CRIMP AND SAVE LIKE NEVER BEFORE

Pete ‘Monty’ Monfort, Director of Arena Training Centre and Monty Electrics 

I don’t know about you, but I can’t say I’ve ever been a fan of data. Small wires and big fingers just do not mix well together in my world. Thankfully, however, a tonic has arrived in the form of the FT-45 Unshielded Kit from Ideal Industries. 

The kit comprises a crimping tool, the Data T-Cutter (with curved blades designed to keep the cable impedance (Ω) consistent during connector to cable termination), a ringing tool (stripper), 50 x Cat 6 connectors and 50 x Cat 5 connectors, all contained in a robust plastic box which can also house the various modular plugs you might need. The kit is compatible with other connectors too, including shielded and large diameter plugs. 

The ringing tool has two removable cartridges - the blue one is for stripping of UTP/twisted pair cable and the grey for coaxial cables. The design of the modular plugs is quite remarkable in that it permits the wire in the data cable to pass right through the plug and the crimping tool has both A and B type wiring patterns clearly marked, allowing the installer to easily check that the cores have been arranged in the correct sequence - not crossed over or folded back. During the crimping process the excess cable is sliced off, leaving a perfectly formed modular plug.  

If you undertake any tasks involving coaxial cable the ringing tool makes short work of preparing the end, leaving ¼” of conductor exposed and ¼” of shielding exposed. The Ideal Industries range of crimp, compression and twist on connectors will then make a sound connection.

Given the very reasonable price-point of this kit, it really is a ‘must have’ tool set for those who are going to be doing more than just the odd bit of data installation.