Fiber fusion splicing problem

Hi, I’m new to this forum and would like to share with you guys a more than somewhat frustrating fiber fusion splicing problem I recently experienced

While attempting to splice a MM fiber cable we experienced several fiber “separation” faults (the fibers melted away from each other).

Our Fujikura 50S Instruction Manual suggested the following causes and remedies:
Fiber stuffing too small - Perform [Motor Calibration]
Prefuse power too high - Decrease [Prefuse Power]
Prefuse time too long - Decrease [Prefuse Time]

After much mental anguish, we eventually (several hours later) discovered that our problem was dirty electrodes. Using a knife, we scraped off the silica oxide buildup from the electrodes, the wiped the electrodes using an alcohol-impregnated lint-free tissue, and then removed the excess alcohol from the electrodes. We then managed to complete our splicing without any obvious effort!

Has this happened to anyone else?

Joe - SA

Hi Joe,

Just type in the following in Google: silica oxide buildup from the electrodes fusion splicer and you will get literally hundreds of references about this issue.

Kindest regards,
Peter J. Stewart-Hay
Principal
Stewart-Hay Associates
www.Stewart-Hay.com