Product Focus: Fiber Cleavers

From the March, 2015 Issue of Cabling Installation & Maintenance Magazine

Compact angled cleaver

Senko's new compact, high-quality, precision angled cleaver has what the company calls "a unique 8-degree profiled cleaving action." Senko adds, "Easy to use one-step cleaving operation yields consistent quality cleaves for up to 10,000 uses on a single blade. Multi-position, low-maintenance diamond blade and integral fiber-scrap tray make cleaving 250/900μm buffered fibers simple and quick."

The company adds that the precision cleaver assists in maintaining "superior back reflection and insertion loss requirements for critical high-end applications." Its ease of use and maintenance "make it the tool of choice for our telco-grade SC/APC field-installable QXP mechanical splice connector," Senko concludes.

Senko Advanced Components
senko.com

Compact, lightweight single-fiber cleaver

The Fujikura CT-06 fiber cleaver offered by AFL is compact and lightweight, the company says, providing a simple, single-step operation for high-quality cleaves. Designed for cleaving single fibers only, the CT-06 is "rugged yet scaled-down, providing installers with a versatile and dependable cleaver," AFL says. "With a 48,000-cleave blade life, the 16-position circular blade performs a cleaving operation in one single step."

The CT-06 fiber cleaver is equipped with a manual fiber-scrap collector and is "ideal for the installation of field-installable connectors and mechanical splices," AFL adds. The CT-06 is one of a family of products, from pocket cleavers to high-precision cleavers, available from AFL.

AFL
aflglobal.com/cleavers

Cleaver also places fiber into splicer

Greenlee Communications describes its 910CL Optical Fiber Cleaver as "a precision cleaver that provides fast and accurate cleaves for fusion splicing. The 910CL utilizes a unique integrated approach that cleaves the fiber and directly places it into the fusion splicer with the same fiber adapter. This removes the need to handle the fiber moving it from the cleaver to the splicer, reducing the chance of damaging the cleave."

The cleaving wheel is rated for 48,000 cleaves and, Greenlee says, routinely outperforms the <1.5-degree angle specification. The 910CL is capable of cleaving all common fiber types, Greenlee adds, including singlemode and multimode. An optional fixed-clamp kit can turn the 910CL into a standalone cleaver.

Greenlee Communications
greenleecommunications.com

1- to 12-fiber cleaver with auto blade rotation

Sumitomo Electric Lightwave's FC-6RM-C cleaver is "the industry's only 1- to 12-fiber ribbon cleaver with high-precision automatic blade rotation due to Sumitomo Electric's patented technology," the company says. "The cleaver eliminates the time-consuming and error-prone process of height and blade rotation adjustments, thereby increasing ease of use, cleaving precision, and the cleaver's maximum product life," the company adds.

The patented technology automatically rotates the cleaver blade during use in a two-step process that prevents double scoring of fibers-ultimately allowing the user to streamline the cleaving process undisrupted to cleave single or multiple fibers with maximum precision and time efficiency. "The difficult process of blade rotation adjustments has in the past necessitated increased service and maintenance of the fiber cleavers," Sumitomo Electric Lightwave explains. "The FC-6RM-C significantly reduces the need for maintenance and service with 48,000 consecutive cleaves requiring no manual rotation of the blade or height adjustment. The cleaver includes a scrap collector."

The FC-6RM-C joins Sumitomo's auto-blade-rotation cleaver product line that also includes the FC-6R-S single-fiber splicer and the FC-7R, a 1- to 8-fiber cleaver.

Sumitomo Electric Lightwave
sumitomoelectric.com