Network cabling tools?

[BadMouth]

I usually just order cheap cables off ebay, but I have some amazon credit burning a hole in my pocket so I was looking at some of the cheap kits.
I want to make custom length cat5 cables to wire my house.  They will go through bulk cable pass-throughs in the rooms, so they'll just be regular cables with connectors on both ends.

I know a fair number of you guys do this kind of stuff for a living.
Any recommendations for the tools or cable?

[Malenko]

dont cheap out.  get a good quality crimper and punch down tool. Im at work so I cant tell you what brand I have :/

[JMB]

Do yourself a favor and get wall plate jacks for each end and terminate them and use patch cables rather than just terminating each end of your run like a giant patch cable.   Klein and Ideal are on the lowish end of the price spectrum without being Harbor Freight quality.  Will meet your needs.

[gamepimp]

I had CAT-5 cable run all throughout the main floor of my house when it was being built. My buddy loaned me his crimper tool so I could terminate the ends with RJ45 connectors. It's called the EZ-RJ45 Crimp Tool made by Platinum Tools. This was my first attempt at doing this, and I can't imagine it being much easier. The individual wires are pushed thru the connector and actually poke out the other end. When you crimp the connector, there's a little blade on the tool that shears off the pieces that are sticking out the side opposite of where the wire goes in. If you go on YouTube, you can see a video of how it's used. I bought some CAT-6 to wire up my basement once I'm ready to finish it. My buddy didn't have the EZ-RJ45 connectors for CAT-6, but did have some of the old type. He showed me how to use those and it's way more cumbersome than the EZ-RJ45 ones. I will be ordering some of the EZ ones on Amazon very soon as that seems to be the cheapest place I've found them. 

[Howard_Casto]

+1 On the EZ RJ45   

If you are doing standard cables it is the one to use.  The only warning I could give is you need a traditional crimper/stripper if you are going to do cross-over cables and what-not. 

In terms of wall plates, they've recently came out with these deals that are recessed about an inch in the wall.  If you go that route you should get those because rj45 connectors break and come loose easily, so you'll be moving furniture, kill your cable and then you have to make another. 

[MonMotha]

Be aware that most crimp-on RJ-45/8P8C ends are not intended for use with the solid wire cable that is typically used in horizontal structured cabling systems.  They are intended for use with the stranded wire cable normally used in patch cables.  The forks that pierce the wire insulation and contact the conductor will tend to just bend to one side on solid cable whereas they embed themselves right into the middle of stranded wire.  There are special ends designed for use with solid cable that have a multi-pronged offset fork inside the connector.  If you must crimp an end onto solid cable, those are what you should use.  It really makes a difference if you're running PoE, btw.

Unless you REALLY want custom-length patch cables, I'd just buy monoprice or similar ones because they tend to be more reliable than ones you make yourself.

As for horizontal cable, 110 punchdown blocks and keystone jacks are your friend.  This will be much more reliable than putting RJ-45s on the end of everything and using bulkhead jacks, and it's easier to do, too.  Get yourself a little grippy thing that makes it so you can hold the keystone safely and securely while you're working on them.  It's worth the $10.

I'm not overly fond of the EZ RJ45.  Both the connector sand tooling are quite a bit more expensive than conventional systems, and you end up with (barely) exposed wires sticking through the end.  It doesn't take a ton of practice to get reasonably good at the proper cable dress to use the conventional stuff.  For the amount of money the EZ RJ45 costs, you could just waste several conventional ends and get good at it.

I do recommend a ratcheting crimp tool, though I am still rocking the one I got from Radio Shack 15 years ago which is decidedly not ratcheting.  Get one that also does 6P connectors (RJ12 style) so that you can do POTS work, too.  It doesn't usually cost much, if any, extra for the tool.

I have a lot of Paladin tools as well as Klein.  Both are reasonably high quality but not particularly cheap.  For field test gear, Fluke is the go-to name of course, but you can get other brands that are just as good and much cheaper.

[knave]

I've had the same cheap crimper for years...I have not heard of the EZ system...but I wouldn't pay for it. Making cables is easy enough.

Unless you are really kludging it together I 2nd the punched down wall jacks...But the data doesn't care.

[BadMouth]

Be aware that most crimp-on RJ-45/8P8C ends are not intended for use with the solid wire cable that is typically used in horizontal structured cabling systems.  They are intended for use with the stranded wire cable normally used in patch cables.  The forks that pierce the wire insulation and contact the conductor will tend to just bend to one side on solid cable whereas they embed themselves right into the middle of stranded wire.  There are special ends designed for use with solid cable that have a multi-pronged offset fork inside the connector.  If you must crimp an end onto solid cable, those are what you should use.  It really makes a difference if you're running PoE, btw.

Unless you REALLY want custom-length patch cables, I'd just buy monoprice or similar ones because they tend to be more reliable than ones you make yourself.

Thanks for posting.  I'd placed an order for the EZ RJ45 and some connectors with strain relief, but your comments about the solid wire vs stranded made me reconsider and cancel the order.  My plan was to go buy a spool of cat6 at a big box store thinking I'd end up with better quality cables the exact length needed.  Also liked the idea of just making them whenever needed instead of waiting for them in the mail.

I'm sticking with the bulk pass throughs instead of jacks because I'm also passing coax and HDMI through and don't want the two extra connections on the HDMI.
I'll just stick with the premade cables that I've been using for years.

Earlier this year I bought the house I've been renting for years and been on a kick of buying tools and wiring.
I'm set up pretty well for electrical and coax. 
Data seemed to be the next logical progression.

[MonMotha]

I've seen wall plates that have 2-4 (single or double-gang) keystone openings at the top and then a pass-through at the bottom.  You could "properly" terminate your data/cable lines and run HDMI, DVI, etc. through the pass-through.  I don't remember where I saw them, though.  I know wall plates with HDMI female-female built-in connectors are also available (so you run a cable between both wall terminations and then run a cable from each termination to the corresponding equipment), but I don't know if I've seen them with keystones in the same plate.

If you do want to make short-ish patch cables, you can get bulk stranded CAT5e/6 cable.  If you do everything properly, it should be fine.  The "pros" will test it, of course, but you probably don't want to buy all the test gear.  I don't think any of the big box stores stock it.  Monoprice might sell it.  I get most of this stuff from http://www.cablemaster.com/ but mostly because they're local to me.  Don't trust the prices on their website too much; if you call them, they'll give you some sort of discount most likely.  I've had an account there for quite some time so, while my volume isn't that high, they at least give me a nod and a reasonable discount on things.

You can also get those 8P8C connectors intended for solid wire and do what you're describing with decent reliability, but I'm not sure if they're available in the "EZ" system or not.

Also, make sure any cable you're running directly in-wall (not in conduit) is rated for such use.  In residential, it varies as to whether the local inspector cares.  In commercial, they definitely do.  I always just buy riser rated cable since it's not really any more expensive than general-use in-wall rated cable and, well, can be used in risers.  Plenum rated cable is pricey for sure, but you don't need it unless you're running through plenums (spaces actively moving conditioned or return air), and, again, your local inspector may not care in residential, anyway.

Personally, I love conduit.  If you happen to have the walls open, you might consider running ENT ("smurf tube" because it's blue) or something like it.  For comm, which doesn't need the same fire ratings as power, I usually use 1" corrugated innerduct type conduit.  The stuff I get from Cable Master has a nice pull string which saves you the headache of fishing one through.