OPTICAL CABLE BLOG LIBRARY
How small is too small…. the fiber optic cable industry over the decades
Looking back at the fiber optic cable industry over two to four decades, I notice the trend, as in everything, is to make each device smaller and more feature-filled. This is true in connectors, cables, transceivers etc. Perusing my collection of old fiber optic...
Realistic Integration of Next-generation Fiber Optic Technologies
What we do vs. what we wish to do‚ thoughts on the realistic integration of next-generation fiber optic technologies. Today, fiber optic communications have been firmly established. We install networks both in the switched telephone and CATV networks with...
Preserving Critical Knowledge for Next-Gen Fiber and Cable Professionals
Are we doomed to repeat the past? Not letting our industry’s critical “tribal knowledge” become lost. As more colleagues from my generation move toward retirement, I am concerned that the collected knowledge we gained empirically is not fully being preserved for the...
Fiber optic cable specifications: With so many specs, which ones should you qualify to?
One of the questions I often get from fiber optic cable manufacturers is: “Which specifications do I have to qualify to?” Additionally, I often hear: “Why is it that this particular specification is not good enough? Why can’t one spec fit all?” Unfortunately, a...
Optical Cable Measurements: Why Don’t OTDR and Jacket Length Markings Agree?
One of the questions I get asked about regarding optical cable measurements is: “Why don’t my OTDR and jacket length markings agree?” The answer depends on the type of cable being made. In the old days (when you and I were a lot younger) the normal procedure was for...
Cablers: Advice to Efficiently Reconfigure Fiber Optic Process Lines for Add-on Products – Without Resulting in Suboptimized Products
When I was a process engineer at a large cabler, we could reconfigure our fiber optic process lines in about 20 minutes. In a 3-shift day, we could produce 8 different products. Unfortunately, most cablers don’t enjoy this level of efficiency. Cablers large and small...
Cablers: Are you looking to work with Specialty Cables or Furcation Tubes? If so, here are key points to consider.
A growing trend in the fiber optic industry is the increasing use of specialty fibers. Clearly, telecommunications and data communications applications are the high-volume users of fiber optics, yet other areas are burgeoning. In fact, many specialty fiber optic...
Advice for Raw Material Suppliers Planning to Sell to the Optical Cable Industry: 4 Points to Consider – and Pitfalls to Avoid
In the “dog-eat-dog” world of raw materials, competition is stiff. Margins are tight. Opportunities are rare. Is your company eyeing fiber optics as a new market? If you’re a raw material supplier looking to sell to the optical cable industry, keep reading. ...
Advice for Cable Manufacturers Looking to Enter the US Fiber Optic Market
I am seeing a trend in the fiber optic industry: Cable manufacturers around the world are looking to develop and qualify cable designs in order to enter the US fiber optic market. Unfortunately, I am witnessing another trend: Many cable manufacturers don’t do enough...
Buying Used vs. New Equipment: Challenges in Optical Cable Manufacture and New Extrusion Line Business
Many times I have had the conversation about how to get started in cable manufacture or get a new extrusion line up quickly. Invariably two questions come up: How quick can I be in production and what equipment do I need? That quickly is followed by, How much will it...
So You Want To Start a Cable Company or Add a Cable Making Division?
At the 65th IWCS International Cable & Connectivity Symposium, Technical Horsepower Consulting, LLC. (THC) presented a short talk on Starting a Cable Company and/or Adding a Cable Making Division. The talk included a handout outlining the basic questions that...
Braiders, Optical Cables and the Common Ground of Restorations
As I was going over thoughts of what is appropriate for a summer blog I noticed that some of my hobbies and my vocation cross in very different ways. For example, I have spent the bulk of my professional career developing and building optical cables and the means to...
Wayne Kachmar’s Are we ready for change?
Reflecting on trade show booths and poster papers now versus the past few years, I believe that we are ready for disruptive change. Every year there are many new disruptive technologies being put forth as ready for implementation. The real question is, are those...
Technical Article: Loose Tight Buffer, Time to Define What We Mean
Published 10.6.15 in the IWCS Proceedings from the 64th International Cable & Connectivity Symposium (2015) by Wayne Kachmar, President Technical Horsepower Consulting LLC. with Fiber Optic Center, Inc. Abstract As the optical fiber and cable industry...
Wayne Kachmar answers, “Are all cable lines alike?”
Are all cable lines alike? I've heard this many times before and typically it's from operations type folks who have seen both copper and fiber cable operations recognize the similarity of the process but do not understand the subtle differences between processing a...
Defining Type and Semi-tight Buffers as Opposed to Loose Tubes in Optical Cables
One of the questions that I've been asked about many times is; how tight is the buffer on the cable that I am providing? Is it a “true tight buffer” or is it “semi-tight” or “loose tight buffer” or one of the other various terms thrown around such as tight bound,...
