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cabling .

0:36

Hey , wiremonkeys , welcome to another episode of let's

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Talk Cabling . Today we're

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talking fiber optics with

0:43

a fiber optics instructor . Welcome

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can schedule a 15-minute one-on-one call with me after hours , of course , and that

2:02

helps support the show . So one of the most

2:05

common areas of questions that I get

2:07

in fiber is fusion

2:09

splicing . A lot of people think

2:11

that it's a magic art . It's

2:15

not really . It's pretty simple . I mean , I

2:17

can teach anybody how to do it . I taught

2:19

one of the other instructors who never fusion spliced

2:21

how to do fusion splicing in a matter

2:23

of minutes and he was getting results at

2:25

0.01 , 0.02 . So

2:28

it's not that hard . But I wanted

2:30

to invite . I've been chasing a person

2:32

to come on the show for oh , I don't

2:34

know two years , two

2:36

years , and I finally got

2:38

her to agree to come on . Now you might be wondering why

2:41

did I invite her ? Because she's an instructor

2:43

in fiber optics and all over

2:45

LinkedIn . I just I admire the

2:47

dickens out of her . Welcome

2:49

to the show , jane Bailey . How are you doing ?

2:51

Good to meet you , Chuck .

2:52

Thank you for having me . It's about

2:55

time I got you on the show . I told you I'd get you . I

2:57

told you I'd get you . You did

2:59

so . Why don't you go ahead and

3:01

give us the 30 secondsecond

3:03

introduction who you are and why should

3:05

the audience listen to what you have to say ?

3:07

Well , I'm Jane Bailey

3:09

. I've been involved with fiber optics

3:11

since 1998 . I

3:13

started back

3:16

with Expertec as a fusion

3:18

splicer . I did a lot of DAVE-RAC

3:20

testing at that time as well , and

3:23

I spent about 24 years

3:25

in the field as a fusion splacer

3:27

and now I'm in a management role , so I develop

3:30

other people to learn how to do the job . I'm

3:33

an FOA certified instructor as well .

3:35

I got . Yeah , I want to ask you about that , because on your

3:38

your LinkedIn profile and the link will be

3:40

in the description below it says CFOS

3:42

slash I . What

3:44

does that mean ?

3:45

So I'm a certified fiber optic specialist

3:48

with my instructor certificate .

3:49

Okay , so how's that ? How's

3:52

a CFOS different from

3:54

a CFOT ?

3:56

Well , a CFOT has your . It's

3:58

your basic core course and

4:00

it's generally a three to five day

4:02

depending on who's teaching it , and

4:05

the specialist just kind of goes

4:07

into things like whether it's data to the antenna

4:09

system or fusion splicing

4:11

testing . You're more

4:14

specialized in that specific area , so

4:16

it could be outside plant as well .

4:18

Gotcha . So the CFOS would be like the next step

4:20

up after the CFOT . That's right . Yeah

4:22

, that makes sense . That makes sense . So

4:24

all right , let's get into this . What is fusion

4:26

splicing and how does it differ

4:29

from other fiber optic termination methods ?

4:31

Well , fusion splicing is a permanent

4:33

joint . It's going to give you a low loss on

4:35

your cable , more so than you would with connectors

4:38

, more so than mechanical

4:40

splices . So even though a mechanical splice

4:42

is considered a splice , it

4:44

still has more of a loss similar to

4:46

a connector . So fusion

4:49

splicing is the way to go if you're looking for low

4:51

loss in your system .

4:54

Especially with , like cable TV , where the losses

4:56

are extremely tight budgets

4:58

. That's right . And I get

5:00

you know because I teach during the day . See

5:02

, I'm really like a generalist

5:04

when it comes to teaching . I teach

5:06

a little bit of everything code , standards , copper , fiber

5:08

, blah , blah , blah . But you know I

5:11

lean to people like you and Lee Renfro

5:13

for the fiber stuff because

5:15

you guys are the . I consider you guys

5:17

the experts . I'm just a good generalist , but

5:19

I get questions all the time . You know fusion

5:22

spl splicing , also fusion splice

5:25

on connectors , and so

5:27

the question is you've kind of already answered

5:29

it you know fusion splicing is better because you have

5:31

less loss , but have you ever done

5:33

any any uh

5:35

consideration or research on

5:38

which is cheaper ? Is it cheaper

5:40

to fusion splice or is it cheaper to do a mechanical splice

5:42

?

5:43

I would say it depends on

5:45

how you're fusion splicing , but

5:47

the fusion splicing will give you the lower losses

5:50

. So that to me is a key critical

5:52

point . Those mechanical

5:54

connectors . They serve a purpose but

5:57

they can be quite expensive . So I've

5:59

seen in the past people putting those on

6:01

where it takes them five or six or seven

6:04

to get it correct and to get a low loss . So

6:06

when you're paying $20 a connector

6:08

or 17 , it adds up to something

6:10

at the end of the day .

6:12

Right right . And with fusion splicing your consumables

6:14

are pretty minimal . I mean , you're

6:17

going to have to have a cleaver , you're

6:20

going to have to have the sleeve which usually comes with

6:22

the thing , so the consumables are far less

6:24

. On mechanical , you know mechanical

6:27

connectors , mechanical splicing first came

6:29

out . I don't know if you're I don't think you're old enough

6:31

to remember this , but I am , because I've been in the industry since 1982

6:34

. Gosh , I'm old . I

6:36

remember when mechanical connectors first came out

6:38

there was a problem with

6:41

temperature ranges and expansion and contraction

6:43

and stuff .

6:47

Now they've kind of gotten past it , but future splicing , yeah , and the extra refractive gel . Inside of

6:49

them too . They were drying up . So especially if you're in buildings

6:52

where they had hydronic heating or

6:55

heating in the floors , you'd go in

6:57

and those connectors they would dry up over time , which

6:59

would cause system failure . So in

7:01

a lot of cases they were pulling those connectors

7:03

off and then just splicing on pigtails and

7:07

that's to solve the issue .

7:08

Yeah , and the last thing you want to do as end

7:13

users have the backbone go down in your network

7:15

, because you know , I don't know the index . Match

7:17

you gel dried up ? Explain that one to the

7:19

customer right . So terminating

7:21

fiber has evolved . I remember when

7:24

I first learned how to terminate fiber , everything

7:26

was a two-part epoxy with this big

7:28

old polishing machine and you had to put it

7:30

on the one disc and let it go for eight minutes , go to the

7:32

next disc , wait for eight minutes

7:34

and then it went to the handheld pucks and

7:37

stuff . So how has fusion splicing evolved

7:39

to meet the industry

7:41

needs ?

7:42

Oh , wow , I mean , it's involved , involved

7:44

, incredibly . I used to say we're fusion

7:46

splicers , now we're more strippers

7:48

and cleaners . We are splicers because

7:51

the machines have evolved . They'll do all of the

7:53

lining up of the xy . Uh

7:56

, they basically do everything for you . You just

7:58

have to do a nice clean cleave , make sure your

8:00

fiber is clean . So they've

8:02

evolved . I mean , when I first started splicing

8:04

I'm looking through a , I'm lining everything

8:06

up on the X , y axis Plus

8:08

your arc was wide open . I mean , think about that

8:10

, that's a 740 fold arc . If your finger's

8:13

in the wrong spot , it has the

8:15

potential to blow a hole through it . So now

8:17

the guys are protected where they have the windscreens

8:20

on them and everything's got to be shut

8:22

tight before it'll create that arc

8:24

.

8:25

So I imagine you've probably got

8:27

to experiment with a lot of different manufacturers

8:30

of fusion splicers . Right , I have

8:32

. Yeah , which is your favorite .

8:35

Well , a lot of people are going to hate me for saying

8:37

this , but I actually am really prone

8:39

to the FiberFox . I love their

8:41

6S and I love their

8:43

Mini 12R . I've

8:46

had using it in the field

8:48

. I actually had four or five , maybe six

8:50

networks in a row without a single deficiency

8:52

. So people said

8:54

, well , no , that's your skill . And I said , well , maybe

8:56

not , it might be the machine too . So

8:59

we are using them here in Atlanta , canada

9:01

, we purchased them for our slicers and , to

9:04

be quite honest , we noticed the deficiencies

9:06

change incredibly with them . But I'm

9:08

also a fuji kura girl too . I love those

9:10

.

9:11

So yeah , I'll see , I'll see . Uh , hey

9:13

, I'll see . If I refox at the bixi conference here in a few

9:15

weeks , I'll I'll make sure to relay that , that

9:18

, uh , that you , you . You called them out and

9:20

said that you , you like them the best I

9:22

do , I love , I love their machines .

9:24

I really do , and they've been really good

9:26

to the training school too . So

9:28

that's even more helpful .

9:30

Yeah , yeah right , Because fusion splicers , while

9:32

they're not expensive as a cable

9:34

certifier , they're still not cheap .

9:38

They're still going to be between , and that depends too if you're

9:40

going core alignment or cladding alignment . That's

9:43

going to make a big difference , Great .

9:44

It depends too if you're going core alignment or cladding alignment ? That's going to make a big difference

9:46

, great lead-in . Great lead-in because you know , I get asked a lot too

9:48

, because some people are looking to purchase a fusion

9:51

splicer and they want to know well

9:53

, should I go with core versus clad alignment ? What's

9:57

?

9:57

your thoughts . It depends on what you're doing . So

10:04

I've seen in mining operations where they're not sending data . It might be just to make a switch

10:06

go on , or it could be to run an elevator

10:08

or something like that . You can

10:10

get away with a cladding alignment machine , but

10:13

if you're doing backbone or

10:15

you're doing transport , fiber or long

10:17

haul , I think you want to be using your

10:20

core alignment . Now , that

10:22

being said , I don't have a lot of experience with

10:24

cladding alignment . I've used them on

10:26

two projects . One was a windmill , a

10:29

windmill farm with 97 towers , and

10:31

the other one was fiber to the home . It

10:33

was a rural build and it was the first one I did

10:35

back in 2015 , and I had

10:37

a cladding alignment unit and

10:39

it was fine for doing the mid-splicing

10:42

and plus , I was in a harsh condition

10:44

, so it's snowing , it's raining , it was

10:46

windy and cold . So

10:48

having a $7,000 machine

10:51

outside in those elements versus a $20,000

10:54

, it makes your day a little more comfortable

10:56

to do the job for sure .

10:59

You're not always fusion splicing in

11:01

a nice warm environment that's 75

11:03

degrees and lots of light .

11:06

Well , sometimes , yeah , but not all the

11:08

time . I've noticed since we've

11:10

done rural broadband , you do spend a lot more

11:12

time out of the truck than we used to , but

11:15

it's kind of nice too .

11:17

It has some advantages . I keep telling

11:19

my wife that if I

11:21

ever win the lottery , there'll be signs . And she goes what do

11:23

you mean ? I

11:26

said there'll be a fiber-splicing truck sitting out in our driveway . You know what ? It's ? A good

11:28

light . I don't splice fiber , I just want to have them because

11:30

I think they're so cool . I

11:35

just think they're so cool . So let me , I'm

11:37

just going to run this through my head , through a thought process

11:40

, and you tell me if I'm right or wrong and I'll probably insert

11:42

a graphic here in the video . So there's

11:44

three components to every fiber strand the core

11:46

, which is the very center , and

11:48

then think of another ring outside . That's the cladding

11:51

, and then the aqua coating . So

11:53

the cladding

11:55

alignment it lines the cladding , but

11:57

the cores may or may not be aligned . That's

12:00

correct .

12:09

Okay . So the core alignment is looking at the cores to make sure they're in line , which is more important

12:11

. Does that make sense ? Yeah , and it's really important too . If you're especially when you're splicing into

12:13

legacy fiber , maybe putting some new , modern , up-to-date fiber and you're going to legacy

12:15

those cores , you want to make sure that

12:17

they're as lined as possible . And I mean

12:19

, a lot of people don't put the core into perspective

12:22

. It's only know , 8.3

12:24

to 10 microns in size , and if you

12:26

look at the thickness of a sheet of paper , that's 50

12:28

microns . So it's a very , very

12:31

small area that we're playing

12:33

with .

12:33

So if we're off , you're

12:35

going to notice it for sure . Right

12:38

, you'll start getting some issues

12:40

there with your transmission performance , right ? So

12:43

the core alignment's going to be the better

12:45

. If you're going to be transmitting data and stuff , what

12:48

? What's the cost difference between a core and

12:50

? I don't expect you to quote numbers , but I mean , is the

12:52

core more expensive or is the cladding more expensive

12:54

?

12:54

the core core will be more expensive . So

12:57

, um , I'm thinking of one brand

12:59

in particular . You're probably going to pay about 1515,000

13:02

for a core alignment . You'll

13:04

pay about $7,500 for

13:06

their cladding alignment Gotcha

13:08

. So they do serve their purpose

13:10

. There are times where you can use them . I see

13:13

a lot in industrial environments where they're

13:15

splicing multimode In a multimode

13:17

environment . They're fantastic because you're dealing

13:19

with a large core and you don't have

13:21

to be quite as concerned with

13:23

it being perfectly aligned where you do with

13:26

the single mode .

13:26

Right , and for those who may not

13:29

know , that the core sizes on multi-mode

13:31

are typically going to be 50

13:33

micron or the old legacy 62.5

13:36

. So they're a lot larger than single mode

13:38

, so they do have a little bit more leeway too , right

13:40

. So as a fusion splicer

13:42

out in the field . So

13:47

as a fusion splicer out in the field , are there some challenges and the differences between I mean

13:50

, is there extra steps or more care you got to exercise over core

13:52

versus cladding ?

13:54

I think with the core you

13:56

have to be a little more sensitive to

13:58

dirt . With the cladding

14:01

, because it's lining , I mean , you still obviously

14:03

care about it not being dirty , but

14:05

it's going to probably fuse it even if there's

14:07

dirt there . So not

14:09

going by the numbers on the machine , whether

14:11

it's core or it's cladding , is going to be key

14:14

. You want to be looking at the XY axis

14:16

to ensure that you've got a proper fit course

14:19

place .

14:20

Let's take a short break . Are

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business ? At Bowman Vision Media

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, we don't just market to the low voltage

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industry . We come from it With

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understand your business and

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how to help it grow . From

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social media to content creation , we

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deliver marketing that works as

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hard as you do . And

14:46

while you're leveling up , check out the 49

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to learn more and subscribe to the 49

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Volts podcast on YouTube or

15:01

wherever you listen .

15:02

49 volts podcast on YouTube or wherever you listen . I tell people

15:04

all the time when you're fusion , splicing that as

15:07

you , as you put it in , after it lines the X and Y

15:09

axis up . If it just doesn't look right

15:11

or doesn't , it doesn't feel right , take

15:13

it back out and start over again . It's better to to re . I mean

15:16

it doesn't . You don't lose a lot of money by fusion

15:18

, but he's cutting off and redoing again . But why

15:20

not just restart from the very beginning ? Just don't touch

15:23

that end , because you've already .

15:24

Yeah , it's easier to just break it now than to rack

15:27

it all up and then come back and take it down and

15:29

put it back in your vehicle and redo it . So

15:31

we do kind of push that with the splicers

15:33

to try to , you know , be a one

15:35

and done , don't go back for fixes . We

15:38

want to avoid that if we can , because that if we can , Because you know

15:40

that service call .

15:42

It always comes in on a Friday afternoon

15:44

Three o'clock and it's three o'clock

15:47

and it's snowing outside or raining

15:49

or sleeting outside . It never comes

15:51

in on a Wednesday morning when it's

15:53

80 degrees and the birds are chirping

15:56

. Yeah

16:01

, that's for sure . Oh , by the way , you got called off another project that you have a deadline

16:03

, that you've got to get done and that deadline is not

16:05

moving , yeah that's true . Does that sound familiar ? That's very

16:07

true . All right , so

16:09

you've got the actual field experience . You're an instructor

16:12

. Give us some tips that people should

16:14

look for while they're fusion splicing

16:16

.

16:17

Okay . Well , I think I see a lot of people

16:20

really focusing , you

16:23

know , focusing as the fiber is coming in . So

16:25

what I get the guys to look for is do you have

16:27

a 90-degree end on there ? Is there any

16:29

chips or fractures or breaks or

16:31

anything ? If there is , just stop your machine

16:33

, re-strip it , re-clean it

16:35

, re-cleave it and put it back into the machine

16:38

Once it's fused . You're

16:40

going to get a number and that number is just an

16:42

estimate and I think a lot of people don't realize

16:44

that . They say , hey , I got a 0.00 . My

16:47

experience is that a .00 is

16:49

not always a good splice and the

16:51

reason being is you're taking two imperfect

16:53

pieces of glass and you're trying to say that you're

16:55

making it perfect and we all know that that's

16:58

impossible . Now

17:08

, not to say 0.00 zeros aren't going to give you a good splice . They certainly can . But my experience

17:10

has been that a dot zero one , a dot zero two generally , is going to give you a better splice . But that

17:12

number is just an estimate and it's only estimating roughly 36 inches of cable

17:15

either side of the splice . So it's

17:17

not really that legitimate . You need

17:19

to go in . Take a look at the X Y

17:21

axis . It takes an extra four

17:23

or five seconds to do that and

17:25

look at the core Is it fat , is it skinny

17:27

, is there any imperfections

17:30

in it ? And oftentimes you'll see if you

17:32

have a splice , a zero zero . If you

17:34

look at the X axis , the splice is beautiful

17:36

. But then you look at the Y and you see there's

17:38

just a slight little imperfection in there

17:40

. So that's where you'd want to break that and go

17:42

on . And if you do follow those types

17:44

of techniques , you'll find that you're a proficient

17:47

splicer that doesn't generally end

17:49

up with deficiencies , that's

17:51

actually good .

17:52

I've never heard that before . I'm

17:55

probably getting a fusion splicer within a few weeks

17:57

. One of the manufacturers reached

18:00

out to me and said do I want one to play with ?

18:01

And you know what my response was right , Absolutely , manufacturers

18:03

reached out to me and said do I want one to play with

18:05

? And you know what my response was right .

18:06

Absolutely yes , and if they have to tell them about me , yes , yes . Well , I don't want

18:08

to say who that manufacturer is yet because

18:11

I don't have it in my hands

18:13

yet . So once I have it in my hands then

18:15

I'll say who it is . But because I

18:17

love experimenting with this stuff . So what you're saying I never

18:19

thought about this before . So if you get a , when

18:21

you get that reading that 0.00 , what

18:24

you're saying is a good tip is go

18:26

look at your X and Y axis again just

18:28

to make sure . Absolutely yeah

18:31

. Don't assume it's going to be a good connection .

18:32

Yeah , I

18:38

actually was training with a fellow in a truck not that long ago and

18:40

I suggested he looked . And it was my lucky day because when he looked at the Y axis there was

18:42

an imperfection there and I said there you go

18:44

. I just proved to you that zero zero

18:46

didn't work and it was just fluke that

18:48

it happened . And I was grateful that it happened

18:50

because it actually made me look really good

18:52

.

18:54

Nothing's better as an instructor when

18:56

you tell the student , hey , this

18:59

can happen , and they're kind of like , yeah , whatever , no

19:01

, no , no . But

19:11

then it happens and you can show them . See

19:13

, I told you that's right one for the instructor . I love those kinds of teaching moments , I really

19:15

do so . So you want to make sure you look at the , the , the um , the , the core , alignment

19:17

, make sure everything's lined up , make sure you don't

19:19

have any chips . How

19:21

would contamination show up in a fusion splice

19:23

?

19:25

Oftentimes the splicers now

19:27

are quite intelligent . They

19:29

will pick up on contamination and sometimes

19:32

they just won't let you splice because it won't

19:34

shoot the light through and it'll tell

19:36

you it's contaminated . But when the

19:38

fiber comes in it does try to blow

19:40

any dust or debris or particulate

19:43

off of the fiber and for the most part

19:45

it will get it , but not always . So

19:48

your machine will generally stop

19:50

and tell you to take a look at the fiber . Usually it'll

19:52

just tell you to re-clean it .

19:54

Because things can happen when you're standing on top of that

19:56

ladder out in the field trying to see

20:00

if a seed can blow inside of it . Because

20:02

if you go straight from the cleave right

20:04

straight to the fusion splicer you're lessening the chance

20:07

of contamination being on it . Because

20:10

you really shouldn't be touching the end of a fiber after you

20:12

cleave it anyway , because you're going to put oils off

20:14

your finger and sweat

20:16

and all that stuff Cleave . Put

20:18

it right in a fusion splicer right away . Don't

20:21

cleave it and then make a phone call and call your boss

20:23

. Hey boss , can I have February

20:25

15th of the 20th ?

20:26

No , no , fusion , splice it put

20:34

it in its heat shrink tube , then call your boss . Well , one of the big things that I notice as a mistake

20:36

too is they'll see , guys , they'll strip the fiber , they'll

20:38

clean it , they'll cleave it , they'll

20:40

clean it and they'll put it into the splicer

20:42

. But they need to eliminate that second

20:44

clean because after it's cleaned you're down

20:47

to brittle glass . That's 125 microns

20:49

, not much bigger than a single strand of hair

20:51

, so it's very delicate . So once

20:53

it's cleaved it should go immediately into

20:55

the machine , no questions asked

20:57

. Try not to clean it . If you do have

21:00

to clean it , the machine is telling you to

21:02

clean it . You have to be very gentle

21:04

and it's a 50-50 chance you're going to

21:06

put that back in the machine where it's actually going to work

21:08

for you .

21:09

So I'd say at that point just cut it and

21:11

re-clean it . Yeah , I'd say just cut

21:13

it and re-clean it . Oh , here's a question for

21:15

you Do you prefer

21:17

the heat

21:21

shrink stripper or do you use

21:23

just a regular hand strippers ?

21:25

uh , for mass fusion , splicing ribbon

21:27

, absolutely thermal , uh

21:30

, so I'll use the heat stripper for that , uh

21:32

, but single fusion , I don't

21:34

know . I I like my hand tool

21:36

, my , you know , single

21:38

or triple tribal strippers . Uh

21:41

, they're sufficient . I don't know

21:43

that . The thermal stripper actually saves you a

21:45

whole lot of time . And if

21:47

they're running on batteries , I did use

21:49

one in the past for the 900

21:52

micron fiber and I found I just chewed

21:54

through batteries . I'd have to change the batteries two or

21:56

three times a day . So I don't know

21:58

if those have evolved over the last little while

22:00

. Perhaps they have . Maybe they plug them in

22:02

now , I don't know .

22:09

But I don't know . But uh , I don't know , I like having my hands on it . Yeah , when I teach fiber in

22:11

my classes the hands-on fiber , because I do virtual and face-to-face classes and

22:13

when I teach my face to face polish chuck .

22:15

Anymore . We can't use nail polish remover . They took

22:17

the proper isotope out of that , so it doesn't work

22:19

like it used to . At what

22:21

At ? Least in Canada , maybe America's

22:23

better .

22:24

Well you know , nail polish remover

22:26

is also the best thing to use for

22:28

taking Sharpie off of connecting blocks .

22:31

Okay .

22:32

A lot of people don't know that I

22:34

always just used alcohol .

22:35

That works too .

22:37

Yeah , but nail polish remover is easier

22:39

. Yeah , you can get that pretty easy . By

22:42

the way , if you're using isopropyl alcohol , it

22:48

should be not the stuff that you buy from the Walgreens or the CVS . They're

22:50

supposed to be 99% pure , 99% pure .

22:52

Yeah , they say 99.9 . I

22:54

think I've used as low as 99

22:57

, and it seems to work well . And the other day , for the

22:59

first time , I saw 99.8 , and I said the other

23:01

day , for the first time I saw 99.8 , and I said , eh , there you go .

23:03

It's pretty cool . There you go , there you go , oh

23:05

. But I wanted to kind of circle back just a tiny bit there talking

23:07

about the thermal strippers . I

23:10

think for somebody

23:12

brand spanking as an instructor , this

23:14

is where I was going with that . So my ADHD kicked in

23:16

. As an instructor , when I'm teaching

23:18

people how to terminate fiber , there's two types

23:21

of people sitting at my fiber termination desk right

23:23

. There's those people who have no

23:25

experience whatsoever and they're willing to listen

23:27

to every piece of instruction I give them , and then there's

23:29

the person who sits down . I've been

23:31

doing this for seven years . Well

23:34

, you know , the person who does the seven years is usually the person I've got to

23:36

retrain , but

23:38

the new person . The biggest

23:40

holdup I find with them is

23:43

stripping the fiber because their hands

23:45

are shaking and they don't have them build up

23:47

muscle memory up and know how much to

23:49

squeeze the strip or stuff like that . So I think that

23:52

kind of a person thermal strip

23:54

is probably going to be the best . But I

23:56

really don't think , production wise , you'll be as

23:58

fast with thermal as

24:00

a hand stripper . I really don't .

24:02

Yeah , I think the hand stripper definitely

24:04

for production , from a production standpoint

24:07

is good and economical , though

24:09

I mean they're cheap . I think strippers are only $10

24:11

a pair now , so they've gone down

24:13

in price considerably . Where are you

24:15

getting ?

24:15

yours from Cause I have not seen a pair of fiber strippers

24:18

for 10 bucks . I'll send you the contact

24:20

. Yeah , Send

24:22

them to me , because I just bought some replacement

24:24

strippers because I've

24:27

been teaching with the same set of strippers for 12

24:30

years , so they've gone through . I don't know you

24:32

do the math 15 students a class

24:34

, three classes a week times 13 years

24:36

, that's a lot of different hands for

24:39

a pair of fiber strippers to go through . So I finally

24:41

just replaced them and they were a little bit more than $10

24:44

a pop . I can tell you that .

24:47

Are you using the fancy Miller strippers ?

24:51

Those ones aren't Miller's .

24:53

Yeah , see I started out on Miller and

24:55

I would have sworn by them . But then I got

24:57

introduced to a different type

24:59

of stripper and

25:01

I was working in a clean lab at the time and we

25:04

were doing a lot of fiber . I

25:07

grew to really like them . They kind of gave us them to

25:09

demo them and I never looked

25:11

back .

25:12

Nick call them out . Who are they ?

25:15

I don't know . Everybody seems to make them now

25:17

. They're those tri-hole strippers I see

25:19

every manufacturer has them

25:21

. Really Gotcha .

25:24

I typically run with the Millers and the no necks . Um

25:26

, and the reason I go with the no necks is that's

25:29

very old school . That's

25:31

very old school it is . But again

25:34

, going back to that person who's never

25:36

stripped before , I

25:38

let them go with the millers first . But the millers

25:40

, if you don't have it at the right angle angle , you

25:42

don't squeeze it until you build

25:44

up that muscle . Remember , you break a lot of fiber . Yeah , and

25:47

after the , after a new student who's never done fiber before

25:49

has broken their fiber like five

25:51

times . They're that you could . You can

25:53

literally see them start shaking and start

25:55

getting nervous . I said here try these

25:57

, try these no nicks , because the no nicks are more

25:59

precision . But I always tell them this

26:02

is just to get you through the class . If you want to become proficient

26:05

at stripping fiber , you want to master

26:07

those millers right , you want to master another . No-knicks

26:10

are slow .

26:11

They're slow compared to other they are . I

26:14

have to be honest , I used those when I started

26:16

out and when they got

26:18

rid of those I never looked back . I mean

26:20

, I I found I used to break

26:22

a lot of fiber with them .

26:24

Well , every , every fiber person breaks fiber

26:26

.

26:26

Oh , by the way , here here's my safety tip of the day Always

26:33

dispose of your

26:35

fiber in an approved scraps container Always , hey

26:38

, one of my favorite people works at that company

26:41

, john Bruno , and his training

26:43

.

26:43

You know , I I I mentioned , I

26:48

mentioned the two hour fiber course from John Bruno and FIS on a lot of podcasts . I just

26:50

put out a a Tik TOK Instagram

26:52

YouTube short . Today Somebody asked

26:54

me what

26:56

are some good tips to get in the ICT industry

26:58

. So I gave him three tips and one of them was go

27:01

online and get the free training FOAorg

27:03

, the two-hour course by

27:05

John Bruno , and John Bruno is a fantastic

27:07

instructor .

27:09

He's a great guy , he knows a lot . He

27:11

kind of mocked me a little bit and said what am I

27:13

teaching you ? I said honestly everything coming out of your

27:15

mouth . I'm taking something from that , so it's

27:17

good right .

27:19

Good instructors like that . A good instructor is always going to be

27:21

learning from other people , even other instructors

27:24

, even students .

27:25

I'm going to show up at Burnside one day .

27:27

There you go . Hey friends , I want to tell

27:29

you about a great organization , tech

27:32

Knowledge Worldwide , an active

27:34

community of tech professionals dedicated

27:37

to elevating our industry and

27:39

each other . It's the real deal

27:41

, and I'm grateful to be part of this

27:43

community . Their annual tech conference

27:45

is coming up April 23rd and

27:47

24th in Nashville , tennessee

27:50

, and will feature amazing

27:52

speakers , workshops and even

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27:56

credits . Stay up to date and

27:59

lock in your spot now at techfestorg

28:02

. That's T-E-K-F-E-S-Torg

28:05

. I

28:08

encourage all my low voltage followers

28:10

to consider joining to see if

28:12

they want a seat at TKW's

28:14

table too . All are welcome to learn

28:16

, grow and see what

28:18

putting community over competition

28:21

can do . Go to techfestorg

28:24

for more information .

28:26

All right , so let's get into another conversation now . Single

28:28

mode and multi-mode fusion splicing Okay

28:31

, what's the difference ?

28:34

There's not really any difference . It's the same process

28:36

you're going to go through with either one . The

28:38

only thing is you're going to have to change your program

28:41

on your splicer

28:44

in order to match what it is you're doing , whether it's

28:46

50 micron , 62.5

28:48

, or single mode . So

28:51

I think you'd have more challenges if you're

28:53

splicing BIF fiber than

28:55

you do with multimode

28:57

or single mode . I really never

28:59

found that there was much of a transition between

29:01

them .

29:02

I really never found that there was a much of a transition

29:04

between them . How hard is

29:06

it changing the ? Because I don't do fusion splicing enough to , because

29:09

I got out of the field before fusion splices really became affordable and I only see them in classroom environments

29:11

so I never , never , got to play with them in the field as a production

29:13

setting . But how hard is it to

29:16

know when and how to

29:18

change the profiles in your fusion splicer ?

29:20

Well , the

29:23

evolution of the splicer has been great because when your fiber comes in , oftentimes it'll

29:25

pick up , it'll say this is G657

29:28

, this is G652 . So

29:30

if you go to fuse it and it doesn't work , then

29:32

you can go into the programs , the splice programs

29:34

, and say , okay , I want to do BIF , the

29:36

G652 , bending insensitive

29:38

fiber and all of a sudden now your splice

29:41

will work . And it would be the same thing for

29:43

multimode . You'd have to go into that same program

29:45

and change it to the 50 or to

29:47

the 62.5 . So

29:50

knowing that stuff helps , I mean same as

29:52

if you're getting into some of the legacy stuff

29:54

and you're into the non-zero dispersion

29:56

shifted fiber , you'll find sometimes

29:59

it won't splice with the regular program so you'll

30:01

have to go in and change that in order

30:03

to make it work .

30:04

Well , Right , so

30:09

inside plant and outside plant . Inside plant means you're fusion splicing

30:11

inside the building . Outside plant means you're in

30:13

a maintenance hole or you're on top

30:16

of a ladder out in the field or something like that . Right

30:18

? What are some tips for both inside

30:20

plant and tips for outside plant ?

30:23

Well , inside plant , believe it or not

30:25

, I find holds more challenges

30:27

than outside plant splicing . Oh really , and

30:30

the reason for that ? Especially if you're in a new construction

30:32

zone where you've got the guy drywalling

30:35

and scraping and you've got the

30:37

metal guys cutting metal and you've got

30:39

electricians hauling cables around you

30:41

, they're creating a dusty work

30:43

environment . But also , too , you might

30:45

be in an IT room where you have fans blowing

30:48

. You've got all the stack maybe

30:50

beside you . It's drawing air in . It's creating

30:52

a lot of dust . In particular and

30:55

it took me a while as a young tech to

30:57

figure that out I'd go into these really clean

30:59

environments and I would have way more troubles

31:01

than I would ever have in my truck . And

31:03

that's what it was . It was the air exchanges

31:05

were creating a hostile environment

31:08

for the splicing . But your truck

31:10

, generally in the in the truck , in

31:12

the outside plant I mean you have a controlled environment

31:15

. You're controlling the heat , you're controlling air

31:17

conditioning in the summertime , so

31:20

your environment is what you make it . So if you

31:22

keep that truck nice and clean I

31:24

mean I've worked with guys over the years you had to put on

31:26

booties to get into their truck . It was that clean

31:28

, right ? Oh , nice , I mean

31:30

good for them .

31:31

Not my trucks .

31:32

Not my trucks . Well , I always

31:34

said my dirty truck was a sign of my genius

31:36

, so I used to run by that . That explains

31:38

my desk .

31:39

There you go , I don't want to take the camera

31:41

and show it here , because , cause I'd be thoroughly embarrassed

31:43

. But I got a pile of stuff just kind of sitting

31:46

here and my wife God love

31:48

her Cause I have a tendency to leave things around

31:50

the house , so if

31:52

it's something that belongs here , she brings it in and puts it on

31:54

top of this pile .

31:55

Well , another environment too is , say

31:57

, industrial environments , maybe a

32:00

mining . So if I was sitting in

32:02

a mine splicing fiber , it's a hostile

32:04

, dirty environment , you

32:12

can't do anything about it . So we would erect a tent around us , we would use the water to

32:14

just kind of spray down the floor . But when you set your feet down , you don't move them . You stay

32:16

as still as you possibly can to do the job . So

32:18

you have to kind of make those adjustments

32:20

depending on where you're , where you're splicing

32:23

so industrial environments too . I've

32:25

come out many times where my hands

32:27

were black , just dirty , and I said wow

32:29

, that wasn't even supposed to work . But it works

32:32

because you're careful what you're touching .

32:33

Are there tents specifically for terminating

32:36

splicing fiber ?

32:37

Yeah , Pelsu makes a nice

32:39

tent . It's got a white and yellow

32:41

body on it so you get good lighting inside

32:44

of it . I know some guys to

32:46

save money they'll go into the fishing

32:48

tents and I did do that with

32:50

one company I worked for , but I found it a little

32:52

bit hard because it was black inside

32:54

for the ice fishing , so it

32:56

made for a pretty dark environment to

32:59

see the fibers . Well , I

33:01

mean , I put lighting and stuff in there too , but I

33:04

like Pell's Soup personally . That's what I would . That's

33:06

my go-to Gotcha .

33:09

So I was doing a live stream a

33:11

couple weeks back or it might have been in December

33:14

, might have been before my break and

33:16

I had somebody ask me about spider fiber

33:18

and I was like what

33:21

, what's spider fiber ? I ain't never

33:23

heard of spider fiber before . What

33:25

is it ?

33:27

I don't know how to describe it , but it's a

33:29

fiber that when you if you pull

33:31

, so if you go by your color code , you start

33:33

at blue and then it ends at aqua . But

33:35

if you take those and pull them apart it

33:38

almost creates like a weave in between

33:40

the fibers . So it's one almost

33:42

like one solid piece and you can pull

33:44

each individual fiber that you need and push

33:47

it and it all goes back together for splicing . So

33:49

it's kind of an interesting

33:52

fiber here . We use it a lot in Canada

33:54

, but it's in Western Canada . We don't

33:56

see it here in the Maritimes and I didn't

33:58

see any of it when I was working in Eastern

34:00

Canada as well , but in

34:02

Western Canada definitely it's

34:05

a big one .

34:06

That's interesting . Why would it be used more in the Western

34:08

side of Canada than the Eastern side ?

34:09

Well , I think probably because

34:12

of the manufacturer is AFL

34:14

Fujikora . I think it's AFL's

34:16

cable , I'm not 100% sure . I

34:18

hope I didn't throw the wrong name out there . But

34:21

they do supply a lot of the Western folks

34:23

with the products , so I think that's probably

34:25

why it's there .

34:26

Yeah of the Western folks with the products . So I think that's probably

34:28

why it's there . Yeah , so on another podcast , another live stream question

34:30

. I did a live stream on Wednesday

34:33

and this guy asked me the question because

34:37

I usually try to get into like 30 minutes and I was already like 31 minutes

34:39

, 32 minutes into the live stream . I'm trying to get off because

34:41

my wife was fixing dinner out in

34:43

the kitchen . I could literally smell

34:46

the meat level . I was like , oh , trying

34:48

to keep my mouth from moistening

34:51

. And the guy asked me a question about fiber

34:55

optic testing , otdr testing , specifically

34:57

ghosting . And

35:02

of course I got to admit I let my stomach get the better of me and I gave him

35:04

like the really quick , dirty answer right , so

35:06

can you tell us what is ghosting on an

35:08

OTR and what causes it ?

35:11

So ghosting you typically

35:13

see on the fiber when there's a reflection

35:16

back , scattering in the light . So

35:18

it looks like there's two events there , when in

35:20

fact it's an event that's just being echoed

35:23

or repeated . So it's an echo , it's

35:26

usually because of contamination . Usually it could be

35:28

because of maybe too

35:30

much alcohol residue . It

35:34

could be a whole host of things , but generally it's a

35:36

dirt-related issue .

35:37

Generally , and I would

35:39

be remiss if I go through this whole fiber

35:42

episode and not talk about safety . Safety Terminating

35:44

fiber is a dangerous talk about safety

35:46

. Safety Terminating

35:48

fiber is a dangerous activity , it

35:51

sure is so . It's gooba diving and

35:53

parachuting and riding

35:55

motorcycles . But if you take the proper steps

35:58

it can be a safe activity

36:00

, right . So what are some safety

36:02

considerations for fusion

36:04

splicing ?

36:05

Well , honey , safety considerations with

36:07

fusion splicing is , first

36:10

of all , if you're working with live fiber which

36:12

we do do on occasion making

36:14

sure you're not looking into the end of that fiber . It's

36:16

UV light , you're not going to see it , but it'll just

36:18

cause blindness . It's not going to hurt

36:20

though . It'll be quick and painless . Um

36:29

, and I think also to the fiber shards , is a big one , making sure you're you're maintaining

36:31

those uh , either putting them in a shards container or having a garbage can . Now , one

36:33

thing I do caution , uh slicers

36:36

about is if you're going to put it into a garbage

36:38

can and you're lifting that garbage can

36:40

over your head to put it into a , let's say , a

36:42

dumpster , just make sure that stuff's

36:44

not going to come back out in your face in the wind and

36:47

it could cause you a lot of problems . Because

36:49

the problem with the glass it's very difficult for them

36:51

to find . I've had glass in my hand

36:53

. They were able to find it with an ultrasound and

36:56

I had to be fully awake

36:58

for that and I would go ouch and she would

37:00

know to look in that area . And then the same

37:02

thing when the doctor did the surgery , when he cut the hand

37:04

open , there was no pain medication . I had

37:06

to be awake for that and as he's digging

37:09

around in my hand and there's blood everywhere

37:11

because you bleed in your hand quite a bit I

37:13

had to be awake to say , oh , that hurts , oh that hurts

37:16

, oh that hurts , and that was how he found

37:18

it . So it's very small , they can't see

37:20

it and , especially when you're you're bleeding

37:22

, they're definitely not going to find it . So you

37:24

want to avoid those things happening . So

37:27

those are the

37:30

kind of the key ones is your fiber

37:32

shards , but I think also to making

37:34

sure the acrylate and the

37:36

cable that you're ventilating , because

37:38

that's a big one , yes , and a lot of people

37:40

aren't aware of that .

37:41

And here's one I'll tell people that a lot of people don't really

37:43

think about is be

37:46

aware of your surroundings , and what I mean by that

37:48

is because you might be splicing a fiber

37:51

in a telecom room in an existing office space and

37:53

because of some of the chemicals that you might

37:55

be using might cause somebody

37:57

who's in the area to have an asthmatic reaction

38:00

.

38:00

That's possible yeah .

38:01

Yeah , because it's . My wife is a reactive asthmatic

38:04

and there's certain scents that just will literally cause

38:07

her to have to go to an asthmatic Also .

38:10

Well , I actually go anaphylactic from

38:12

the glue because I've had overexposure

38:14

from the years . So when we're in the

38:16

classroom and people are using the glue I

38:19

am very careful that they don't touch my tools

38:21

and I'll put on my latex gloves because

38:23

they're not thinking about my allergy

38:25

. But I don't want to do the EpiPen and epinephrine

38:28

shots . It sucks .

38:29

Yeah , no , I get that . I'm

38:34

allergic to shellfish and I got to be careful when I go to restaurants and stuff for that

38:36

very reason and stuff . Well , thank you for coming on the show . It's

38:38

about dang time . It's

38:40

about dang time and I appreciate the wealth of knowledge

38:42

that that you've given us here in the episode

38:44

today , and also I love seeing

38:47

your posts on LinkedIn and stuff like that

38:49

. So thank you for coming on , jane .

38:50

Yeah , thanks for having me , chuck .

38:52

Thanks for listening to let's Talk

38:54

Cabling , the award-winning podcast

38:57

where knowledge is power and

38:59

the low-voltage industry connects

39:01

. If you enjoyed today's episode

39:03

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and always aim for excellence

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. Until next time , keep those

39:18

cables clean , your standards high

39:20

and your future bright . Let's

39:23

talk cabling empowering

39:25

the industry , one connection

39:27

at a time .