Fiber Cleaver FTTH Fiber Optic Tools High Precision 6C Cable Cutting Fiber Optic Knife Tools Fiber Cleavers 12 Surface Blade

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There are laser-based devices (containing a CO 2 laser) which allow the preparation of fiber ends as an alternative to cleaving. Strictly speaking, the used process is not cleaving (which is a mechanical breaking process) but rather something like laser cutting. Nevertheless, it has become common to name it laser cleaving because it produces similar results.

As mentioned before, fiber optic cleavers can be classified into precision cleavers and cheap or scribe cleavers. Scribe CleaversSince fracture is such a violent and difficult to control process, even the best commercial cleaver will sometime produce defective cleaves. Tools for fiber cleaving are called fiber cleavers. Different kinds of such instruments are explained in the article on fiber cleavers. Simple and inexpensive cleavers, based e.g. on some pen-shaped scribes, are sufficient for simple purposes, when used with proper training. For a higher and more consistent cleave quality, which is less dependent on the operator, mechanical precision splicers are used, which are substantially more expensive. Problematic Cases

Note that it is often very worthwhile to carefully inspect fiber cleaves before using them, as later on it may be much more tedious to locate a fault. Even with a mechanical precision cleaver, the results may not be fully reliable because they require correct settings and can be spoiled by a defect blade, which is not easy to recognize. Additional Treatment: Polishing AFL Telecommunications, a subsidiary of Fujikura Ltd. of Japan since 2005, is widely recognized by the telecommunications industry as one of the foremost fiber optic solution providers.

A somewhat reduced fiber tension during the cleaving process may help. Double-clad fibers with an air cladding are particularly challenging. The reliability and resulting quality is substantially better than with real mechanical cleaving, and this of course leads to substantial advantages in terms of yield and working time. That is particularly the case when polishing steps have to follow; the time spent on those (and the amount of used consumables) can be reduced due to the improved starting quality. On the other hand, a laser lever is of course substantially more expensive than a mechanical cleaver. Conversely, if the Fresnel reflection of a fiber end needs to be exploited (e.g. for building a fiber laser), it is important to keep the cleave angle small – well below the beam divergence angle corresponding to the fiber mode. Large mode area fibers are more critical in this respect.