This is kind of more toward construction and less toward the electronics side of my project, but I was wondering if anyone had a way to connect steel rope cables in a clean and effective manner, say, to an extension spring. The original plan was to make a loop and use a ferrule; however, 1/16" cable rope is too thick for my project. Because of this, I got a much thinner rope cable (~0.018"), which may actually be a bit too thin, but around what I'm looking for. However, there seem to be no ferrules for cable thinner than 1/16"!
I can't really seem to think of any way besides bluntly epoxying the spring and the cable together or something. That'd be very messy, kind of ugly, and maybe not even that practical. Does anyone have any other ideas? I could try to tie the cable to the spring as well, but I guess that's more of a last-resort. I think I saw a way to secure rope cable with screws screwed into a solid material like plastic or something? It wasn't very clear but it looked very clean; if this is possible, that would be sufficient as well.
Do you mean sort of like creating a loop through the wire itself? If so, I don't know if that would work considering how thin the wire is (reminds me of angel hair pasta).
As for the chocolate-block connectors, I think that it would be a bit bulky for my project (which may seem weird, but yeah). However, I might be able to use that same concept if I can figure out how to design and incorporate clamping the wire with the screw in an effective manner. I also need to go find myself some smaller screws that would be able to hold the wire down too. Time to hunt on amazon.
Edit: The concept that I mentioned I think will work for the other connections that I need for the cables in my project. I guess I will be tying the wire around the base of the screw and then clamping them down tight. The only thing now is pretty much how I will connect the cable to the spring/motor I will be using in a non-messy way.
There is a technique used for splicing loops in the end of ropes and cables which would produce a very strong and compact join, although it might be fiddly to do on a cable as fine as you're describing.
I'd use an uninsulated electrical butt connector, properly crimped, then filled with a good solder. Depending on your skill level, it could even be brazed for a better mechanical strength, but I suspect there won't be much of a load on it with that small of a rope.
You said, earlier, you can't get small ferrules. I just remembered you can buy thin brass tubing in a range of small sizes in many model shops or model engineering supplies. Just make your own ferrules.
