For the longest time I’ve used a product called Paladin Crimp-All modular crimp set (10+ years). I used it for RG58/RG6 & telecom terminating.
I went searching around for dies for the newer cables to discover this company and it’s products don’t really exist, the few that do are on clearance sales.
I am extremely disappointed to find this tool has been dropped from production, it is one of the best made tools for it’s job I’ve come across. I didn’t go home with sore hands at the end of a day of doing craploads of cable terminations after I found this one. It requires very little force and the soft grip saved your hands.
Platinum tools
Their gadget, might not fit cat 7 and beyond but does do Cat 6a STP or UTP and has modular die.
Klein tools:
Rated for Cat 6a, I’ve no idea about it’s compatibility for connector standards beyond that.
Amazon has this no name crimp tool for large diameter Cat 7a and Cat 8. I’ve never tried it but the handles remind me of the cheap tools I learned on in school that hurt me a lot.
What is different in the connectors besides possible shielding?
Greenlee Tools bought them, so pretty much everything is still available, but now for the new Greenlee prices (higher).
I’m still punching my keystone stuff down, and again other than a shield I don’t see much reason to change.
And all that said, I’m not working with cat7 or cat8 much at all, the cat7 I’ve done has all been done with the same tools as cat5e, just buy the right connectors for the cable being used. I have that same Paladin crimper you have, and a bunch of dies for other cable types (coax hex crimp). If I was doing a lot of shielded twisted pair, I might be looking for a different crimper and connectors that work with it for an easy solution. But for right now, anything that requires 10+gbe at any real length is going to be fiber optic, and I’ll buy it the length I need with ends already terminated. And if you are doing installs, time is money and I understand looking for something “better”, I’m not in that position right now (but who knows with this plague stuff), I’ve been thinking about getting a fiber splicing machine lately.
Hi @Greg_E, I’m not entirely sure since 6a, 7 and beyond is new to me. The Cat 8 shielded don’t fit my existing crimpset so that tells me at the very least that i’d need a different tool for the newer STP but I can still use it for UTP unless the connector needs something specific.
The shielding around the connector is maybe 1mm wider than my crimp die.
Platinum tools claims only their crimpsets are appropriate for the connectors they sell.
I saw somebody else asking about tool options so I thought i’d post this here in case it’s of use to someone.
I’ve used mine on several cat 5e/6 shielded connectors without issue, I just bought generic ones from cables and kits. The RJ45 has a spec. so everything should fit correctly.
