Category Archives: Fiber Optic Splicing

How to Maintain Your Fiber Optic Fusion Splicer?

Fiber optical splicing is the act to joint two fibers together by using heat. Generally, there are two types of optical splicing: mechanical splicing and fusion splicing. Fusion splicing cannot be completed without a piece of equipment called fusion splicer. However, you can’t just use it without any maintenance. Do you know how to maintain it in your daily work? Today, this article is to give you some advice for your fusion splicer maintenance.

What Is Fiber Optic Fusion Splicer?

Fiber optic fusion splicer uses an electric arc to melt two optical fibers at the level of their faces to end and form a long fiber. It connects two fibers permanently so that the optical signals can be transmitted in the fiber with a very low loss.

fusion-splicer

How Does a Fusion Splicer Work?

Before we know how to maintain our fusion splicers, we need to make sense how it works. Only when you know clearly its work process can you get how to avoid some unnecessary mistakes which may cause great damage to your fusion splicer.

Usually, before starting a fusion splicing, the preparations need to be finished: removing all the protective coating, completely clean and then precisely cleaving to form a smooth and perpendicular end faces. When all of these have been done, the fiber optic fusion splicer takes over the rest of the process which includes three steps.

Alignment. With the help of a small but precise motor, the fusion splicer makes tiny adjustments to the fibers’ positions until they are aligned properly. During this process, the fiber optic workers can view the fiber alignment by optical power meter video camera or viewing scope.

Impurity Burn-Off. Since the slightest trace of dust or other impurities can affect the transmission of optical signals, cleaning is always the first important thing needed to be done. Before fusing, fusion splicer can generate a small spark between the fiber ends to burn off the remaining dust or moisture.

Fusion. After fibers have been aligned and thoroughly cleaned, it’s time to fuse the fiber ends together. The splicer emits a second, large spark that melts the optical fiber end faces Then the melted fibers are jointed together.

Daily Care and Maintenance

Now we have know how the fusion splicer works, it’s time to learn something on how to maintain fusion splicer to make sure the fusion procedures go on wheels. Here are some tips on how you can maintain your fusion splicers. These tips are mainly about the cleaning in the fusion process.

Cleaning Before Splicing
  • Clean the V-groove. If there are contaminants in the V -groove, it cannot clamp fiber properly and will cause unnecessary optical loss. Therefore, the V -groove should be checked and cleaned regularly. Generally, a thin cotton swab dipped with alcohol can be used to clean V-groove. If it doesn’t work, first you can use a fiber that has been cleaved to remove the contaminants, and then clean the V -groove with thin cotton swab.

cleaning-fusion-splicer

  • Clean the Fiber Clamp. If there are dusts on the fiber clamp, it may lead to poor fiber connections. So the cleaning of fiber clamp cannot be ignored in your daily work. Firstly, cleaning the surface of fiber clamp with a thin cotton swab dipped with alcohol. Then dry the clamp with a dry cotton swab.

cleaning-fusion-splicer

  • Clean the cleaver. Always keep in mind that the cleaver blade should be kept clean, or it will bring dust to the fiber end face, resulting big splice loss. The method to clean the cleaver blade is to clean it with cotton swab.

fiber-cleaver

Regular Inspection and Cleaning

In order to ensure the quality of fusion splicing, it’s recommended to do regular inspection and cleaning for the fusion splicer. The check items include objective lens, windshield and electrodes.

Conclusion

In summary, it’s vital to maintain fusion splicer to ensure a precise fusion splicing. Of course, good maintenance is necessary, but obviously a good fusion splicer is more important. Fiberstore provides various types of fiber optic splicer and some other accessories which can make splicing much easier and more stable. If you want to know more, please visit FS.com.

Fiber Cleaver – An Essential Tool for Fiber Splicing

In the world of fiber splicing, fiber cleaver is an important tool that cleaves the fibers to be spliced precisely. It is the warranty of a good splicing because the quality of the splice will depend on the quality of the cleave. And high quality fiber breaks with clean surfaces are the yardstick for good fiber cleavers. This article will provide some knowledge about fiber cleavers.

Basics of Fiber Cleaver

In optical fiber, a cleave means a controlled break that intentionally creates a perfect flat end face which is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the fiber. Fiber optic cleaver is used in most production lines. It can give a precise cut at a cleave angle of 90 degrees to the fiber end. Cleavers are available for both single fiber or ribbon fibers.

Two kinds of fiber cleavers are often seen in the market. First is the pen-shaped scribe cleaver, which looks like a ballpoint pen. It has small wedge tip made of diamond or other hard materials. Scribe cleaver is a traditionally low-cost fiber cleaving tool using the scribe-and-pull method to cleave the fiber. The operator may scribe the fiber manually and then pull the fiber to break it. But it is difficult to achieve high cleaving accuracy by this tool.

scribe-cleaver

Therefore, in order to solve the problem of accuracy, the precision cleaver is introduced to the industry. This might cost you much higher than the scribe cleaver, but your working speed and efficiency can be greatly improved since multiple fibers can be cleaved at one time. With the extensive applications of fusion splicers, precision cleavers are favored by operators to avoid splice loss.

precision-cleaver

How to Use Precision Cleaver?

Precision cleaver is the mechanical device, which looks a little difficult for novices to deal with. Here are some simple steps that you can follow when using the precision cleaver:

  • Step one, open the fiber clamp.
  • Step two, press down on the button and slide the carriage back.
  • Step three, move the fiber slide back until it stops.
  • Step four, clean the stripped fiber with a solution of greater than 91% ISO alcohol.
  • Step five, place the stripped and cleaned fiber into the slot at the desired cleave length.
  • Step six, while maintaining firm pressure on the buffer, move the fiber slide forward until it stops.
  • Step seven, close the fiber clamp.
  • Step eight, slide the carriage forward.
  • Step nine, lift the fiber clamp.
  • Step ten, move the fiber slide back.
  • Step eleven, remove the fiber, which is now cleaved to the proper length.
  • Step twelve, remove and properly dispose of the scrap fiber.
Precautions for Fiber Cleaving

Make sure you comply with these precautions during the process of fiber cleaving:

  • First, wear a pair of safety glasses. This can protect your eyes from accidental injury. It is highly recommended when handling chemicals and cleaving fiber.
  • Second, be careful when using ISO alcohol. Keep the ISO alcohol away from heat, sparks and open flame. This is because the ISO alcohol is flammable under the flash point of 73° F. It can also cause irritation to eyes on contact. In case of eye contact, flush eyes with water for at least 15 minutes. Moreover, inhaling fumes may induce mild narcosis. In case of ingestion, consult a physician.
  • Third, store cleaved glass fibers in proper place. Since cleaved glass fibers are very sharp and can pierce the skin easily. Do not let cut pieces of fiber stick to your clothing or drop in the work area where they can cause injury later. Use tweezers to pick up cut or broken pieces of the glass fibers and place them on a loop of tape kept for that purpose alone.
Conclusion

Having a qualified fiber cleaver enhances the cleaving precision and efficiency. Nowadays, precision cleaver has been widely applied to accurate fusion splicing. Proper investment is valuable for the long-term applications. If you want to get one for your project, FS.COM is a good place to go.