tool to ease RJ45 termination

There are AMP plugs that have a little retainer to keep the wires flat and in order when inserting. These are the only jacks that I am able to get to work. FWIW, I have the right AMP tool for these jacks. I'm compulsive about that kind of thing.

Graybar has them.

That being said, the answer to yor problem is that you should be buying your patch cables and for any cable too long for that, you should be using 110 sockets with commercial patch cords.

I rarely use my jack crimping tool.

snipped-for-privacy@sbcglobal.net wrote in part:

So don't! Crimping plugs is a lot harder than it looks, and pros just buy factory-made patchcords (where they probably use insertion duckbills like you suggest). There a many subtle things to go wrong, so newbies really should not attempt crimping.

-- Robert

Here's a good diagram of the plug I'm talking about;

If you should buy these (not recommended) there are seperate parts and part numbers for solid and stranded cable.

Oooh, an opinion piece. No.

If you are crimping for that extra professional job, why? Learn to use jacks and patch cords. And scissors and thumbs when you don't.

When you lay the cable out, leave a little extra, smooth the pairs out with your thumb, then trim the excess with your scissors. You now have 8 perfectly straight wires ready to be inserted into the plug.

I'm not even going into which plugs and crimp tool you should be using. You ought to guess why you don't want to use pliers and clothespins to squeeze the wire before you insert it into the plug.

Carl

Making patch cords takes lots of practice. Once you do a few hundred, you'll be dead used to it. :) But its tedious to make them. You do also have to have the correct cabling (stranded) and ends.

But, the best way to do it is after stripping the jacket back about

2", unwind the pairs. 2" will give you plenty to fiddle with it to make them lay perfectly flat and adjacent in the pinout you're using (probably 568B). I use cable cutters instead of sisscors, that are perfect for keeping all the wires in a line, and you trim them to length now. This action helps line up the cables, and having them all the same length is crucial for insertion.

Then insert into the jack. If you have them flat and all the same length, they usually go in smoothly as one bunch, and then you crimp. My cables pass certification every time, but then again, I've done it a long time, and I've made *many* patch cables.

If you want to really learn it, be prepared to make many duds until you can do it. If not, then just buy them, you can get patch cords pretty cheaply everywhere.

For the amateur there is a brand of RJ45 connector that has an open end, which allows the wires to stick out the front and then be trimmed back after insertion. There is a special crimper that has a built in blade for cutting the excess wire as it crimps, but I find it easier to cut them with flush cutters, due to the fact that the crimp tool tends to bend the wires, or not cut them flush, so you'd have to go back and trim them anyway.