# Tools+Cable Management for Small Server Room



## Going_Commando

So, I got Cat6 draped all over this new small branch bank we are wrapping up. The cables are run through Arlington "The Loop" plastic bridle rings. The IT guys showed up today, bitched about a bunch of stuff, decided to move the rack location (in the 5'x5' "server room") and want the network cables dropped directly down to the rack for punch down. What's the best way to dress up the cables to hit the rack from above the drop ceiling? 

2nd Question: I haven't done any punch down on Cat 6 before, so what do I need to know? I have done a decent amount of Cat5E over the years, but it seems like Cat6 is more involved and you have to be more careful. I wasn't planning to have to do the server room dress up and office side punch down, but I also wasn't planning to run a few thousand feet of Cat6 on this job either. 

Also, my tools for this crap are pretty limited. I have a punch down tool for quickport stuff that came with a package of Leviton quickport Cat5E connectors from years ago. I want to make this as easy on myself as possible, so I am going to slip some extra tools into the change order to make my life easier. Does the Fluke Punchdown JackRapid tool make things go faster/smoother? Punching down and cutting all 8 conductors at once sounds very tempting. I was also going to throw in a Fluke basic network cable tester (MT-8200-49A), hoping it will be a bit better than the Cheapo Depot blue-see thru one we've been using for years. I'm also going to snag a pair of Klein scissors to see what the hype is about. Is this the best combo for doing this work? Also, if I end up having to do the punch down on the rack, is there a better tool to use for those stupid little things?

My hands have been killing me the past few weeks for some strange reason, so any better tools or methods you guys can tell me about would be greatly appreciated. I remember the last little office I did the punch down for felt like someone had taken a 2 lb hammer to the back of my hands after only 2 hours of it. My fine motor control as also getting rough, so the easier the better. 

Oh yeah, one more thing. We traditionally use Leviton Quickport for data drops and whatnot. Do the Cat6 connectors really go for 6.95/ea cost? I can only find the "extreme" line for Cat6. Seems crazy to me. With markup I am North of $600 just for the quickport connectors, and that is only for 50! (which might be shy for the job, didn't count the cables before I started working on the quote) To do the office side of this job with ~17 data drops and 50 or so Cat6 jacks I am North of $2000 already! Maybe there is money in being a scissor and computer beetch after all. :whistling2::laughing:


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## five.five-six

wow, you really dove into this..

MT-8200-49A would be the absolute bare minimum tester.

Cat6 (per ICC) punchdown is the same specification as CAT5, 1/4" or less of untwisted wire at the termination.

I'd just use ICC, about $3 and change per jack, use the EZ variant unless you need more than 3 in a 1 gang plate. 

Get one of these;
http://www.specialized.net/Speciali...1110-D914-Punch-Down-Tool-110-Blade-3556.aspx

Set the impact to "lo" when using it on the rack panel, high for the inserts.


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## Going_Commando

five.five-six said:


> wow, you really dove into this..
> 
> MT-8200-49A would be the absolute bare minimum tester.
> 
> Cat6 (per ICC) punchdown is the same specification as CAT5, 1/4" or less of untwisted wire at the termination.
> 
> I'd just use ICC, about $3 and change per jack, use the EZ variant unless you need more than 3 in a 1 gang plate.
> 
> Get one of these;
> http://www.specialized.net/Speciali...1110-D914-Punch-Down-Tool-110-Blade-3556.aspx
> 
> Set the impact to "lo" when using it on the rack panel, high for the inserts.


I get a bit carried away sometimes. Thanks for the tips. The ICC prices are waaay more in my wheelhouse. I just don't want to be another dumb electrician that doesn't know anything about those little wires, ya know? That's how the IT guys made it sound like today, and it kinda got under my skin, so I want to make sure I do this crap right so I can make them feel like ****s. Plus I get new tools and they are paying for them directly. :laughing:


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## five.five-six

IT guys are ****s. None of then know what they are doing and they are all trying to impress each other. 

I have this tester and I really like it, it's discontinued because the new one is gigabit but if you aren't certing cables, this is fine

http://www.ebay.com/itm/JDSU-Lansca...847?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20f6940777

you will spend a little bit reading how to use it, and you probably wont use the cisco discovery but it will make fixing crossed wires a breeze, has PoE testing and ping tests, you can input Google's IP or some LAN IP and it will ping test their network. 

The pinout and distance testing are what you are going to be using. It will test the lengths of each pair and if one is way off, you'll know you need to look at it


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## chewy

I always use basket tray to come down inside racks, come down on one side and dress the cables in from one side, keep them level so they can slide switches in once they have run out of room and start taking management out.


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## Ty Wrapp

If you really want to impress the IT guys, fish the wire down the wall to a hole behind the rack. The downside of this is, you do not want to add any wires after the fact. I usually do something similar to what Chewy said. I use #3 clamps as a base for ty raps, straight down the wall then 90 degree turn to the rack.

Since someone else is paying for the tools, might as well order one of these...

http://www.specialized.net/Speciali...DImpactor-5Pair-110-Punch-Down-Tool-3574.aspx

It will punch down 5 pairs at a time.

Macmikey will chime in soon on your decision to become a "scissor packer" :laughing:


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## halfamp

The rapid jack works good, but you need to buy the open hole patch panels then, and x amount of jacks to snap in the open holes. Panduit makes a similar product that I like better. 

To dress in your cables from where they drop, break them out into groups of 12 above the ceiling. Groupings should correspond to the side of the rack they will go on, so if your patch panels have 24 / 48 / 96 ports, on the left will be groups 1-12, 25-36, 49-60, 73-84, and on the right will be groups 13-24, 37-48, 61-72, 85-96, etc. As they are already in the groups they need, depending on how much is on your racks I will group each group of 12 into 4 groups of 48, while keeping each in their "12" group where they land on the rack. This makes it fairly easy to dress them all in pretty as they are already in the set they need to be with in the end and you'll just dress them out clean right up to the rack, dropping off each group of 12 as you get to that point on the patch panels if that makes sense


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## Somewhere_401

Last year I finally upgraded my selection of punch down tools to include the fluke 110/66 punchdown with an additional BIX bit. I am thinking to my self, why did I wait so long. Its nice, good feel, quick, wow.

I have not had to do any Cat 6 jobs, everything has been Cat5 spec, so I have not done that yet. I found lately using the OnQ by LeGrand keystones work very well, and have been able to get them at a decent price. What surprised me was that basically all of their jacks were the same price, Cat5e, Cat 6, RJ25, what ever colour it didn't matter, they were the same price. 

I have been somewhat slow to adopt what I have known for a long time, which is basically, buy cheap, buy many times, grumble, complain etc. Buy expensive tools, buy once, work faster, easier.... but keep them under your eyes, they tend to walk.

Funny, I too last year bought my first pair of "scissors". I always thought what a joke, but actually found them to be quite useful, until they walked. 

Replaced last week and have been useful once again. I am still amazed at how sometimes something so simple, or cost effective or whatever can have a huge impact on one's productivity and end of day feels. 

I have also found that I need to wear my work gloves more, the dust from drywall, plaster, fiberglass is really being hard on them, that and being so darn dry and cold.... When my hands split its time to change... :blink:


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## Wired4Life10

Get the scissors. As for your punch tool, get a Fluke. I've got the D914S and I've had it since I started in datacom in 2008. Lord only knows how many jacks I've terminated with it but I know for sure it's upwards of 12,000 jacks and never once replaced the blade. I'm just now looking to replace it as the spring is beginning to wear out and the high impact isn't quite as strong as it used to be. It's a little pricey compared to some of the ones from Platinum Tools and the like but I wouldn't trade it for anything.


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## Ty Wrapp

Wired4Life10 said:


> Get the scissors. As for your punch tool, get a Fluke. I've got the D914S and I've had it since I started in datacom in 2008. Lord only knows how many jacks I've terminated with it but I know for sure it's upwards of 12,000 jacks and never once replaced the blade. I'm just now looking to replace it as the spring is beginning to wear out and the high impact isn't quite as strong as it used to be. It's a little pricey compared to some of the ones from Platinum Tools and the like but I wouldn't trade it for anything.


That's all I've ever used (Harris version, pre-Fluke days)

When I worked in the old part of town, I wore out many 66 blades punching down 19 gauge wire. 110 terminations and Cat5...no problem.


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## aktrapper

2 pairs of wires, Tx and Rx

For the love of all, call them snips...and if ya wanna be really cool..wear them on your pants belt in a holster made from beaver tail or gator


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## Wired4Life10

aktrapper said:


> 2 pairs of wires, Tx and Rx
> 
> For the love of all, call them snips...and if ya wanna be really cool..wear them on your pants belt in a holster made from beaver tail or gator



Why? They fit perfectly in the watch pocket of my jeans.


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## Silversam

We always called the Electrician's Scissors "Shears". Don't know why. Maybe a NYC thing...


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## mgal

As we've moved into all Cat-6A and Cat-6A shielded, just wait until you're strapping on a soldering iron for terminations as well. Thick, heavy, intricate terminations and soldering (on some)... PITA


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## mgal

Here's a few of a recent head end; racks and waterfalls for patchpanels and servers

http://s724.photobucket.com/user/mgalyean1/media/panel%20room/IMG_1527_zpsms1msj9y.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0


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## Ty Wrapp

Looks good :thumbsup:

That's a serious maintenance slack loop on that overhead rack


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## mgal

*future...*

much like the entire residence, anticipating additional hardware


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## Going_Commando

I did dis:


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## aktrapper

Just wait a few years and go back and take another picture of the big spaghetti mess the IT guys make.


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## Ty Wrapp

aktrapper said:


> Just wait a few years and go back and take another picture of the big spaghetti mess the IT guys make.


No waiting... notice the 2 "stray" cables.

Other than that, it looks good :thumbup:


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## Going_Commando

Ty Wrapp said:


> No waiting... notice the 2 "stray" cables.
> 
> Other than that, it looks good


The strays are for a separate network coming in from a different provider for public use. Since it was a bank they wanted everything completely segragated. 

My first cable was just a whisker too short, but im pretty happy with it overall for my first go. I have another service loop above tge drop ceiling as well.


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## Wired4Life10

Only about half done. Waiting for shipping and receiving benches to be installed in warehouse.


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## Wired4Life10

Of course, this is the beginning of IT doing their work. Also, don't ask me why they required my fiber enclosure to be so low.


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## jeffmoss26

Nice work guys!!


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## sxpert

Wired4Life10 said:


> Of course, this is the beginning of IT doing their work. Also, don't ask me why they required my fiber enclosure to be so low.
> View attachment 51497



because it makes it easier for the fiber splicing...


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## Wired4Life10

Why would that matter? My company did the terminations. No splicing for us. Only Corning Unicams.


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## lortech

*That is odd. Service loop is to be attached to wall not rack!*

This is just strange the service or extra loop of cable needs to be attached to wall. By securing it to the back side of the rack, it blocks new equipment from being installed. 



Going_Commando said:


> I did dis:


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