I'm new at networking and I want to start making my own network wires/cables for my office. I ordered this crimping tool from www.lducompany.com (crimper should be here in a few days) and I wanted to learn if there are any other kinds of network cat5 wire crimping tools out there that would work better? http://www.liangdianup.com/inventory/459901.htm is the location for the crimp plires on thier website, those are the ones that I bought. Funny that it says Germany on the handle of the plires but I would gues they are made in China since the company I bought them from is in China. If you know of a name of a certin cat 5 wire crimper that would be better for me to use then please post it here. Thank you
Hi, and welcome to the forums. The crimper you have ordered may work just fine. If you find it lacking, people have good things to say about this one: http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/001762.php.
Ken,
The one you posted is a great tool, when purchased with the proper connectors. The tool is really just an average tool if you use standard RJ-45 connectors. If you use their connectors, the cutter on the end can be very nice.
The only problem that I had with this tool is that the blade eventually wears out and stops cutting all the way. I think I went through 2 or 3 within a year. Oh and the connectors are kind of expensive too.
Interesting that you want to make your own. Is there a particular reason why it is easier for you to make your own then to buy they. I do realize that often times they can be pricey, but curious in knowing the other benefits of making them your self.
One reason to make your own cables is that you can make them exactly the length you want. A growing problem with high density cabling is management of slack loops.
Another reason is sometimes it's faster to just place a new termination on the end rather than running a whole new cable. I custom terminate basically everything from copper, coax, to fiber in my data center. It helps to create a cleaner looking environment because you won't have spaghetti slack loop every where, and because of our topology a horizontal run can be as long as 280'.
If a cable fails sometimes it's because of a faulty termination and it's easier to just spend 5 minutes terminating new ends, and certifying the cable using a cable certifier, rather than spending what could be hours to run a whole new cable.
Oh, and might I add it's more cost efficient. It's cheaper when you do them in bulk. I probably save about 30% in cable cost when I take the time to terminate my own bulk pulls. The total saves is about 15% once I factor out man hours.
Heres what I think about custom cables vs. premade cables.
I am a firm believer in cable management; as discussed so many times in my threads. I believe in making cables that fit like a glove. While it totally makes sense to do bulk cabling manually, I sometimes feel that it can be more beneficial, time wise, to use a premade cable that is sized properly for one or two off installs. Obviously, you cannot always expect a cable to always fit like a glove, but sometimes I do get lucky. I just cabled a rack a little bit ago where we only had premade cables available but the cables actually happened to fit like a glove going in to the patch panel.
That being said, I do not prefer using premade cabling in horizontal runs that go through a tray between cabinets. I will only ever consider using a premade cable where it is from server to switch that is located in a cabinet or server to patch panel that is located in a cabinet.
Also, for some reason, the wire that they use inside of a premade cable is close to impossible to reterimate! It takes me more time trying to customize a premade cable than it does to make a new one. I also do not believe in using super cheap premade cables. I prefer stiffer cables when cabling a rack. That is primarily so that the cable does not sag when it comes from the side of the cabinet to the NIC on the servers. 90 degree angles with a proper bend is the only way to go for me!
I agree 100% with everything you said especially about the firmness of the cables. I can't stand the copper that's not firm because they are tougher to reterminate. I generally prefer solid core over stranded copper for this very reason.
And it is easier to order premades for bulk pulls, but I find myself terminating the ends anyway to length because excess creates more problems than anything else. I do generally leave about 1' foot of slack and create a slack loop somewhere under the floor in case there's a moment where I need a little extra because we can reuse that cable for a nearby system if needed.
Good tool, bad tool
