Can also just buy a bag of 'em: https://www.techtoolsupply.com/RJ-45-Quick-Plug-Easy-Repair-...

I'm still working my way through the 50-count bag I bought in 2018; evidently I don't actually encounter that many broken cables, they just exert an outsized effect on my psyche when I do.

I might just have to buy a 3d printer now.

I mean, sure, but reterminating with a new, not broken RJ45 only takes 30 seconds, and they cost peanuts.

Heh. The first thing I do with a new ethernet cable is to break the clip, laptop side. It's orders of magnitude better to have an occasional disconnection than to trip with the cable and make the laptop fall from the table.

I did not invent this. I've seen legendary graybeards do it. I see it as a rite of maturity, like cyclists who discard the caps of their presta valves.

I'm starting to think I have dreamt this but... wasn't there an IBM Ethernet cable with instead of the little tab ending in ... nothing, it was a little bridge that went back down, so nothing to hook/snag on. But it didn't look quite like the 3D printed one here, but it was symmetrical looking, like a tiny tiny arch bridge.

Oh, and it was made of springy metal, in this maybe dream.

That's fantastic, just about every one of these cables I have eventually ends up tabless. They're just built so flimsily that breaking them is a complete inevitability if you need to plug them in more than once, they're like a 5 time use cable.

Comparing it to other types of connectors, RJ45 is probably one of the worst ones out there (at least VGA has screws that don't break), but it's also as prevalent as USB-A so I wonder if anything will ever replace it.

So the 8 pin modular connector(rj-45) may not be the best connector in the world(the 8088 sas connector is a serious contender for that honor), but it does one thing better than any most connectors, it is designed to be field terminated, and as such is easy to fix. the crimping dies are ubiquitous, the process is simple. because of this single fact, I think it is better than just about any other connector in widespread use. because you can fix the infernal thing.

As such the article left me a bit confused, why not just cut off the end and putting a new plug on? with an 8 pin connector this is very easy. But I am in the industry and tend to have a crimper close to hand. perhaps some are not as fortunate.

I don't have problems with RJ45 tabs breaking off. I do have two problems with the connectors:

1. Sometimes the connectors don't latch properly in the port and fall right out. I try to bend the tab out further to help it latch but it never stays.

2. Some patch cables have rubber over moulding that covers the latch that's so stiff that I have trouble getting it to release. Who even wants the latches to be covered? One of my cables has a thin rubber tab over the clip that stops it from snagging on things, I guess, but doesn't inhibit unlatching. But it seems that the most popular over moulding is the terrible one.

If modern laptops even have ether net ports, they seem to the kind with the little spring loaded flap because the laptop is too thin for a normal ether net port. So I'm surprised they haven't made a slim lightning connector type ether net port.

I've just remembered that while having our second child the nurse couldn't get the monitoring in the nursing station due to one of these clips. The ethernet socket was quite high up the wall so the weight of the cable was handing from the slightly broken clip. Thankfully even in my frazzled state I was able to suggest turning the cable around end for end so that the one with a good tab was plugged into the wall.

The best option is probably re-crimping the cable, but in a pinch you can make an extra clip with spare zip ties also.

https://www.cabletiesplus.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/0...

Or... snip off the connector and crimp a new one on.

This one is fine. But I had better luck on my booted CAT6A cables with this other design. The longer one is what I used and even then, I had to shave the nose a mm or two.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2009495

This is a very good design! Great job and thank you for sharing. Happy thanksgiving everyone!

Looks like a poor match for FDM printing. There's no orientation where the layers won't leave some part of this component very weak. In any orientation, it requires support material; in the suggested print orientation, it requires internal support material, which will leave rough surfaces on areas of the part that have to interface and fit with the ethernet jack.

Essentially doesn't really look like a 3D-printing project so much as an injection moulded part design.

Ethernet / RJ45 could displace USB 3/4. It's technically superior in every way. The only barrier that I can see is the standards folk would need to come up with a new RJ45 connector that is designed for end users.

This made me think, why do we still have RJ45? Yeah of course it won’t disappear anytime soon, but couldn’t USB C replace it? Are there USB C switches (hubs) with say RJ45 input (from Internet) and USB C output ports for connecting local machines? I’m thinking about a small home network with say 8 ports. Ideally, it could also deliver power to smaller units, such as a set-top-box and wifi base station. Larger devices such as TVs could also deliver power to its connected boxes. What if we had an Apple TV with a single cable… it could receive both power and network traffic via the TV and deliver the TV signal back over the same cable.

had no idea this was a thing

Does not fit into my 20 meter long cable. It has fatter handles. Can I have programmable Openscad - version?

Model complex to print without good reasons...