Can I cut my brake, shifting cable and the housing with one of these? I need to replace my cable and want to find a cheap cutter.
by Mediocre-Voice-6758
Can I cut my brake, shifting cable and the housing with one of these? I need to replace my cable and want to find a cheap cutter.
by Mediocre-Voice-6758
20 Comments
Yeah looks like it. You ideally want something that is meant for cutting stainless
These should work great. One cutter can do all of these tasks.
This type is usually made for copper wires and will not be happy cutting steel.
They’re decent; I have a pair of Tsunoda cutters in my travel bag. At home I prefer a Dremel cutoff wheel for housing.
theyre okay-ish.
however if you have housings like Jagwire LEX-SL n KEB-SL (pro line), the cut may not be satisfactory clean
No, get a proper wire cutter. Buy your tools once.
In my experience (which doesn’t say a whole lot) cheap cutters are expensive cutters. I used to buy cheapo ones bc I thought that would be more affordable. 3 Chinesium cutters later I bought a set of Park-tool ones on discount because I couldn’t stand all the imperfections anymore especially broken or dull cutter blades. It has been with me ever since and I never want back, it’s a real investment for your projects and down the line cheaper.
As long as it’s not yours sure.
If there’s one nea, go to hardware or farming supply store and get yourself a mini bolt cutters(~8 inch), costs about 15 bucks. I do electric and barbed wire fencing on the farm and it’s great for making clean end cuts on 12 gauge wire but also very clean cuts on thinner gauge wire.
You will get a much cleaner cut using a cutting wheel on a dremel. The dremel also has other uses too.
cheap tools, cheap results.
A Park Tool CN-10 is ~$40. Is it really that much in savings long term?
If I were you I’d buy Irwin ones, they’re not much more expensive but the metal is a lot better
Honestly, I have a mix of nice ( Park Tool, Wera, etc. ) and inherited a ton of nice general mechaninc / electrical tool from my dad & grandfathers, but I still use the cheap-ass set of bike cable cutters I got off Amazon because they are purpose-made and they work ( and haven’t exploded yet. ) I’ll dig out a link and comment in a minute. I figured worst case it was $8 wasted, but they’ve actually been surprisingly good.
Just get the Pedros cable cutter — $25 on ebay. There’s a decent chance this one is fine, but for a few bucks more get something you’ll only have to buy once.
It will be ok, I’ve done it with a similiar tool, but doing it with an angle grinder resulted in cleaner cut, if you have one at reach, might just do it that way.
Once you get a proper pair of cable cutters, only thing you wanna do is cut some cables. I have a X-tools one, its a sweet piece. Park is probably even better. Linear cable housings can be cut without the need of excess trimming with inner cable inserted. You will need power though. But its not a problem because once you get a sweet pair of cutters you gonna be cutting… all day long.
I have a very similar one. Works great.
Bike Hand cable cutters are the go to cheap cutter IMO. Like 15 bucks.
I’ve bought loads of cutters over the years, trying to find the best type as I do hundreds of brake and gear services a year.
My favourite and best pair is a super cheapo set from a company called tolsen! Honestly the best I’ve had. Cut inner and outer cable with ease
If you’re not doing it often, and already own one, a Dremel cutoff wheel works great, both housing and cable. Just takes more time, may need to pick liner open – but good practice with cutters anyway.