cable diameter, then come back from one end with a larger drill bit drilling a little over half way thru.

You now have a stepped two diameter hole, small size being exact tight fit to the cable and the other half being a good bit bigger.  Install the cable from small side, then fray the tip of the cable out a bit into a spray that is then pulled into the large hole diameter.  Beat the fray out with a nail punch to get a firm expansion in the hole and give a sharp kink to the wire at the diameter change.

Use a soldering iron, not a torch to do the soldering.  Apply all heat to the cylinder, not to the wire.  You do not want to soften the hardened steel wire in the cable any more than you have to.

Solder and acid core flux is applied normally.  Solder will generally stick to the one item but will not stick to the other as the flux is not perfect for the job.  That's ok, because the solidified solder supports the frayed form of the cable and does not allow it to pull thru.

Grind off the excess wire and solder at the big hole end and you are good to go until the wire fatigues through again right upstream from the cylinder.

You do realize that JB Weld epoxy can do the wire support trick about as good as solder can do, but it takes a lot longer to set up and harden and you HAVE to get the wire clean to get it to stick right?


Trick/Tip:

The outer cable can have the ferrule pulled off with a pair of pliers and the outer shell shortened enough to make the protruding "free wire" equal to what it was originally.  Don't forget to put the ferrule back on, of course.

Get your digital camera out and take pictures of you doing the dirty deed.  Post it in the tech section along with all the little extra things you figure out while you are doing it.

A new cable costs what, $20 now days?  What, even more?  

If you have a drill press and a table vise you can drill out the existing zinc cylinder fitting and not even have to make you up a new cylinder.

It takes an hour or so of fiddle time, but you already own all the bits and pieces you need to do the job so your net out of pocket cost is zero dollars.

<Hee hee>  Give the "idea credit" to Master Yoda, the old skinflint taught me the trick a long time ago in a distant galaxy far far away.

Boule'tard  

Have you considered the seafoam and klotz sewing machine oil thing, like for the clutch cable?

Boule’tard wrote on 12/24/09 at 09:38:22:


Motion Pro Custom Cables

Oops!

Good catch!  I fixed the link in my post.

I'm an idiot!