Compact Network Cable Cutter for Twisted Pair & Copper Cables (JIC-500)

Ships direct from the manufacturer. Please allow up to 10 business days, though it often ships sooner.

A twisted-pair cable cut with side cutters or a knife comes out crushed at the end, with the pairs mashed together and the nylon rip cord still hanging on, and that crushed inch is where the next connector goes. The Jonard Tools JIC-500 is a compact cable cutter made to avoid that. Its ultra-sharp dual curved blades close around the cable rather than squeezing it flat, so the cut end keeps its shape and the pair geometry, and the impedance that depends on it, is intact where the connector or jack goes on. The blades cut all the way through, rip cord included, on network and copper cables up to 0.50 in (12.7 mm) in diameter. It's stamped steel with a black oxide coating, with curved spring-loaded handles and double-dipped plastic grips for more leverage and comfort than a standard cutter, and a locking tab that keeps it closed in the pouch, at 5.59 in and a bit over a quarter pound.

Features

• Dual curved blades. Close around the cable instead of crushing it, so the cut end keeps its shape for consistent impedance when connectorizing.
• Cuts the rip cord too. Ultra-sharp blades go completely through network cable, including the nylon rip cord that other cutters leave behind.
• Up to 0.50 in (12.7 mm). A large jaw opening for network and copper cables, including Cat6A and bundled cable.
• Stamped steel, black oxide. Sharpness and durability from the steel, corrosion resistance from the coating.
• Curved spring-loaded handles. Double-dipped plastic grips, with more cutting leverage and comfort than a standard cutter; the spring opens the tool after each cut.
• Locking tab. Keeps the handles closed when the tool is not in use.

Where It Fits

It suits network installers cutting Cat5e, Cat6, and Cat6A drops to length at the patch panel and the jack, where a clean round end makes the strip and the termination easier, data center and enterprise technicians dressing cable at the rack, anyone making patch cords who has fought a crushed end into an RJ45 plug, security and AV installers cutting twisted pair and small copper cable, telephone technicians on multi-pair cable within the half-inch limit, and a pouch that needs a cutter small enough to live next to the stripper and the crimper. For stripping the jacket after the cut, the TLC-031 and TLC-030 cover Cat5e through Cat8; for round and flat fiber cable, the Jonard fiber tools are the right cutters.

Good to Know

Set the cable in the jaws square to the blades and cut in one squeeze; a cut made in two bites or with the cable at an angle is what leaves a step on the end. The 0.50 in limit is the cable's outside diameter, not the conductor: a single Cat6A at 0.30 in is well inside it, a bundle of three or four is not, and cutting a bundle in one bite flattens the outer cables even with curved blades, so cut them one at a time when the end matters. The cutter is for copper conductors and the jacket, rip cord, and shield around them; it isn't for steel messenger wire, armored cable, screws, or anything that will put a notch in the edge, and a notched blade crushes rather than cuts from then on. Let the spring open the handles and don't force them past the stop. Lock the tab before the tool goes in a pouch, because spring-loaded handles open on their own and ultra-sharp blades don't care what they close on. A wipe of oil on the pivot and the blades now and then keeps the black oxide tool from stiffening. Work on dead circuits only; the plastic grips are for comfort and aren't rated as insulation.

Specifications

Documentation