Building a T568B Network Cable Examples of good and bad cables Identification of components Critical areas of cable

Cable & Connectors UTP (unshielded twisted pair) STP (shielded twisted pair) Plenum rated jacket Solid versus Stranded wire Cable ratings or Categories RJ45 connectors

Tools Modular Plug Crimp Tool Universal UTP Stripping Tool

Color Code Standards 568B most common standard

Lets Build A Cable Using stripping tool cut approximately half an inch of insulation off the end of the cable. Caution: Be careful not to nick the wires.

Straighten Wires Untwist the pairs and arrange the wires in the order of the desired cable end. Flatten the end between your thumb and forefinger. Trim the ends of the wires so they are even with one another. Attention: It is very important that the unstripped (untwisted) end be slightly less than 1/2" long.

Attach RJ-45 Plug Hold the RJ-45 plug with the clip facing down or away from you. Push the wire firmly into the plug. Now, inspect it before crimping and wasting the plug! The wires should alternate light and dark from left to right. The furthest right wire is brown. The wires should all end evenly at the front of the plug.

Crimp RJ-45 Connector Hold the wire near the RJ-45 plug with the clip down and firmly push it into the left side of the front of the crimper (it will only go in one way). Hold the wire in place squeeze the crimper handles quite firmly.

About Crimping The crimper pushes two plungers down on the RJ-45 plug. One forces what amounts to a cleverly designed plastic plug/wedge onto the cable jacket and very firmly clinches it. The other seats the "pins," each with two teeth at its end, through the insulation and into the conductors of their respective wires.

What Now? Congratulations! You are halfway there. Now do the other end of the cable. When you are finished you can test your cable.

Testing Plug the ends of the cable you made into the openings on the cable tester.Turn unit on and observe readings. Many testers are available and will vary in the testing methods and ways in which to display results.

Cable Grading Rubric Description of taskPoints (1-4) Indicate which cabling pin out standard (T568A, T568B, or USO) you used. Did the student use Safe handling procedures while building cable? Did the student use the correct equipment and materials for building the cable? Use a cable tester to test & verify that the cable is functional. Are the wires in the correct positions on pins 1 through 8 per standard indicated? Does the cable have the proper strain relief? Total points

Grade Total points possible points or more = A 18 points or more = B15 points or more = C 12 points or more = D Less than 12 points = redo lab procedure(s) and retest.