Bare-Hand Bending

• 1). Grasp the cable with both hands, placing your thumbs together so that they touch at the apex of the point of the bend.
  
  
• 2). Exert pressure with both hands to slowly start bending the cable ends back toward you. Use your thumbs to maintain an acceptable bending radius at the bend location and avoid kinking the cable.
  
  
• 3). Stop yourself from re-forming the bend. Bend the cable one time only. Do not bend it, straighten it and then bend it again until it looks right. Every time you re-form the cable, you distort it.
  
  

Tool Bending

• 1). Start in the middle of the cable between the two proposed endpoints of the cable segment you are going to bend. Leave enough excess cable at each end to allow for the total cable length to be reduced as bends are added. By starting in the middle and working out toward each end, you will minimize the risk of running out of cable.
  
  
• 2). Form the cable, then hold it up against the proposed route along the equipment rack to monitor your progress. If it looks good, continue on to the next bend. If the bend looks off, start over with a fresh length of cable and avoid making the same mistake during your second attempt.
  
  
• 3). Mark the cable, with an indelible marker, to identify the bend locations as you work outward from the middle to the end of the cable.
  
  
• 4). Complete forming the entire cable prior to preparing the ends for connectors.