3 Tips for Better Fiber Optic Cable Splicing

While it can be done, fiber optic cable splicing is a difficult task that cannot be performed by an unprepared person. In fact, splicing a fiber optic cable requires both specialized tools and specialized training. However, if you are committed  to splicing your own fiber optic cable, there is nothing stopping you, provided you take the time to learn to do it correctly. If you are unsure of whether you are prepared to splice fiber optic cable, what follows should give you some tips that you might find helpful.

1. Choose the Best Tools

While you can probably come up with a way to splice fiber optic cable with the tools you have on hand, using the best tools is the only way to get the best results. You can use an ordinary set of wire cutters to strip the outer jacket that houses the fiber tubes and fibers, but the best tool for the job is a cable rip cord. However, your wire cutters are still useful for making minor adjustments and cutting away loose scraps of jacket material.

Additionally, you will need a buffer tube stripper to strip the inner cables once you have removed the outer jacket. Again, you can use a more improvised method if you wish. However, splicing fiber optic cable requires a great deal of precision to do correctly. In order to avoid wasting your hard work, not to mention your supply of fiber optic cable, you should use a buffer tube stripper if at all possible.

2. Using the Right Cleaning Materials

When you are working on your fiber optic cable, you do not want any cable gel around to interfere with the job you are doing. Because of this, it is important to remove all of the cable gel from your cable's fibers. After you strip the cable jacket and the fiber tubes, exposing the inner fibers, use a cable gel remover on the exposed fibers to clean them off. Keeping your work clean is a vital part of successfully stripping fiber optic cable.

Additionally, you will want to clean the fiber completely after you remove the cable gel. The best way to do this is with a soft cloth and isopropyl alcohol. Get your cloth damp with this cleaning agent and wipe off your fibers. When you are done, finish working on them immediately and do not let them get dirty.

3. Test the Splice

A successful splice will involve great care, as well as many successful tests to see if you have done a good job. In order to splice fiber optic cable, you will need a fusion splicer at the bare minimum. However, in order to get an accurate measurement of how well your fiber optic cables are connected, and whether the splice will work in practice once you are done, you will need an ODTR, or optical time-domain reflectometer. Additionally, if you want to perform additional tests, you will want access to a power meter so that you can test the fiber optic cable in both directions. Doing these tests before you finalize the splice will greatly increase your success rate.