Tinning Flex Cables

[rayray9]

Forgive me for asking, acid core flux for tinning flex cables - not rosin?

[kfxguy]

Yes

[martin]

I know its not what you asked, flexes simply don't need soldering. Just put a nice bevel on the end & always rotate the flex clockwise (if its a single drive )when removing or fitting to stop the end catching or unwinding. Have not bothered soldering flex ends for years & never had problems.

[CraigP]

I made the mistake and soldered mine. I wished I hadn't done that. Makes it harder to get in and out. Make sure to spin the shaft CW when grinding too.

[kfxguy]

I believe in soldering when done right. It provides more grip for the collet. Let me elaborate on some things for you guys.

1) yes you can get away with not soldering. I feel like the inside and outside cables can move and distort the cable more on high power applications however. Especially is you don't know what your doing when you tighten it.
2) you have to realize there's a cable inside of a cable, so the squeezing of the outside cable is what clamps down on the inside cable. Not the strongest way to grip all the cables in my opinion.
3) soldering allows more grip. If you do it like I do (I'll elaborate on that in a sec) it fills the spaces in between the outer wires and joins the inner and outer cables for a better connection.

Can you get away with not soldering? Yes, sure you can. I take the extra step and time to do it on every build of mine whether it's my boat or a customer, to do it because I feel that it helps.

Here's my method:

Scuff the end of the cable (the amount your soldering) with rough sand paper. Doesn't matter the grit.
clean the end of the cable with brake parts cleaner or alcohol
Get yourself a microfiber cloth. Wet it and squeeze most of the water out but leave it pretty damp.
Acid core or silver bearing solder.
Small torch
Lay your rag out. Fold in half.
If you add in a drop of flux it makes the solder wick in faster and better.
Heat the tip of the flex up. Do heat it up much. Just enough to where the solder will melt into the flex without the heat on it
Rub a little solder across it. Rotate. Do the same until your area is covered. You should need to heat it up again real quick a couple times. When you have it covered you'll have excess solder. Heat it again and quickly run it through the wet rag. It will make the solder like very smooth, even and nice if you do it right. It will be chrome looking for a few seconds and then turns to a semi dull grey color that looks nice and neat. Once your happy with that, scuff the end up with rough paper again for better grip.

If you do this process correctly it will go in the collet with no problem. Your slippage issues will be non existent. I run some pretty high powered singles like this and never have cable slippage issues. Just be sure and clean the grease off the cable before it goes into the collet. I could make a short video on this if I didn't explain it well enough.

[Bp9145]

I believe in soldering when done right. It provides more grip for the collet. Let me elaborate on some things for you guys.

1) yes you can get away with not soldering. I feel like the inside and outside cables can move and distort the cable more on high power applications however. Especially is you don't know what your doing when you tighten it.
2) you have to realize there's a cable inside of a cable, so the squeezing of the outside cable is what clamps down on the inside cable. Not the strongest way to grip all the cables in my opinion.
3) soldering allows more grip. If you do it like I do (I'll elaborate on that in a sec) it fills the spaces in between the outer wires and joins the inner and outer cables for a better connection.

Can you get away with not soldering? Yes, sure you can. I take the extra step and time to do it on every build of mine whether it's my boat or a customer, to do it because I feel that it helps.

Here's my method:

Scuff the end of the cable (the amount your soldering) with rough sand paper. Doesn't matter the grit.
clean the end of the cable with brake parts cleaner or alcohol
Get yourself a microfiber cloth. Wet it and squeeze most of the water out but leave it pretty damp.
Acid core or silver bearing solder.
Small torch
Lay your rag out. Fold in half.
If you add in a drop of flux it makes the solder wick in faster and better.
Heat the tip of the flex up. Do heat it up much. Just enough to where the solder will melt into the flex without the heat on it
Rub a little solder across it. Rotate. Do the same until your area is covered. You should need to heat it up again real quick a couple times. When you have it covered you'll have excess solder. Heat it again and quickly run it through the wet rag. It will make the solder like very smooth, even and nice if you do it right. It will be chrome looking for a few seconds and then turns to a semi dull grey color that looks nice and neat. Once your happy with that, scuff the end up with rough paper again for better grip.

If you do this process correctly it will go in the collet with no problem. Your slippage issues will be non existent. I run some pretty high powered singles like this and never have cable slippage issues. Just be sure and clean the grease off the cable before it goes into the collet. I could make a short video on this if I didn't explain it well enough.

Thank you Travis, I was going to point out the advantages of why you should solder the end of the shaft. . .you covered it all. .to me it's an extra precaution that's worth the time.

[kfxguy]

Thank you Travis, I was going to point out the advantages of why you should solder the end of the shaft. . .you covered it all. .to me it's an extra precaution that's worth the time.

Honestly if I didn't feel it was worth the effort it would save me some time to not do it. I always like to save time, but in this case, for the boats I build, I feel it's necessary.