Design and development of an automatic cutting tool for optical fibers

Abstract

A new type of automatic cutting tool for obtaining good fiber end-surface has been proposed. In principle, a bare fiber is scored by rotating a broadaxe-shaped blade, while the fiber is supported by two magnetic clamps. The fiber is then fractured by applying bending and tensile stresses. The tool is 10 cm wide, 7.5 cm high, 9 cm long, weighs about 500 g, and is battery-driven. Optimum cutting conditions have been investigated, revealing that the blade pressure should be 10 g, bending stress should be 15 kg/mm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> , and tensile stress should be 6 kg/mm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> . Under these conditions, an average endface inclination of 0.42 ° is easily obtained. Stable cutting is confirmed during 1000 cutting trials, with a failure rate of 0.3 percent.