HAND TOOLS: Tips

Note the cable diameter and jacket thickness for each cable – Stripping cables and fibers is a delicate process. Carefully set your hand tool or machine tool to the right cable diameter and jacket thickness to prevent damaging the inner materials: aramid yarns,...

“First, Do No Harm”: I want to emphasize the importance of not damaging inner materials when stripping any layer of the cable. This is most important when removing the Buffer materials directly protecting the optical fiber. If the blade of the strip tool ...

Fiber Stripping: Damage to the fiber during stripping may not always cause the fiber to break immediately. It is very possible for a damaged fiber to remain unbroken during the production line processing. Unless the weakened fiber breaks during production...

Fiber Stripping: If the blades are dull, coating edge at the stripped boundary may be rough and jagged.  Such a rough coating edge can lead to lateral forces on the fiber when it is inserted into the ferrule holder / ferrule assembly (causing degraded product...

The “transition point” is where the buffered fiber is stripped away to reveal the bare fiber. This is often done mechanically, presenting an opportunity for damage to the bare fiber from the stripping tool. Very minor damage to the glass renders is very weak,...

Fiber Stripping Tip: Fibers must be stripped of all protective coatings prior to inserting into a connector.  Mechanical stripping, by far the most common method, consists of using tools with sharp, precisely machined metal cutting blades to cut into the...

Use the proper strip template when stripping for connectorization – All connector types are not designed exactly the same, and will have specific strip-length requirements for Aramid Yarn and Buffers. Most connector will have a “stripping template” available to...