My first lab for Net-125 was assembling a 8' patch cable using Cat 5 UTP cable and RJ-45 Male adapters as well as attaching RJ-45 female wall outlet to a 1' section of Cat 5 UTP cable. We were to use the TIA/EIA 568B standard. A quick look to the right and you will see a nice diagram I colored from my text book that lays out the proper color order. Making a patch cable might sound like an easy task but it can be a little more difficult then one might think. First your dealing with very small wire that have been twisted together since they day they were made...and your first task is to remove the outer shielding without damaging them. Next you need to untwist the wires and line'em up in the order you want..they don't like this and fight you the whole way. Now that they are lined up in the right color order you cut'em straight and insert the wire in to the RJ-45 male adapter. Remember copper is golden. IF you see copper at the end (and you have the right color sequence) you use a specal clampling tool to secure the adapter to the wire. Now it time to test it with a cable test.....after waiting inline to test my cable and hearing the fail beep for a few other students I was very happy to hear the good beep for my cable. Even though I had made a patch cable before , I learned alot as in what to look for to avoid crimping without a good connection and what standards to use.

The next exercise we assembled the RJ-45 female wall adapter (as you can see from above)
This was less tedious then the first one, and a little funner. The proper color code is on the side of the adapter so it is hard to make a mistake. After you get the wires in the right spot you use a insertion tool that also has a blade that cuts the excess wire off. This was the cool part I put all my wire in place first then bam bam bam bam in fast session inserted my wires. I did make a small error as you can see from the photo I should have left about 1/2" more shielding, but this will work :) We did this on a table, I would be interested in seeing how well it works while the wire is hanging out of a sheet rock wall....Thanks goes out to my Teacher Brad for making it look easy and giving us a good look on hows it done.