Okay when I say make don't get me wrong,I don't mean fashion some cable out of foil and used up dental floss McGyver style,I was strolling through town the other day and I came to notice that some people are making money out of things that absolutely make no sense.I was at Bloomerg searching for an ethernet crossover cable because the one I had made had backfired so I quite excited when I found out that cable was like 15 bob per metre and so I quickly made the purchase and I presented the good salesman with 15 shillings cash and stood there eagerly waiting to be given a complete cable only to be given the cable and the RJ-45 connectors(you can google it if you aren't sure)[which are 3 bob where I usually buy them but bought them for 10 bob there because I didn't feel like walking far] and told to proceed to there 'workshop' upstairs where I would get the crimping done.
I reach the top quick and come across a room that looks like it was painted by a plumber and I quickly give the first 'technician' I see the cables awaiting a complete cable only to be charged an extra 100 shillings for crimping which is one of the simplest activities I have ever seen and that was my motivation to write this post.So if you want to make the ethernet cable youself here is what you will need.
1.Cat 5 cable(I don't about cat6 but cat5 is cheaper so I know you will get cat5 anyway) or you can steal one from your office IT department..muhahaha...
2.RJ-45 connectors(3-5 bob each,any more than that is pure robbery,....cough...cough...bloomerg...sneeze...
3.Time to waste(20-40 minutes preferably)
4.Wembe or knife
5.Tunes to keep you occupied
6.Beer or redbull to keep you going cos you need patience
7.Bottle opener(the swiss army knife type) or a flathead screwdriver
8.Ability to measure lengths mentally cos most likely you broke your ruler using it to generate static electricity to magically lift papers and small strings....back to the lecture at hand..
Make a straight through cable
This is the type of cable everyone is common and connects your computer to your router or to your switch/hub e.t.c
Next get the connector and slide the wires in the order they are in above into the connector with the connector facing flat side up(the side that has the lever like thing is down),do it slowly so that each wire enters it own slot and continue pushing the cable until all wires are at the end of the connector.If you look at the front you should see the copper tips of each wire clearly(if you are not already drunk by this stage).Now you need to make you first crimp commando style.Get the bottle opener or screwdriver and gently press the clip on the upper side of the connector until it firmly presses on the sleeves(don't use to much force or it will break)if it does just pour some super glue in the hole and you are good to go.
The next step involves crimping the pin ontop of each individual wire until it penetrates the wire below.Do this one pin at a time until all 8 pins are in and level otherwise the connector will not make that lovable click whenever it enters the RJ-45 port on your computer(it might still work though,mine did)
Point B is the first crimp and point A is the second crimp(of which there are 8 of them)
Next,repeat the above on the opposite site and you will now have a fully functioning straight through ethernet cable(hopefully)
Make a crossover cable
This is better known as peer to peer cable or comp to comp cable.
Making this type just involves rearranging the wires a bit but the rest of the process is the same.One site will be normal like this
while the other will be like this
