how to crimp

[mikejae]

I am going to wire a room in my house for the home network and thinking about buying cat5 wire from homedepot and crimping it myself. Is the 30 dollar crimping tool really necessary or is there an alternative. Before I tried a wrench to squeeze the metal connectors in but they did not go in far enough so i ended up buying premade wire.

 

[sharkbitz]

You may want to consider wall jacks, which you can do with a cheap plastic punchdown tool. That way, all you need are standard patch cables. And for your wiring closet, get yourself a patch panel. It is cheaper to use crimps though, but a lot more professional to terminate all the wires with a patch panel and wallplates/jacks.

 

[todays]

And yes the tool is needed if you wan't to put RJ45 on the end of the wire. If you just wan't a cheap one go here Pc Cables
They also have patch panels and such pretty cheap.

 

[mofo888]

Just grab a crimp tool, the basic model are pretty inexpensive and they
can be pretty useful down the road. You can make cables in any length
to your heart's desire and not be limited by stupid retail stores.

If you are cheapo and use the screw-driver/pliers method, your cables
will not be 100% and if one connection is not done correctly, you will
end up WASTING a lot of time trouble-shooting!

 

[NOC9006]

I would suggest going to cablesnmor.com and picking up yourself a cheap crimper and some connectors and making your own cables and learning while you do it. I would also suggest using the wall jacks to make a nice professional job. Read up on how to make straight through and cross over cables to make sure you do it right. You can also visit cisco.com and check out some of the documents on cables and such.

Here are some links:

Cablesnmor

How to make cables (pinouts)