[SpookyZalost]

How to construct a Registered Jack or RJ style cable.
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So almost everybody probably knows what a network cable is right?  Sorta looks like a phone cable but bigger with more pins?  Well there's more than one type of network cable, but the one most commonly used that everyone is familiar with is known as an RJ45 connector.  It looks like a phone cable because it's an 8 pin version of the RJ series connectors, the phone being a 6 pin RJ11/RJ12/RJ14 etc.  the RJ stands for Registered Jack.
When it comes to home networking these three are the most common from left to right you have RJ45 (ethernet), RJ11 (phone/modem), and BNC (coaxial)



BNC looks a lot like your standard coaxial cable because the two are related except instead of sending video signals it sends network signals between two computers.  This was common in the 1980's.  From the 1990's onward most people used Rj45 or Ethernet cables.  and I'm going to go into how to make such a cable today.
You will need a few things first.

• An RJ11/RJ45 Crimper
  
• A cable cutter/stripper
  
• some RJ45 Jack ends
  
• A spool or bundle of Ethernet cable.
  

For our case we have a combination wire cutter, crimper, stripper, designed specifically for this purpose.  Though just in case I keep some flush cutters as well since they make decent cuts but for the rest we use this tool by commercial electric.


It's $10 at home depot and this plus a decent flush cutter and maybe a multi-tool is all you need to make network ethernet and phone cables.
next you'll want to be aware that cable uses different thicknesses.  Cat 5e can handle gigabit but it can be lossy, cat 6 is thicker and handles stuff better.
I ended up getting cat 6 cable and RJ45 jacks, cat 5 RJ45 jacks won't work with cat 6 cable due to it's thickness.



now measure your spool of wire to your desired length.  give yourself some extra in case you need to re cut/strip the wire, a little extra is often common on custom cables and you can make it however long or short you want anyway.


You want to strip about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch of the outer sheath off revealing the 4 twisted pairs of wires.


Next you untwist the wires and lay them out in the following order.



This is the guide I often reference when I can't quite remember the wire order.  This next part is important, DO NOT STRIP THE INNER WIRES!!!! This is because the sheath on those wires actually helps guide them into the connector.  basically you make sure the wires are flat in the correct order and then slide them into the connector, push them in as far as they will go.  there's 8 channels that they'll slide into with pins at the end which poke into the wire ends.



Once you've checked your work and made sure the wires are all in there go ahead and stick the cable into the special slot on the crimper tool and squeeze, don't pull on the wire or they'll come loose and then you'll have to cut off the end and try again.


Then just repeat that process on the other side and you're done, you now have a network cable!


This process can take anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes depending on how good you are at it.  but it's worth it for two reasons.  First, because you know the cable was made correctly, it's not DOA from the factory.  And second, because if it ever breaks you left some extra on there right?  just cut off the damaged end and put another one on.  The end connectors are maybe $0.20 each and the cable is $20 for 100 feet of Cat 6 at the time of this writing.

* I've decided to merge my network cable guide into this one since it's related to the general cables guide.  The next two to follow will cover Milspec style cables and Power Distribution Buses.*