How to make a Cat5 cable

1. Cut the desired length of cable, making sure the total length is less that 100 metres for100BASE-TX or 300 metres for 10BASE-T

2. Using a stripper, or a knife, carefully strip about 1” of the jacket from one end of the cable. Make sure you don’t nick any of the wires, or you’ll have to start again.

3. Spread and untwist the pairs, and arrange the wires in the following order:

Normal cable:
Green stripe > Green solid >Orange stripe > Blue solid > Blue stripe > Orange solid > Brown stripe > Brown solid

Crossover cable (PC - PC without a router) Orange stripe > Orange solid > Green stripe > Blue solid > Blue stripe > Green solid > Brown stripe > Brown solid

4. Hold the plug with the clip facing away from you, as the diagram illustrates. Trim the wires to about 1/2” from the jacket. Carefully push the wires firmly into the plug sleeve making sure that each wire remains straight and flush to the end of the plug. Inspect the wires to make sure they have remained in the right order.

5. Firmly crimp the plug with a network crimping tool. make sure the plug has closed correctly and the wires are still in the right order.