Agtec Telecoms - Fibre Stripping Procedure MHT 1474A

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Equipment
The equipment used for stripping the coating off the fibre units are shown in the first two photographs.

Tube cutter
This is the type of stripping tool recommend for the stripping of the outer sheath of the fibre units.
It is available from Emtelle (Product Code 7299).

The blades are adjusted by means of slackening the small screw clamp screw and moving the blade to the desired position and then tightening the screw. The blade will need set for each type of fibre unit (i.e. 12fibre or 8 fibre etc).

Fibre stripper
This tool is used to remove the acrylate from the individual fibres. To use it simply hold the handles with the fibre unit in the v-shaped grooves, gently
squeeze and pull the acrylate from the fibre.
The fibre stripper is available from Emtelle (Product Code 7335)

Safety
As the fibre is a glass product, it is recommended that safety glasses are worn at all times when handling the fibre.

Method
The following section shows the recommended method of stripping the fibre unit.

Place the fibre unit between the jaws of the cutter, sitting it in the V-shaped groove.
Hold the cutter stationary in one hand, and with the jaws closed, rotate the fibre a full 360°, ensuring the outer sheath has been completely cut (Fig 3).

The result should be the easy removal of the sheath (Fig 4). If the sheath doesn’t come off, check to see if the cut is completely 360°, or that the cut is not deep enough.
Take care not to cut too deep as this will damage the fibre.
With the outer sheath removed, the end of the fibre bundle needs to be crushed to enable the paring of the fibres. This is done with the end of the fibre strippers as shown in the adjacent photo (Fig 5).
The length of the crushed section needs only to be about 30mm.
Once the end has been crushed, the loose acrylate can be scraped off using the fibre strippers. This will leave the bared individual fibres. Take care not to squeeze the strippers too much as this may break some of the individual fibres (Fig 6).
Hold the individual fibres in two even bundles (this gives maximum strength to the fibres, minimising the risk of a fibre snapping) and pull apart to the desired length (Fig 7).
Greater care must be taken when stripping two and four fibre units.
Once the fibres have been pared back to the required length, carefully separate the fibres from the acrylate, as shown, and snap off the loose acrylate, taking care not to break off a fibre in the process (Fig 8).

The end result is all the fibres free from any acrylate, as shown
on the adjacent photo (Fig 9).