Wire rope question

Yes. A pair of wire rope cutters. As said in another post, these are bypass type cutters. Any good marine store or marine supplier on the net (e.g., West Marine) has these for sale. 1/4" wire rope is about the limit.

No need for solder. Ever. Just the right cutters.

Boris

I have had this problem with cable as small as 1/8" and smaller. I do a lot of crimping on small size wire rope and have the crimper that looks like a bolt cutter with notches in the jaws. The hardware store has two sizes, one goes through 1/8" and the other goes up to 1/4" I have the small size, and both of them have a special cutter built into the crimper. It looks like a hook and a flat jaw that shears the strands while supporting them with 1/8" thick steel. I have used diagonal wire cutters, tin snips, even hacksaw blades but they always screw everything up. The cutter is the only way to do it that I have found.

I have been cutting a lot of it lately. Seriously expensive 316 ($3/foot) stainless that has to fit into outrageously expensive ($35-$50 each) Norseman fittings. It has to be a clean cut or it will not fit and I only have about 2" of tolerance to work with.

I wrap 3 or 4 turns of regular masking tape over the cut area and use a fine tooth hack saw. Simple, works great and you probably already have the tools.

Hi Steve, For modestly sized wire rope, wrap it up tightly with electrical tape. Then get a sharp chisel and a BFH. The chisel will cut through cleanly and the tape will hold the individual strands.

Rob

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Rob Skinner La Habra, California

Well, Glen, if you'd used galvanised wire instead of s/steel, you'd have gotten a better structural material at a fraction of the cost. Yes I know, it's not 'yachty' and it's not all nice and shiny, but it *is* better wire, structurally. And this is r.c.m, not r.b.b.

I use a set of parrot beak cutters for small diameters, or a hydraulic cutter for big diameters.

PDW