[ale] OT? - Cat5e crimping tool recommendations

[bluejay at speedfactory.net (Jim Seymour)]

On Tue, 2006-10-24 at 06:07 -0400, Mike Harrison wrote:

> 1. The good connectors have 3 prongs that straddle the wire when you crimp
>    down on them and cost just a tad more then those connector shaped 
>    objects with only two prongs that wiggle loose easily. Use only
>    the 3 prong connectors. For some reason, Graybar doesn't stock them 
>    locally, Shields does. 
> 
> 2. Your connectors and crimp tools -SHOULD- match. In real life they 
>    seldom do, but not all crimp tools dies (the part that holds the 
>    plug) and depth of crimp match. For some reason, I've got two AMP
>    semi-pro crimp tools that seem to work pretty well on all connectors,
>    but some crimp tools/dies don't press down far enough on some 
>    connectors, and I've had some dies not fit down the grooves
>    well on some connectors and smash them. You may want to make sure 
>    your tool works on those connectors if you can, when you buy them.
> 
> 3. Good wire helps, Belden, ComScope.. etc.. but you can often find 
>    good wire under other brand names cheaper. 
>    Bad wire sucks. Brittle, hard to strip.
>    I'm usually buying in bulk from Graybar or Shields and buy whatever 
>    they have on sale. (I have 6 1000ft boxes of Belden in the garage now..)
> 
> 4. Patch Cables. I rarely try to make my own anymore, again, Graybar
>    and such places sell them in bulk cheap enough to make grabbing what
>    you need more cost effective. And then you get those nice molded 
>    plugs and strain reliefs.. 
> 

Thanks James and Mike for your input. I feel a lot better about how I
need to proceed with this project.

Later,
-- 
Jim Seymour <bluejay at speedfactory.net>
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