I must admit right away that I am not a specialist in twisted pair crimping, and I do not have much experience in this matter, but I still know and can do something. More than once I had to make a network cable myself, and I even bought special tongs. In fact, this is not difficult. Anyone can properly compress the twisted pair. True, for this it is desirable to have a special tool - a crimper. And here there are already small problems. Most likely, you need to make a network cable of the required length once, and buying a crimper for this is not very correct. You will use it once, and most likely it will no longer be useful to you. And it costs not a penny. There is an option to crimp the network cable without a special tool. For example, using a screwdriver. This is not very correct, but quite real. As an option for making a cable at home, it may well be. I wrote about this in the article: how to crimp a network cable without a tool (with a screwdriver). And in this tutorial I will show you how to do everything using this very special tool.
As for the twisted pair cable itself, I talked about it in more detail in the article: twisted pair: what is it? Schemes and methods of crimping twisted pair. As you probably already understood from the title of the article, there I also wrote about the schemes by which you can make a network cable. It all depends on the purpose for which you need the cable. We will return to this issue when we move on directly to the manufacture of the cable.
What is needed to make a network cable?
Let's take a look at what materials and tools we need.
We figured out a set of materials and tools. Let's now select the scheme according to which we will crimp the network cable. This is a very important point.
Choosing a twisted pair crimping scheme
There are two schemes by which you can make a network cable. Let's find out which method is right for you.
I'm pretty sure you want a regular straight-through cable. With which you can connect your computer, TV, game console to the router. Or, for example, connect two routers together.
Crimping the network cable (twisted pair) with a crimper
We figured out all the nuances, it's time to move on to the most interesting. I will describe everything step by step, and of course show it in the photo.
1We need to strip the top insulation from the cable. To do this, insert the cable into a special hole on the crimper, and cut off the insulation in a circular motion.
It will turn out like this:
After crimping:
We crimp the other end of the cable in the same way. Our cable is ready, you can check it.
I connected my laptop to the router using this cable, and it worked. Maybe I did not perform the twisted pair crimping perfectly, for this, of course, you need to practice, but everything worked out for me. And this means that you will succeed.
Without a special tool, a crimper, it is certainly more difficult to crimp a network cable. The only difference is that after stripping, aligning, and installing the cable in the connector, you need to push through each contact on the connector with something sharp (for example, a screwdriver).
If you still have questions about some points, then ask them in the comments.
