Guides? Idk. But I can tell you?

Tools needed:

Standard Crimper [1] [2]

OR

Pass-through Crimper [1]

Standard RJ45 Heads [1]

Pass-through RJ45 Heads [1]

Cable tester [1]

Snips (Optional) [1] [2] [3]

Some crimpers have a blade for cutting the sheath off cables and trimming pairs, so snips aren’t strictly necessary, tho I prefer them.

On tools, depends on how often you plan to use them. If once in a blue moon, just buy Greenlee. If often, Klein or Milwaukee. I love my Klein snips, but coworker has the Milwaukee ones and I gotta say they’re pretty nice. For crimpers you’ve got two styles to pick from, standard or pass through. Pass throughs tbh are my preference because nothing is more frustrating than checking your head thinking it looks right, only for it to fail a test. Pass-throughs are just easier to inspect, but costlier so if you plan to do it often the cost difference is worth the time and frustration. Also I like the passthrough crimper because it has a nice cheat sheet on it on both sides so it orients to the way your cable head is facing.

Note: DO NOT use standard heads on a pass through crimper. There’s a little nub at the end the blade will attempt to cut. DO NOT use pass-through heads with a standard crimper and just use scissors or flush cutters to trim the ends. If you do this, so help me I WILL PERSONALLY COME FIND YOU.

Last bit of advice: just buy a cable that fits your length if that’s an option rather than spend money on tools unless you’re going to do it often or your pulling long runs of cable to do your house (tho never use RJ45 heads for stuff unless you’re doing cameras. It’s better to punch onto keystones).

Step 1: cut the head off your cable with your snips

Step 2: about an inch down the cable use your snips to gently score the cable by closing the snips on the cable, lightly, and rotating the snips around the cable.

Step 3: grab the end of the cable and break the jacket using your hands like you’re breaking a stick. If the jacket is rubbery you may need to score it a bit deeper.

Step 4: Check the pairs after removing the jacket to ensure you didn’t accidentally cut deep enough to score the data wires. If you did repeat step 2 and 3.

Step 5: untwist the pairs and fan them out. Align them so they are in the following order (T568B) (Nobody uses T568A unless you’re doing work for the government, and there’s no reason to use it. All premade cables you buy will be T568B. Technically as long as both ends match the cable will work tho)

• White/Orange
• Orange/White
• White/Green
• Blue/White
• White/Blue
• Green/White
• White/Brown
• Brown/White

Note: the correct way to refer to it is as above (first color is dominant color), but in my head I read it:

• Orange Stripe
• Orange
• Green Stripe
• Blue
• Blue Stripe
• Green
• Brown Stripe
• Brown

Step 6: grab fanned out pairs with your fingers and straighten them out as best as possible, checking that they stay in the correct order.

Step 7: if using standard RJ45 heads, use snips to shorten your pairs to 1/4” making as straight a cut as possible. If using pass-throughs cut to half an inch straight across.

Step 8: Face the jack head with the tab facing down and slowly and gently insert your wires making sure to watch that they stay in the correct order. Check your work by looking at the wires through the clear head. If using a standard head you want to make sure the wires are all the way to the back of the head as much as possible and are in the correct order. If they shifted, remove the wires, straighten them out again and trim if needed and try again. If using pass-throughs it’s easier to check your work here.

Step 9: if satisfied that they appear correct insert the head into your crimper and racket the tool completely closed. The pass through crimper will trim the ends.

Step 10: test the cable with your tester, if it passes you’re good to go. If it fails start over with step 1.

Crimping cables is pretty easy once you get the hang of it.

I don’t use our advocate pass-through ends for 2 reasons. One is they cost more. Two they allow easier moisture ingress which can cause signal issues.

Use a tool to strip about 2 inches of the outer jacket away. Separate the conductors into individual wires and remove anything else, if the cable has a plastic separator pull it while holding the cable jacket, I usually try to pull out till it stretches to around 6 inches, then squeeze the jacket and clip it off as close to the wires as possible. When you release the pressure the plastic separator will pull back into the jacket. You may have to fold the wires out of the way.

Check the color code on the opposite end. It will be either TIA/EIA A or B

Untwist the pairs and then grab the jacket with one hand and the wires with the other using your thumb and the side of your index finger and pull the wires through while rocking your hand back a few inches. After a couple passes the wires will straighten out. Make your wires lay out according to the color code and given them another pull or two to get them straight. The whole time you should be keeping pressure on the jacket so the wires don’t move or shift.

Make sure you have your crimper and end handy. Move your grip about an inch from the end of the jacket. Get everything laid out and adjusted. Grab the rj45 and set it at the end of the jacket where the end of the wires land is where you will want to cut the wires off. Once the wires are cut slip the connector on and check that a wire didn’t shift. All the wires should press against the end of the connector on the issue. Once they are set and you are happy with the connection crimp the end on.

A couple tips.

You can compress or stretch the jacket, not the wires.

You truthfully want the jacket to slip into the base of the RJ45 so that when you crimp the little plastic clip bites on to it.

Pulling the wires to straighten them can be a pain, just work it. Sometimes a side to side movement while pulling can help.

If your finger starts to hurt you can try a pencil or a piece of plastic as a guard. After 10 or 15 ends it probably will be sore.

Update: thank you all for your detailed and kind input! I finally tried crimping on an 8P8C connector onto an Ethernet cable. I failed. Miserably. But at least I finally learned what’s actually happening - or what’s supposed to happen: the teeth of the connector actually puncture the individual wires in order to make contact with the conductors inside. Sic. But omg is it a game of patience. 🤣

There’s probably some ICT guys out there that have a better way of doing it and can do it faster since they do it more often.

First pick the color pattern you need, you can Google it, I don’t think it matters much anymore but there’s A, B, and A/B.

I don’t use the cripple tool to strip because I’m more comfortable with electrical stippers. I score the the outer jacket to get to the string, then pull the string back about a two inches. Then cut the wire off where I scored the jacket and cut the excess jacket off.

Untwist the individual wires. Now depending on the the type of connector you purchased will determine the next step. If you got the push through connectors then you are a savage and you should be ashamed of yourself. If you got the traditional connectors then arrange the colors on the pattern you chose. Take something hard and round, I use my stripper handle to pull the wire across the handle while kind of shaking the wire to straighten out the strands. Edit - Arrange the wire as tightly as possible in the pattern you chose. Then cut the wire at about half inch (maybe a little less) from the jacket as straight as possible, if the wire was pulled tight and straight the strands should stay in place.

Pay attention to your color pattern and if the chart you used is looking from the top or underneath the connector, most charts should be from under the connector. Slide the strands through the connector and make sure they all fit into the proper channels of the connector and slide all of the way to the of the connector.

If you’re left handed then this part kind of sucks because 99% are made for right handed people. If everything lines up then push the connector into the cripple tool with jostling the wires and connect too much. Squeeze the cripple tool and then repeat for the other end.

Put a rj45 continuity tester on the cable to make sure you have cripped it properly and you’re done.

yeah people have covered it well but its pretty much about the tools. Back before they had the little plastic guides it was kinda challenging but now its pretty simple if you have the tools.

Practice makes progress. Unless you’re doing a lot, just buy one made to your needs. It’ll be more reliable. I usually just spool mine up unless it’s egregiously long.

I’ve heard that the pass through terminations are suboptimal for PoE applications and outdoor use, but they’re certainly easier to use.

You really should buy outdoor cable if you’re using it outdoors, and don’t be an idiot like me and buy a spool of direct burial unshielded cable and then use it up towers. (So far so good, but it irks me that it’s the “wrong” cable and I worry about lightning).

You need to get the right connectors for the cable you’re using - cat6 connectors are not the same as cat5.

When you can’t get it to sync faster than 100mbps then it’s your bad termination.

I’ve done diy cat5 and the little cutter/stripper tool is invaluable. The wires are too fiddly otherwise. The plugs make automatic secure contact. The tool I used is like (https://www.homedepot.com/pep/Lukyamzn-RJ45-Crimp-Tool-Kit-Pass-Thru-Ethernet-Crimper-for-Cat5e-Cat6-Cat6a-and-Tester-PH00727B283/335459691) but didn’t have the testing capability and was probably cheaper

Since you’ve already received plenty of helpful advice, I’ll just add that I find it helpful to untwist the pairs from the middle out, putting them into place, starting with blue and white/blue (I do not do this professionally, but have done this a little bit). Maybe someone else has a differing opinion.

EDIT: I should mention that I tend to arrange each pair roughly where they need to go before untwisting them.