# My First MDF



## mikeh32 (Feb 16, 2009)

do you have labels on any of the wires?


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## Safety-Guy (Jan 22, 2007)

All are marked in the MDF, you just cannot see the markings, Fine point sharpie did the trick. At the other end all wires are labeled with "Stickers" that wrap around and cover themself with a clear plastic.
All were tested and passed.


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## mikeh32 (Feb 16, 2009)

ahh, ok. ive used both sharpie, and labels. looks good though... and only one t1 line?


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## drsparky (Nov 13, 2008)

I hate to say it but....it looks like you cable ladder maybe upside down. Of course it could be just the shadows in the photos.


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## monitormix (Aug 23, 2008)

Typically I always add a horizontal lacer bar or two per patchbay. The video cable really should have a bit of support to take the stress off the connections.
I usually use the Brady labelers. They make a size to fit most patchbay label slots and a great selection of cable markers for various types/gauges. I usually try to leave a service loop to allow for any updates that may require moving the patchbays. Pretty good for your first room:thumbsup:


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## LGLS (Nov 10, 2007)

monitormix said:


> Typically I always add a horizontal lacer bar or two per patchbay. The video cable really should have a bit of support to take the stress off the connections.
> I usually use the Brady labelers. They make a size to fit most patchbay label slots and a great selection of cable markers for various types/gauges. I usually try to leave a service loop to allow for any updates that may require moving the patchbays. Pretty good for your first room:thumbsup:


Updates? It's a school. What he did today should have been done 20 years ago. That installation will get updated when pigs fly.


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## Rockyd (Apr 22, 2007)

> Updates? It's a school. What he did today should have been done 20 years ago. That installation will get updated when pigs fly.


 
What's a mattuh? You never heard of the Swine flu???:jester:


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## Safety-Guy (Jan 22, 2007)

MikeH32- If you are refering to the one white cable, it is plenum rated, was added after all conduit was run. It is fed with Fiber.

DrSparky- Cable tray was installed per School board specs, it's the government and all you know.

Monitormix- there are 10 foot service loops on top of the cable tray.

LawnGuyLandSparky- We start the upgrade on the old part of the school in 3 weeks.

Thanks for the comments guys.


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## drsparky (Nov 13, 2008)

Safety-Guy said:


> MikeH32- If you are refering
> DrSparky- Cable tray was installed per School board specs,
> 
> That is not cable _tray_, it is cable _ladder_, the rungs go up. In the photos it looks like the rungs are on the bottom.
> ...


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## ElectricalMAN (May 4, 2009)

Nice pictures! Thanks for the share!


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## william1978 (Sep 21, 2008)

Looks good to me.


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## nick (Feb 14, 2008)

Safety-Guy said:


> Just finished with my first MDF in an addition at a School, Phone, Data, and CATV. Being an Electrician this was a task, I did not do it all, and did have the Systems PM overseeing. Just wanted to post a few pics for comments. Good or Bad.



Well it looks like a nice job to me !!!! funny when you put a picture up everyone has a different point to pick on but nice job !!!! We are doing a high school now also .

That ladder tray looks fine also . :thumbsup:


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## Safety-Guy (Jan 22, 2007)

Working in another school now, Electrical and Systems. Sad thing about this school, when built 10 years ago they put in CAT-V and Fiber, Well the fiber was never utilized and the CAT-V is still in use, but we are adding CAT-VI, and the demo has us abandoning the Fiber. Will have some pics when the project gets farther along.


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## Lighting Retro (Aug 1, 2009)

Looks pretty good for working with what you were spec'd. I personally like vertical and horizontal wire management to hide the wires. Just hanging big bundles of wire like that straight from the ladder rack doesn't work for me too well. Much easier to make it look nicer with something like this:










There are some good pics on my cabling site of jobs done right and jobs done wrong. 

Woo, some of the wrong ones are . 

The velcro straps don't make it look quite as nice in my opinion, but it makes it immensely easier to add cables later and make it look decent. 

Good job. Looks good. :thumbsup:

And it does appear the ladder might be upside down. You want the depth on top to hold and hide the cable. First time around you'll do all kinds of things you'll find ways to do easier and more efficiently the next time.


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## Lighting Retro (Aug 1, 2009)

Safety-Guy said:


> Working in another school now, Electrical and Systems. Sad thing about this school, when built 10 years ago they put in CAT-V and Fiber, Well the fiber was never utilized and the CAT-V is still in use, but we are adding CAT-VI, and the demo has us abandoning the Fiber. Will have some pics when the project gets farther along.


Wow. That is just crazy. Cat5 still specs out for most traffic applications, especially Cat5e. Depending on the fiber, that's unfortunate. It's such an investment that it's a shame it wasn't put to use. Our course, everything about fiber backbones cost more, so depending on the application, I suppose it's not too surprising.


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## arifkunnath (Aug 17, 2011)

nice


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## zwodubber (Feb 24, 2011)

Looks good :thumbsup:


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## zwodubber (Feb 24, 2011)

Lighting Retro said:


> There are some good pics on my cabling site of jobs done right and jobs done wrong.
> 
> Woo, some of the wrong ones are .


:laughing: Some of those wrong pictures look like the equipment just vomitted up spaghetti. I can't imagine how companies that accumulate into such a pile of crap.

Your install pics look great!


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## tkb (Jan 21, 2009)

Lighting Retro said:


> Looks pretty good for working with what you were spec'd. I personally like vertical and horizontal wire management to hide the wires. Just hanging big bundles of wire like that straight from the ladder rack doesn't work for me too well. Much easier to make it look nicer with something like this:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Cable ties slow down the data if they are too tight, thats why they use velcro.


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## sarness (Sep 14, 2010)

You should look into neatpatch, www.neatpatch.com

I haven't the chance to install it yet, but sure cleans up a rack and eliminates most of the spaghetti.


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## crosport (Apr 4, 2010)

Glad to see you didn't use cable ties!Nice work.


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## Edrick (Jun 6, 2010)

tkb said:


> Cable ties slow down the data if they are too tight, thats why they use velcro.


:shakes head:


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## HARRY304E (Sep 15, 2010)

Safety-Guy said:


> Just finished with my first MDF in an addition at a School, Phone, Data, and CATV. Being an Electrician this was a task, I did not do it all, and did have the Systems PM overseeing. Just wanted to post a few pics for comments. Good or Bad.


Looks good nice work..:thumbup:


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## chewy (May 9, 2010)

Safety-Guy said:


> Just finished with my first MDF in an addition at a School, Phone, Data, and CATV. Being an Electrician this was a task, I did not do it all, and did have the Systems PM overseeing. Just wanted to post a few pics for comments. Good or Bad.


Not bad at all but I would want to see the groups of 24 separately loomed and dropping down some kind of support, we normally just run basket tray or regular tray vertically and tie to that. 

Ideally we pull cables in their groups of 24 like pull 001 - 008 then 009 - 018 and 019 - 26, get 001 to 024 leaving out 025 and 026 and cable tie them into a group of 24 at a point before you drop them into your data centre or telco closet. Leave the 2 cables that didnt make the 001 to 024 and they get coiled up hanging from the tray until you have the 025 to 048 there then pull that loom in, once you have 48 cables in your cabinet or rack its a good idea to get a guy in there terminating if you can spare a body and he can sit there while the monkeys keep feeding him cables.

With prior planning its easy to have neat tidy cabinets and racks.


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## chewy (May 9, 2010)

tkb said:


> Cable ties slow down the data if they are too tight, thats why they use velcro.


 
Thats why you dont do them up tight mate, we cable tie everything in the ceilings that isnt on tray to catenary wires and our CAT6a is scanned with a fluke DTX 1800 to its rated gigabit speed not just tested for continuity and wiremap. With the CAT6a we use you would have to be pretty spastic to be able to tighten the cable ties down to hard, its pretty robust compared to CAT5.

We only velcro fibre in cabinets or if it is specified in the instruction, using velcro for everything would slow us down too much and I believe properly cut and tensioned cable ties give a more professional appearance especially if they are all put on the same way with the heads all lining up and adding or deducting cables from a loom is as easy as snipping off a tie and replacing it theres a lip on the interior ceiling of most cabinets that nicely holds 5 - 10 cable ties that can be real life savers if you know they are there.


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## arifkunnath (Aug 17, 2011)

seems too professional !


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## FireInTheWire (Oct 30, 2011)

Lookin' good! :thumbup:


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## jaredkimber (Jul 29, 2012)

Your cable ladder is upside down, but other than that looks pretty good. Next time you do a job with such large bundles, I would recommend using a cable comb... Your bundles will come out much cleaner.
http://www.acomtools.com/


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## EBFD6 (Aug 17, 2008)

jaredkimber said:


> Your cable ladder is upside down, but other than that looks pretty good. Next time you do a job with such large bundles, I would recommend using a cable comb... Your bundles will come out much cleaner.
> http://www.acomtools.com/


The OP was 4+ years ago


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## jaredkimber (Jul 29, 2012)

EBFD6 said:


> The OP was 4+ years ago


I see this now! :laughing:


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