[Chicago-talk] LAN/Phone wiring help needed

Jay Strauss me at heyjay.com
Tue May 13 15:55:14 PDT 2008


Hi,

Thanks for all the details.  Much appreciated.

Thanks
Jay

On Tue, May 13, 2008 at 2:40 PM, Alexander Danel <danel at speakeasy.net> wrote:
> I can tell you where to go for tools and parts:
>
>        Graybar Electric Co
>        539 W 14th Place
>        Chicago, IL  60607
>        (312) 491-1123
>
> They specialize in telephone and Ethernet cabling, tools, and supplies.  You
> can ask questions, too.
>
> A high quality punch-down tool costs about $70 to $100, and is a worthwhile
> investment.  Buy yourself a 1,000 ft roll of cat-6, 4-pair cable; although
> you will never use even half the roll, it is none-the-less cheapest to buy
> the big roll.  The actual punch-down blocks, etc, are cheap.  I attached a
> wooden board to the masonry wall, and then attached the blocks to the board.
>
> You will also want a good quality staple gun, and a selection of staples.
>
> The punch-down tool should have a reversible tip; where one option has a
> knife blade, and the other option has no blade.  (There are also two types
> of tips available, older style versus newer style -- you will need to choose
> one style or the other.)  You will be flipping the tip between blade versus
> no-blade as you work.  The no-blade option lets you punch down a wire that
> then continues to the next position.  A block has 25 positions.  Typically,
> you might have each incoming wire span 6 positions; so a block handles four
> wires (i.e. two pairs of wires.)  If you are just connecting one or two
> pairs, you would use a single block, if you have three or four pairs you
> might consider two blocks.  Bring the first wire to the top most position,
> letting the wire get loosely gripped by the pincers, then pull straight down
> and let it get gripped by the pincers at the next five positions below.
> Using the non-cutting side, punch down the first five positions, then flip
> the tip so you have the knife edge and punch down, this final act cuts the
> wire.  (A common error here is to put the knife side up, cutting the wire
> before it enters the pincers, instead of as it exits.)  Then take the next
> wire (the matching wire of the pair) and repeat, spanning the next six
> positions down.  Etc.
>
> It might be traditional that incoming signal goes at the right side of the
> block, and outgoing lines to your house go out the left side; or maybe it's
> the other way -- ask the guys at Graybar what the tradition is.  Anyway,
> every position consists of a horizontal row having four pincers in the row.
> These four are arranged as a pair of pairs, with the left two having
> continuity, the right two having continuity, but no continuity between the
> pairs.  You connect your incoming/outgoing wires to the pincers at the
> extreme right/left, then use a "bridge clip" to short the pairs together.
> The idea is that you have the option of not using a bridge clip, in which
> case you would use wires punched down onto the inner pincers, and thusly
> would have the option of carrying the signal to some different position.
> But you won't be doing that; just use the bridge clips to connect straight
> across, right pair with adjacent left pair.  The bridge clips envelop the
> inner pincers, shorting them together.
>
> Don't forget to buy the bridge clips.
>
> Alexander Danel
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Chicago-talk mailing list
> Chicago-talk at pm.org
> http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/chicago-talk
>


More information about the Chicago-talk mailing list