The Glade 4.0

Today I started my home network project. I dropped 2 cables down from my attic into my bedroom and I set up a patch panel in my closet. I'm going to wire the other bedrooms next weekend. I've got 500ft of cat5e cable, and I've used about 90ft so far, so I've started making some patch cables.

Holy crap that's a pain in the butt. Punching down keystone jacks and patch panels is so easy, and crimping modular connectors is torture in comparison. Trying to get all the leads straightened while keeping them in order and trying to make sure that the modular plug is snug is a lot of tedious tiresome work.

Does anyone with a lot of experience making cables have any tips to make this go faster? It takes me about 15-20 minutes to make a cable, and sometimes the cable doesn't even work. Are there any tools or devices that help? All I'm using is a pair of wire cutters and a basic crimping tool.

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My best advice is to strip a bit more than you need (I usually strip an inch or so back), and make sure the component wires are straight (this is best accomplished by holding 1-3 of them between your finger and thumb, and then bending them back as you pull the wires through your grip, so they curl around one of your fingers. As they curl, they'll lose some of the tight twisting. Repeat once or twice, and they'll be nice and straight).

Then, bend them back towards perpendicular with the cable itself, creating a radial star pattern. At this point, if you've got Cat 6, you should clip off the center pair separator as close to the bend-back as you can without damaging the insulation on the leads. Orient the cable so as many wires are in order as possible, subtracting a half twist from pairs if necessary to put the solid one on the same side all around.

Put them in order, parallel to the cable now, and laying in contact with neighbor wires as close down to the plenum as you can. Hold them flat and in place with one hand, then grab a plug end to measure length -- you want the clamp part of the end to be clamping on the jacket, but near the end of the jacket. Mark the butt end of the plug with the thumbnail or fingernail of the hand holding the leads in order, and swap the plug end out for your wire cutters to trim to a flat end at your marking thumbnail.

Then, as you slide the plug end over the leads, point them slightly towards the flat plastic inside the plug. Applying just a little pressure against the top/bottom wall of the plug to keep the leads from switching order, push the plug on, and watch the leads to make sure they're not crossing over each other as they hit the grooves that hold them in place inside the plug -- the plugs are clear for a reason!

When you think you've got it snugly on all the way, look in from both sides to ensure the bluntly trimmed leads are making contact with the "front" of the plug. Insert into crimpers and crimp firmly.

I think I make a bad end on maybe one of 20 cables with that method and patience. As you get used to the motions and such, speed will come naturally with practice. But attention to detail doesn't come naturally if you're not deliberate about explicitly doing it, and you'll make a bunch of bad cables.

TL;DR:

The most important steps in there for consistency in cable integrity are: the part where you straighten out the leads (if you don't, they're more prone to skipping over each other as you insert them into the plug end), the little bit of pressure against the top/bottom wall of the plug end as you slide them in, stripping farther than you needed so you can clip them off bluntly at the proper length (rather than ending up with a short lead or two), and crimping all the way.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Its not fun. I got down to about 5 minutes per cable when I was doing it, but it really isnt much fun.

The RJ45 connectors themselves make a huge difference, there are several styles out there, and the ends insert a little differently with them.

The type of cabling makes a difference too. some brands of cable have very poor color-coding (ie a brown/white stripe its nearly indistinguishable from just plain brown or white/blue) If you're having trouble, next time chose another cable brand.

I can whip them out pretty fast once I get a rhythm going.

Not knowing how you are going about it now, the only suggestion I might offer is to cut the leads about 1/2" long, get them lined up, then cut them to length. Make a mark on the edge of a desktop or something so you can cut the length right each time (until you can do it 2nd nature).

Honestly though, the best advice I can give (albeit a little too late) is to not bother. Pre-made cables are just about as cheap, are more reliable, and are available in sufficient varieties of length that you can pretty much meet any needs.

The only time I crimp cables any more is if I need a one off for something (i.e. a non-standard pinout for some wonky terminal server we are testing).

Here's a pro-tip for making your own cables. Actually 2.

Get a cable tester. It's worth it if you're going to make more custom cables.

Do NOT get CAT6 tips, they will drive you insane. CAT5 and CAT6 tips are the same pinout, but where CAT5 is flat and fairly easy, CAT6 is staggered.

I can crank out custom cables pretty quick, but I'm out of practice. Make sure that you use a standard, makes it easier, make sure you trim the wires straight so they slip in easier.

As far as the time issue, If you are going to do a lot of them concider getting a specialized stripping tool. I'd take a picture of mine but it is too late. You can strip all four pairs at once that way. Strip them long and trim to length using a flat blade (there is probably one on your modular crimper. You should be able to do this while holding the untwisted pairs in order between you thumb and forefinger. If it's a skill you want to have practice practice practice

If you don't ever plan to do this again once your pad is wired, I would recoomend just using punch panels and keystones the just using a stock patch cable to go from the jack to the device.

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I prefer to think of them as "Fighting evil in another dimension"

Why would you strip the pairs? When you crimp the end, the contacts tap in through the insulation...

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Honestly, I think the best thing is practice.

Biggest tip (already give, but again for re-inforcement) is getting all the wires straight and trimed to the right length.

It's a sucky job tho.