Need tips on putting ends on cat6 cables

[Shadowhawk]

An inch of untwist for a connector that's not even an inch long? That's pretty excessive...how much of the cable insulation is inside the connector?

And 3 hours...man, you really do suck at it. I thought it excessive when it took me 20 minutes to get one end on a cable.

What you should do is strip about 2" of insulation, and untwist the wires about 1-1.5". Sort them out, and bend them rapidly along their entire length to get them a bit easier to work. Measure with the connector to see how much excess you need to cut off to make sure the twist ends as close to the wire channels in the connector, but to still have the wires reach the end of the connector.
If you cut off too much, strip another inch of insulation and start over.

Depending on the cable and the crimper, you'll either want the insulation past the lock-point, or just before it. With really stiff insulation or a crappy crimper, you may not lock the insulation down tight enough to secure the wires, so you won't want to insert it that far. With softer insulation or a good crimper, you'll want the insulation past the lock point. If the insulation doesn't go into the connector at all, you're going to have problems with snagging, bending, more mechanical stress on the wires...

[Pu-239]

I've spent a couple of hours on a single cable before. Then again, I didn't have a crimper and had to use pliars and a screwdriver.

[phongn]

For Cat 5e or earlier cable the extra half-inch is no big deal. For Cat 6 or better you can't get away with that.