How to Make a Network Cable

1. 1
   Remove about 1½" (40mm) of the outer cable jacket. Be careful when stripping the jacket not to nick or cut the internal wiring or its insulation. One good way to do this is to cut lengthwise with snips. Alternatively, cut with a small knife along the side of the cable, away from the wires that are bundled inside and away from yourself. Make the cut about 1½" (40mm) long.

   • Locate the rip string bundled inside and unzip the cable jacket by holding the jacket in one hand and pulling sideways with the string. If no string is inside, use the wires themselves to unzip the jacket.
   • Cut away the unzipped jacket and trim the twisted pairs to about 1¼" (30mm). You will see 8 wires twisted in 4 pairs. Each pair will have one wire of a certain color and another wire that is white with a stripe of matching color.
     • Twisting the wire pairs minimizes interference and crosstalk while allowing the cable to be traced. Therefore, each pair should be left twisted along as much length as is practicable.
2. 2
   Inspect the newly revealed wires for any cuts or scrapes that expose the copper wire inside. Look carefully. If you have breached the protective insulation of any wire, you will need to cut the entire segment of wires off and start over. Exposed copper wire will lead to cross-talk, poor performance, and, potentially, to no connectivity at all. It is critical that the insulation for each individual wire remains intact and unscathed .
3. 3
   Untwist enough of the exposed wire pairs so they can lay flat between your fingers. The white piece of rip thread can be cut off even with the jacket and disposed of.

   • For easier handling, further trim the wires so that they are ¾" (20mm) long and even. Their final length will be ½" (12.5mm) and you can trim the wires to this shorter length at this time as long as they are exactly even. The shorter lengths might be a little harder to manipulate, but they will be manageable.
4. 4
   Arrange the wires as specified by your standards diagram. There are two standards jointly set by the TIA and EIA– T-568A and T-568B. Which you use depends on what is being connected.

   • A straight-through cable with both ends configured to the T-568B standard is used to connect two dissimilar devices (e.g. a hub and a PC).
   • Two "like" devices normally require a cross-over cable with one configured as T-168A and the other as T-168B. ^[1]
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1. 1
   Work on each of the cable ends individually. One will be configured as T-168B and the other as T-168A.

   • For T-168B, put the wires in the following order from left to right:
     • white orange
     • orange
     • white green
     • blue
     • white blue
     • green
     • white brown
     • brown
   • For T-568A use (from left to right):
     • white green
     • green
     • white orange
     • blue
     • white blue
     • orange
     • white brown
     • brown
   • The corresponding pairings for a cross-over cable are 1-2-3-6/3-6-1-2.
2. 2
   Press all the wires flat and parallel between your thumb and forefinger. Verify the colors have remained in the correct order and, if you have not done so already, cut the wires even with one another so that they are ½" (12.5mm) long from the base of the jacket. Note that the jacket needs to go ⅛" (6mm) into the 8P8C (8 position; 8 contact) connector and the half-inch length of each wire is perfect for routing and seating the individual wires within the 8P8C connector, also referred to as a plug or jack.
3. 3
   Push the wires into the 8P8C plug with the flat surface of the plug on top. With the white/orange wire on the left (looking down at the flat surface of the plug), ensure that you keep the wires flat and in order as you insert the wires.

   • You may have to use moderate effort to push the pairs firmly into the plug.
   • You can tell if all the wires made it into the jack and have maintained their positions by looking head-on at the plug. You should be able to see a wire located in each hole, as seen at the bottom right.
   • The cable jacket should also go into the plug. It should go in about ⅛" (6 mm) and will help secure the cable once the plug is crimped. (You may need to stretch the sleeve slightly to achieve enough depth.)
4. 4
   Place the wired plug into the crimping tool. Verify that the sequence is still correct before crimping, then give the handle a firm squeeze. You should hear a ratcheting sound as you continue. Once you have completed the crimp, the handle will reset to the open position.

   • To ensure all pins are set, some individuals prefer to double crimp by repeating this step.
5. 5
   Repeat the steps starting with preparing the cable ends on the other end of the cable. The way you wire the other end (T-568A or T-568B) will depend on whether you're making a straight-through or cross-over cable.
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Some connectors come with small plastic frames into which all 8 wires can be inserted. Subsequently, the frame assembly is pushed into the connector and crimping is done. This makes it easier to be sure that the wires are in the right order and that they will make it all the way to the plug contacts.

1. 1
   Cut the wires at a 45-degree angle. This makes it easy to inserted the wires into the frame one by one. The wires go through the frame and emerge on the opposite side where they can be trimmed to all be equal in length.
2. 2
   Determine which of the four possible orientations of the frame is correct. Only one orientation results in a working plug. The image (above) shows the correct orientation of the frame for that connector.
3. 3
   Insert the frame into the connector and crimp using a ratcheting crimp tool.
4. 4
   Trim the wires and test the connection.
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