The Monorail™ Installation Cable Tips with Solder-less Connectors

Test, test test! After every connection you make, check for both continuity and a short. Every cable has FOUR connections and you don't want to undo and remake four connections hunting down which one isn't successful. You really must test after each connection so that if you find a problem, you fix it before moving on.

First make a clean 90° cut with a sharp razor blade or cutters and roll the cable between your fingers to ensure that it is perfectly round.

With straight plugs, remove the screw so it doesn't snag the jacket on insertion.

When you hold the cable to insert it, hold it firmly to keep the jacket in place.

While pushing it in, rotate the plug back and forth. This helps the cable slide in nicely.

Stop pushing the cable the moment you feel pressure. Now just give it that extra shove to seat the pin against the conductor. It shouldn't move that much.

Before turning the ground screw measure the positive signal with a meter and THEN tighten the set screw for the negative/shield so it’s just below flush with the barrel of the ¼” phone connector.

If it does not work pull out the cable and you may notice that the positive (white) conductor is usually pushed in a bit. Either re-cut the cable or trim any overlapping shield/negative/black plastic with a pair of scissors . This ensures that the positive conductor will protrude more and also lessen the chances of a stray ground wire shorting out on the center positive conductor.

When using right-angled connectors, keep forward pressure on the cable into the right-angle plug while bending it over to put the end-cap on.

When using right-angled connectors, don't close the cap ALL the way. The ideal depth will leave a small gap; without the gap you might create a short. Finding the exact depth comes with experience. After a few cables you'll learn when to stop based on the resistance you feel to your turning pressure, as well as the size of the space you see that remains.

Loctite™ is your friend. Please buy a tube and put a drop on the threads before putting the cap on.

Having just made a few hundred of these, there is an interesting dynamic I have observed:

When you have the knack down and start putting these together, you'll find they go together quickly without any trouble. You'll knock out one every minute and finish ten patch cables in a row without any trouble. Then for some reason your next patch cable will give you trouble. You'll end up spending ten minutes on a single patch cable wondering why on earth it keeps shorting, or you can't get the pin up against the center conductor, or you keep hitting the center of the conductor with the pin, or the jacket keeps getting pushed down when pushing the cable into the plug. Nothing works in your favor.

The is no explanation for this. Best thing to do is catch your breath. Perhaps walk away and look out the window at something which might make you smile. Now go back, sit down, make a fresh cut and start over. Magically it will go together without any trouble.

Here's a video of the process using two right angle connectors. This is the process. There were no special effects used in the making of this video. Promise. Go full-screen to see better:

Here's another video. Full-screen might be useful here as well: