Easiest way to crimp and cut RJ45 connectors

It's been a while since the last post, but I thought I'd take a minute and show you guys how cool and easy making your next RJ45 connector is!

I got these new RJ45 connectors and wired them up to the 568B standard and then I crimped and cut the connector at the same time! Easy, here it is.


Not only was crimping and cutting the connector awesome but how it cut the conductors clean off the connector, nice. I've heard of other tools that say they do this but they suck. They suck because they don't cut the copper conductors all the way and don't cut the conductor off clean on the RJ45 plug.

We had a customer ask us about the Shielded plug and I said, let's check that one out.



As you can tell the shielded plug is quality and the termination process is the same. For more spec sheets and to order online visit Discount-Low-Voltage.com

What is and How to calculate minimum cable bend radius

Minimum bend radius is the smallest allowed radius the cable is allowed to be bent around. While cabling, these cables are bent in many different directions when going through conduits and when pulling around a sheave.

Cables are composed of different components and if bent too far you may put too much stress on those components to the point of damaging them. For example, a 6 strand indoor fiber optic cable if pulled too hard around a tight 90 may appear to be fine once the cable pull is finished. Unfortunately, what commonly happens is the stress around that 90 caused the individual strands to break under the jacket.

To prevent this kind of damage, cable standards such as The National Electric Code (NEC) and the Insulated Cable Engineers Association (ICEA) formed requirements for minimum bend radius.

   How to Calculate Minimum Bend Radius

The figure above shows a cable with an outer diameter of 2 inches being bent around a radius of 12 inches. The minimum bend radius is based on the diameter of the cable and the type of cable. The following formula is used.

Minimum Bend Radius = Cable Outer Diameter x Cable Multiplier

Cable multipliers are determined by industry standards and vary from cable to cable. When purchasing a cable check the spec sheet, many manufactures have the minimum bend radius provided to you for each cable part number.

Armored Fiber Optic Cable Interlocking or loose tube?

Over the past few years I've received many phone calls about a need for an armored fiber optic cable. Most of the time people want an outdoor armored cable but there's also an indoor version. In one of our recent videos we compare the two.



I also want to mention that if your going to be terminating your own fiber cable remember, indoor interlocking fiber has a 900 size buffer, the loose tube has a smaller size 250. Let's check out the difference.



I think the reason why the loose tube is smaller is that it benefits the manufactures in the making of these cables. The smaller size allows for an overall smaller diameter of the tube inside the cable, this goes a long way in higher strand count cables, especially considering you only get 12 strands of fiber per tube. If you are going to terminate a "loose tube" fiber cable don't forget you need fan out kits.

What you do with a fan out kit is you slide the 250 size inside the fan out kit, the fan out kit builds your 250 size to a 900 and also adds strength and durability to that 250 size. Depending on what brand of connectors you decide to use when terminating you might have to build your cable to the 900 size to properly terminate your fiber cable.

I hope you've enjoyed this read, now do me a favor and share, like this post and follow me on Google plus.

Later skater!

"By Mercy Salinas"

Scary Network Wiring Nightmares!!!

So it's been a little while since I've done a blog post, I'll get back into it. If you haven't subscribed to our YouTube Channel do it now for all kinds of cool videos, like this one!

Video editing furniture desk and LAN station overview

LAN stations have been around forever, but I don't remember feeling a boom in demand for them until the late 90's during the dot com bubble.

LAN Station furniture has recently been more popular with video editing companies for their control room needs so depending on what your needs are you'll find many different types of possible set ups that may suit you best. Let's check out a couple.

If your set up is not complex you might want to consider a 24 inch station. The lower shelf is 14 inches deep and is great for shallow components and allowing you room to stretch your legs. The two 16 inch shelf's above can be adjusted in different increments. Includes a built-in cable management channel keeping your communication and power cables organized. With it's 1000 pound weight rating this will be a station that will last, a lifetime! There is a lifetime warranty, so you'll have something to pound on for a while. You may also want to consider some accessories that'll make life easier. I'd start with casters, keyboard tray, LCD mount and maybe a utility drawer.

Maybe you need to make the most out of the space you have at your location and you have multiple monitors you work with. You might want to consider a corner station, shove it in the corner of your location and you should have enough room for about 3 monitors.

Or, your in charge of a team of people and need to provide an organized solution for multiple work stations. You might want to consider a 96 inch station, this larger station also provides larger lower and top shelf's and is completely modular.

I just want to highlight a couple of options for you and hopefully you can find something that will fit your need best. For me I especially like the cable management, it drives me crazy when all those cables get messy and I have to have casters to easily get behind my equipment. Example.

Share if you care. Thanks!

"By Mercy Salinas"