You will need:
Cat 3 cable
66 Punchdown Block
Punchdown tool with 66 blade ("Cut" end)
Lesson Plan Links
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Begin by stripping off the jacket of the cable. If you are installing for POTS (plain old telephone service), you can strip off as much jacket as you wish. For Cat 3 structured cabling, keep the length of exposed pairs under 4 inches (100 mm).
Untwist the pairs and put in order by color codes. Note the 4 color coded pairs: blue, orange, green, and brown. Each pair consists of the solid color wire and a wire with white and a stripe of color.
The convention is to remember color codes in this way: BL-O-G, which is BLue, Orange, Green, and Brown by default. It is also standard to terminate the white striped wire of the pair first (Tip) then the solid wire (Ring), as in: first, white-blue; second, blue; third, white-orange; fourth, orange; etc.
Push the wires into the contacts one at a time. The 66 block has a slot for each wire that leads to the contact. Make sure all the wires are inserted in the same direction - the end of the wires should all face either up or down so the punchdown tool can be used with the cut side of the blade in one direction only (and you don't cut the wire before the contact instead of after - making for an "open" connection.)
Use the punchdown tool to insert the wire firmly in the IDC contact and cut the excess wire off.
A "Spudger"
is a pencil-like plastic tool with a wire hook on one end and
a molded punchdown on the other end. They are indispensible for
inserting, removing wires in either a 66 or 110 block.
Repeat the process on the other cable opposite the first. Color codes should match side to side.
Complete the connection by connecting the two cables with bridging clips. Alternatively, they can be connected by bridging wires punched down into the center two contacts.
