Cat-5 : Tools, Parts, Supplies

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Cable

Here's a 1000' box of Cat-5:
[Image: Big box of wire]

Obey the warning on the box to keep it right side up. Don't open the box or try stuffing cable back in unless you wish to spend a while re coiling cable. (this is especially hard when the box is mostly full.) The box was roughly $100, or 10c a foot. Plenum cable means it can be installed in ducts. (I don't think this is plenum cable shown).
Plenum or not, as you might be able to tell from the picture, this cable is somewhat firm, which is due to it's tough outer sheath. This is excellent for running wire because it is smooth and durable, however as exposed cable it does not do as well as commercial prebuilt cables. Those cables are flexible because they use stranded copper wire as opposed to the solid pictured here. Stranded cable, however, usually cannot be used in either punchdowns or standard crimp-on connectors.

Parts, other hardware

Top

"Keeper" (clear plastic thing on far left)

Cat-5 Keystone Jack - about $5

Blank keystone

BNC keystone - just here as an example of the other possibilities for keystones.

Bottom

Four-position keystone plate. About $3/

These are available in 1, 2, 4, and 6 (at least) jack capacities. Some of them come with labels and stickers for identifying your ports.

A word about brand names - I have had mixed success using parts from different manufacturers. It's best to stick with one! The keystone above is UNICOM (which most of my cat-5 jacks are), and the plate pictured is from Global Data Systems (http://www.gds.to/). While they technically work, I had a hard time removing the keystone once installed.

Tools

Now the fun part!!! The tools you get to use.
[Image: punchdown and crimp tools]

From top to bottom:

110 type Punchdown Tool

This is required for connecting the Cat-5 cable into the Keystone wall outlet jacks. It is also used to punch down wires onto 'Punchdown boards', terminals, or cable concentrators. It has a sharp point which cuts off excess wire leaving the edge of the connection neat.

Modular Crimper

Stripping of the outer sheath from the cable
Cutting the inner wires flush along a line
Crimping 6-pin ('regular telephone plug') RJ-45 connectors.
Crimping 8-pin (RJ-4_???) connectors - the kind that are used with Ethernet/10 and 100BaseT

66 type Punchdown Tool

This is the type of punchdown tool that is more commonly used with telephone-type punchdown blocks. Such blocks are not practical for Ethernet because they leave the wire untwisted for too long of a run. I show this tool here for comparisson.

These tools were approximately $20 each, give or take.

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srl@monkey.sbay.org - Steven R. Loomis November, 1998