Cutting it is the easy part, splicing them back together is the real trick.
Comment on Can't throw me off the scent
JokeDeity@lemm.ee 2 days agoNow I’m curious, how DO they cut it to size?
noride@lemm.ee 2 days ago
scottmeme@sh.itjust.works 2 days ago
Some very expensive tools for termination and splicing
towerful@programming.dev 2 days ago
They just cut it roughly, strip back the protective layers, then do a very precise and clean cut on the actual fibre and polish the end.
Most of the time it will get spliced into a patch panel (instead of being installed into the patch panel). At which point the cleanly cut fibre is precisely aligned with the fibre from the patch panel, then melted together.
It’s very precise. Splicing tools often use extremely high magnification, and very precise actuators to align the 2 fibre ends before they are fused
JokeDeity@lemm.ee 2 days ago
Cool, always wondered how they fixed our Internet line with it being fiberoptic.
towerful@programming.dev 2 days ago
If it’s a break in the middle of the fibre, then they will use an epoxy housing for the splice.
I don’t know the specifics, but something like this:
Cut/clean up the break, put through an epoxy housing and tighten the cable grips. Strip back the protective layers, clean cut the fibres and splice them all appropriately. Carefully stuff it inside the epoxy housing, fill with epoxy and let it set. Then burry/rig it again.
Those are what the large plastic cylinder things you see on cables are.
Similar housings are used for splicing copper (both data and high voltage) cables that have to withstand elements/burying, just the size (and possibly internals, epoxy type etc) change.
Black plastic cylinder that’s larger than the cable, with a couple cables coming out? Probably a splice point