KaosX
07-11-05, 08:52 PM
Tools of the trade:
Punchdown tool:
Used to push wires into various connectors. Most common connectors/blocks are 66 blocks, 110 blocks, keystone jacks and patch panels.
66 Blocks use a 66 punch tool
Patch panels, keystone jacks, and 110 blocks use a 110 tool
There are Bix/Krone tools as well but they arent seen all to often anymore (except on service calls)
Basically your tool can be impact or non-impact and can be bladed or non bladed.
Impact Punch Tools use a fast forceful motion to "shove" the wires into the connector.
If you have a bladed tool it will also cut the wire for you leaving a nice clean punch. If you get a new punch tool, only for 110's really, find anything that has a 110 slot and punch the hell out of it. New blades tend to "stick" in the connecting slot and sometimes pull the wire back out of the jack or patch panel.
Electricians Scissors:
This has to be my most used tool in teh field. It strips wires, cuts wires, doubles as many other useful things. only like $12 bucks for a good pair of klein scissors too. Invaluable if you do alot of cabling for voice and data.
Butt Set or "Butt-in Set"
AKA Linemans handset. Many various models out there. Basically lets you test phone connection almost anywhere. Look for one with a regular clip and a bed of nails clip as well, then you can connect on a connector or a wire. My butt set allows me to plug a regular phone cord into it. If you get one that doesnt you can get what they call a "banjo adapter" which will let you plug it into an rj11 jack and then have posts to clip onto, in a pinch a biscuit jack and a small patch cord can be used for this.
Tone Generator / Amplifier probe
If you are trying to trace a wire run this is invaluable. Basically you either clip or plug it into a phone/network cable or jack and it creates a beeping noise on the wire that you can trace in a phone closet or telco room with an amplifier probe (sometimes call wand) and it will pickup any noise on a line and play it through a small speaker. It's kind of funny when you are tracing a wire in victorias secret and accidentally stumble on someones phone call with your probe..
If you are setting up a paging/music system youcan use the probe to verify the 1pair speaker wire is getting signal too.
Amp Champ
If you are doing enterprise grade phone systems..you already know what this is. But for those who dont it lets you put an amphenol connector on 25pair wire. Which is what 99.9% of current phone system switches use for dispersing lines and such.
Multimeter
Always good to have when doing any kind of wiring that can have voltage on it. Good if you want to do a quick test to see if a line is hot and your butt set isnt with you. You can make a ghetto wire tracer by putting a 9v battery on a pair of wires (that arent hot) and then volt testing each pair of wires in the closet....i would only do this as a last case scenario
Crimp Tool
Ratcheting Tools are my favorive because they stay closed in my tool bag and you know when youre fully crimped. Ideal makes a nice one. I personally dont use the strippers on them because they tend to nick the twisted pairs and i dont like that.
Wire Stripper
You can get a big fancy one to strip wires, i wouldnt though unless youre an electrician.
I use my electricians scissors for almost everything. Radio shack sells a blue cable jacket stripper with a 110 non bladed tool on the end. One of the tools thats always in my small belt pouch. Love that thing.
Cable Tester
A quick way to know if your wire and terminations are good.
Cable certifier
These are really expensive, on a budget pick up a validator and you have a sub $1000 cable certifier, our big clients require this. Basically it will test the speed of you cables and say "hey this is up to par with cat 5e standard" or cat3 etc...
My own personal tools that I have constructed:
Take a keystone jack and a 1 foor piece of cable (if you are good with cables you can make this VERY short *ill post pics of mine later*) jack the keystone end in to 568B standard. now if you need a cross over adapter you will crimp an rj45 mod plug on the end in the 568a pattern, if you need a rollover (console) cable adapter you just flip the pin order (8 is 1, 7 is 2 etc...) so its the exact opposite of a 568b crimped end. Now you can turn any cable into a cross over/rollover cable. I made one of each. Its also good to have the serial port adapter on hand to connect that rollover to.
FOR PULLING CABLE:
String and heavy object
tie heavy object (not too heavy, full roll of electrical tape works good) to twine or string, again they make string just for pulling cable and its good. tie and tape string to cables. voila! I must stress that pulling cable correctly is an art. for voice lines its not too bad...but for data...woah. Some quick pointers, dont pull on the cable too hard, you'll stretch it. STAY AWAY FROM POWER LINES OR CONDUIT OR HVAC MACHINERY OR ANYTHING THAT IS GOING TO HAVE MASSIVE CURRENT.
You can use STP (shielded twisted pair) cable and that will help some (ground the foil!) and if its in a new building make sure everything is routed away from power lines/conduit or has it's own conduit thats a little further off from the power lines. Itll save you work and headache later.
Small but heavy chain
tie cable to chain and use it for going down thick conduit or power poles, makes for fast drop.
pulling rods
same theory, attach cable and make it go where you want it to. a little modification to the rods lets you shoot them from a crossbow or compound bow and they go reallly far reallly quick. Some rods glow in the dark. Small note: there is a cable pulling gun "cable caster" i think and i personally dont like it, it gets tangled quickly and has a 50ft range, i can throw farther than that.
Cable Lube
conduit tubing can chafe the cable while youre pulling it, you can add lube to the cable or are where its chafing and it will ease the cable pulling and also ease the chafing.
GENERIC TOOLS YOU SHOULD HAVE
Screwdrivers:
Precision up to full size
Knives:
I like folding razor knives the best
Drill:
Mounting plywood, 66blocks, 110 blocks. Various uses.
Spare Cable and cross connect wire:
saved me so many times
SHARPIES/LABEL MAKER:
Label everything on both ends. this makes things so much easier. mark the box of cable and the end a few times. and then when you cut it form the box label that end. label your terminations and your patch panels, label your jacks. Not only is this organized its a lifesaver if someone has to troubleshoot later on.
Drywall saw
for cutting holes in drywall.
Fish tape
another wire pulling tool, can be invaluable
Flashlight
I carry two, a maglight for larger lighting situations and an LED hyperlight in my pouch, led lights create more of a white light which is good for reading fine print or while youre in a pitch dark basement trying to punch 3 ses of 25pair wire while youre holding it with your teeth....dont ask.
Cell Phone
Good for calling for backup or calling into a new system to test it out.
Zip Ties
I only use these for voice now. They tend to contract and expend with heat and cold and can choke wires over time. I hate having to cut them to change a wire arrangement in a closet, i really only tend to use them on ceiling runs. if you leave it really loose you can use them as a cable path for large groups of cable.
Roll of double sided velcro
while just a tad more expensive, it provides a cleaner look, easy serviceability for future work no cable choking unless you pull it too tight and makes it look like you give a damn about cable organization.
STUFF TO HAVE EXTRA OF:
Biscuit Jacks, Cat5 keystone (you can use for voice too), surface mount boxes, panduit, cables of many types, your most used tools, splitters etc....
I know I missed some stuff so please feel free to add on or comment on something that you think needs more info or whatever.
Im going to take pictures of some of my equipment (the important stuff at least) and integrate them into the thread when I get home.
-Kaos
PICS OF WHAT I USE IN THE FIELD 99% OF THE TIME:
Basically my tool box:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/KaosX/Tools/IMG_2893.jpg
My Toolbelt with Equipment in it:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/KaosX/Tools/IMG_2890.jpg
my linemans set "butt set"
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/KaosX/Tools/IMG_2889.jpg
Each tool from the belt laid out
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/KaosX/Tools/IMG_2891.jpg
more detailed pics of individual items can be taken if someone has a special request
Punchdown tool:
Used to push wires into various connectors. Most common connectors/blocks are 66 blocks, 110 blocks, keystone jacks and patch panels.
66 Blocks use a 66 punch tool
Patch panels, keystone jacks, and 110 blocks use a 110 tool
There are Bix/Krone tools as well but they arent seen all to often anymore (except on service calls)
Basically your tool can be impact or non-impact and can be bladed or non bladed.
Impact Punch Tools use a fast forceful motion to "shove" the wires into the connector.
If you have a bladed tool it will also cut the wire for you leaving a nice clean punch. If you get a new punch tool, only for 110's really, find anything that has a 110 slot and punch the hell out of it. New blades tend to "stick" in the connecting slot and sometimes pull the wire back out of the jack or patch panel.
Electricians Scissors:
This has to be my most used tool in teh field. It strips wires, cuts wires, doubles as many other useful things. only like $12 bucks for a good pair of klein scissors too. Invaluable if you do alot of cabling for voice and data.
Butt Set or "Butt-in Set"
AKA Linemans handset. Many various models out there. Basically lets you test phone connection almost anywhere. Look for one with a regular clip and a bed of nails clip as well, then you can connect on a connector or a wire. My butt set allows me to plug a regular phone cord into it. If you get one that doesnt you can get what they call a "banjo adapter" which will let you plug it into an rj11 jack and then have posts to clip onto, in a pinch a biscuit jack and a small patch cord can be used for this.
Tone Generator / Amplifier probe
If you are trying to trace a wire run this is invaluable. Basically you either clip or plug it into a phone/network cable or jack and it creates a beeping noise on the wire that you can trace in a phone closet or telco room with an amplifier probe (sometimes call wand) and it will pickup any noise on a line and play it through a small speaker. It's kind of funny when you are tracing a wire in victorias secret and accidentally stumble on someones phone call with your probe..
If you are setting up a paging/music system youcan use the probe to verify the 1pair speaker wire is getting signal too.
Amp Champ
If you are doing enterprise grade phone systems..you already know what this is. But for those who dont it lets you put an amphenol connector on 25pair wire. Which is what 99.9% of current phone system switches use for dispersing lines and such.
Multimeter
Always good to have when doing any kind of wiring that can have voltage on it. Good if you want to do a quick test to see if a line is hot and your butt set isnt with you. You can make a ghetto wire tracer by putting a 9v battery on a pair of wires (that arent hot) and then volt testing each pair of wires in the closet....i would only do this as a last case scenario
Crimp Tool
Ratcheting Tools are my favorive because they stay closed in my tool bag and you know when youre fully crimped. Ideal makes a nice one. I personally dont use the strippers on them because they tend to nick the twisted pairs and i dont like that.
Wire Stripper
You can get a big fancy one to strip wires, i wouldnt though unless youre an electrician.
I use my electricians scissors for almost everything. Radio shack sells a blue cable jacket stripper with a 110 non bladed tool on the end. One of the tools thats always in my small belt pouch. Love that thing.
Cable Tester
A quick way to know if your wire and terminations are good.
Cable certifier
These are really expensive, on a budget pick up a validator and you have a sub $1000 cable certifier, our big clients require this. Basically it will test the speed of you cables and say "hey this is up to par with cat 5e standard" or cat3 etc...
My own personal tools that I have constructed:
Take a keystone jack and a 1 foor piece of cable (if you are good with cables you can make this VERY short *ill post pics of mine later*) jack the keystone end in to 568B standard. now if you need a cross over adapter you will crimp an rj45 mod plug on the end in the 568a pattern, if you need a rollover (console) cable adapter you just flip the pin order (8 is 1, 7 is 2 etc...) so its the exact opposite of a 568b crimped end. Now you can turn any cable into a cross over/rollover cable. I made one of each. Its also good to have the serial port adapter on hand to connect that rollover to.
FOR PULLING CABLE:
String and heavy object
tie heavy object (not too heavy, full roll of electrical tape works good) to twine or string, again they make string just for pulling cable and its good. tie and tape string to cables. voila! I must stress that pulling cable correctly is an art. for voice lines its not too bad...but for data...woah. Some quick pointers, dont pull on the cable too hard, you'll stretch it. STAY AWAY FROM POWER LINES OR CONDUIT OR HVAC MACHINERY OR ANYTHING THAT IS GOING TO HAVE MASSIVE CURRENT.
You can use STP (shielded twisted pair) cable and that will help some (ground the foil!) and if its in a new building make sure everything is routed away from power lines/conduit or has it's own conduit thats a little further off from the power lines. Itll save you work and headache later.
Small but heavy chain
tie cable to chain and use it for going down thick conduit or power poles, makes for fast drop.
pulling rods
same theory, attach cable and make it go where you want it to. a little modification to the rods lets you shoot them from a crossbow or compound bow and they go reallly far reallly quick. Some rods glow in the dark. Small note: there is a cable pulling gun "cable caster" i think and i personally dont like it, it gets tangled quickly and has a 50ft range, i can throw farther than that.
Cable Lube
conduit tubing can chafe the cable while youre pulling it, you can add lube to the cable or are where its chafing and it will ease the cable pulling and also ease the chafing.
GENERIC TOOLS YOU SHOULD HAVE
Screwdrivers:
Precision up to full size
Knives:
I like folding razor knives the best
Drill:
Mounting plywood, 66blocks, 110 blocks. Various uses.
Spare Cable and cross connect wire:
saved me so many times
SHARPIES/LABEL MAKER:
Label everything on both ends. this makes things so much easier. mark the box of cable and the end a few times. and then when you cut it form the box label that end. label your terminations and your patch panels, label your jacks. Not only is this organized its a lifesaver if someone has to troubleshoot later on.
Drywall saw
for cutting holes in drywall.
Fish tape
another wire pulling tool, can be invaluable
Flashlight
I carry two, a maglight for larger lighting situations and an LED hyperlight in my pouch, led lights create more of a white light which is good for reading fine print or while youre in a pitch dark basement trying to punch 3 ses of 25pair wire while youre holding it with your teeth....dont ask.
Cell Phone
Good for calling for backup or calling into a new system to test it out.
Zip Ties
I only use these for voice now. They tend to contract and expend with heat and cold and can choke wires over time. I hate having to cut them to change a wire arrangement in a closet, i really only tend to use them on ceiling runs. if you leave it really loose you can use them as a cable path for large groups of cable.
Roll of double sided velcro
while just a tad more expensive, it provides a cleaner look, easy serviceability for future work no cable choking unless you pull it too tight and makes it look like you give a damn about cable organization.
STUFF TO HAVE EXTRA OF:
Biscuit Jacks, Cat5 keystone (you can use for voice too), surface mount boxes, panduit, cables of many types, your most used tools, splitters etc....
I know I missed some stuff so please feel free to add on or comment on something that you think needs more info or whatever.
Im going to take pictures of some of my equipment (the important stuff at least) and integrate them into the thread when I get home.
-Kaos
PICS OF WHAT I USE IN THE FIELD 99% OF THE TIME:
Basically my tool box:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/KaosX/Tools/IMG_2893.jpg
My Toolbelt with Equipment in it:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/KaosX/Tools/IMG_2890.jpg
my linemans set "butt set"
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/KaosX/Tools/IMG_2889.jpg
Each tool from the belt laid out
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/KaosX/Tools/IMG_2891.jpg
more detailed pics of individual items can be taken if someone has a special request