veganbikes

It is the Effetto Mariposa Guiztaforza 2-16 Pro if I am not mistaken. I have the Anniversary version of it with a hard case and it is a nice wrench, easy to use but I don't like their longer bits personally they feel a bit wobbly but that isn't inherent to their system whenever you add in bits on top of bits it can be a bit wonky. I may end up with a different bit set which I am planning on anyway and I may look at a different case or use some Kaizen foam (or similar) only to take a smaller foot print in Big Blue

I think I want to go digital though if I decide to change, having used the Snap-On digital wrench I like it a lot and it would better allow me to get to 6.6nm and odd stuff like that.


In terms of current cable housing cutters I use the Jagwire cutter and am looking at probably at some Knipex cutters or maybe Felco but the Jagwire cutter is nice it has an awl at the end to open things back up and has worked pretty well the past couple years I have owned it.

elcraft

I use a Parks cutter for the housings and my new $10 single speed Harbor Freight Dremel knock off, w/ enclosed fiber cut off discs, to dress the ends of the housings dead flat. I make the bend and then trim the cable ends flat. This way, there is no play or cable bedding that affects index shifting.
https://www.harborfreight.com/Rotary...4aAmhaEALw_wcB
This HF tool is now part of my cabling tool kit- although not as beautifully kitted up.....

cxwrench

No matter what you do the wires of the shift housing will start poking out...hence my feeling it is a waste of time to do anything more than cut as square as I can.

SalsaShark

I cut with Park cable cutters, then finish it off on the disc wheel of a belt sander making sure the end is flush and squared nicely. A couple quick jolts into the disc will square off the end smoothly, without melting the outer jacket. Once cut and squared, an awl to open up the center can be used before installing end caps.

Numerozero

For brake housing. $25 CAD ($19 USD). Saves my wrists, no need to eyeball angle, get perfect 90 degree cuts every time. Faster and better end product. Already had the grinder. For shift housing: Knipex

CyclingFool95 

I use Park cutters but I'm just as likely to use 10" Linesman's Pliers. Cleanup with a screwdriver, mini needlenose pliers, whatever is handy.

Eric S.

I've had the nice Park cutters for years but I really don't think they are much better than a basic pair of snips. I've never owned a Dremel or similar tool to use a cutting wheel but that's the way to go if a person is going to obsess over cutting housing.

One thing I did for awhile was to save old cables and insert them in the housing to prevent crushing when applying the pressure to make the cut.

canklecat

Jagwire cutters, which have an awl in the end of one grip for de-ovalizing the freshly cut housing. And I'll touch up the ends with jeweler's files to deburr and flatten 'em a bit. I'm a klutz with moto tools and break the cutting wheels every dang time, so I only use the grinder bits occasionally. The hand files are quicker, mostly because the moto tool is buried in the closet to keep it safe from klutzes.

Reynolds 

PRO cutter, fine grain bench grinder, awl. All in less than 1 minute.

elcraft

That’s why I prefer the steel ferrules for shift cable housings. The wires don’t poke through if the housing is contoured to its final curvature and the the ends are trimmed flat. The plastic ferrules are unreliable for shift cable housings.

ARider2

I use the Park cable cutter to cut brake and shifter cable housing. For brake housing I check to make sure the cut is good and if not I cut off about 1/4 inch off the end and check again. Usually the cut is fine on the first try but sometimes I have to take a second cut. At that point I use an awl to open the end and change it from oval to round. Shifter housing almost always cuts nicely and then I use an awl to open up the lining and make it round.

cxwrench

You should probably let Shimano know about that right away, they've been doing it wrong for years.

JohnDThompson 

Yes, they have, and not for the first time. Remember those pathetic plastic spring shrouds on their V-brakes? Reps used to carry a pocketful of them whenever they visited bike shops because they'd inevitably be assailed by shop owners and mechanics complaining about their unfixable v-brakes.

Just another example of where the bean-counters over-ruled the engineers.

aggiegrads

Do you mean the Altus CT-90 cantilevers? Those were awful, and it was surprising how long it took Shimano to come out with the CT-91. And they never offered the CT91 shroud as a spare.

coopman

I used a pair of heavy duty tin snips. Worked fine for my purposes. They also cut the brake cable cleanly.

sabele

Park or Shimano cable cutter with a small piece of cable in the housing to maintain the shape during the cut.

sabele

The most critical part of cutting the housing is to maintain the housing shape at the cut. No one has mentioned cutting the housing with a piece of cable inserted. I usually measure everything, dry fit with cable in the housing, pull the cable back to a point that results in extra cable when assembled (ie one inch of cable beyond the cut point before cutting), and then cut the housing with cable cutters. No need for side grinders, or other electrical/mechanical contraptions. No fuss no muss.

glassman83

At our local Co-op, every bench has a pair of Jagwire WST 028 cutters. Many of us use the Harbor Freight (Pittsburgh) O Ring hook & scribe tool to open up the housing's plastic liner before capping w/ ferrule & inserting the new cable. On occasion, we'll need to trim the brake housing with a bench grinder to remove any burrs. The main thing is to not have a burr rub the new cable. A little shot of grease never hurts, even on a lined housing, especially when the cable is routed upwards to a brake assembly, gravity will ensure that rain will get inside the housing and oxidize a cable if it's not stainless, even worse if the housing isn't lined. We generally re-route those cables to face down. Great question and we hope we helped!

glassman83

Great tip, thanks for sharing!

JohnDThompson 

Apparently it took a while for them to learn from the CT-90 debacle, because they later released a linear-pull (aka "v-brake") with a similar plastic shroud.

cxwrench

Uhmmmm, I was joking. I rarely have issues w/ plastic ferrules and they don't get noisy when the housing compresses.

Roychol

Exactly the same for me.

drlogik 

When I worked in shops as a young man I used an old pair of VAR cables cutters (still have them) and then file the end flat and ensure there are no burrs to fray/wear the cable. I would wiggle the cable cutter jaws a bit to get them to fit in-between the housing coils while squeezing and then clip. That cuts down on the crushing of the housing.

Another trick is to stick a waste piece of cable in the end then cut the cable and the housing. This prevents crushing but you still need to burr-check.

JohnDThompson 

In a similar vein, you can bend the housing into a loop before you cut, to allow the coil to open slightly as the cutter slices the housing cover. This helps the cutter blades slip between loops of the housing to cut without creating a burr.

comfort rider

I'm concerned that a bench grinder will send some finely ground debris down into the cable housing.