How to cut fiber optic cable?

[Thad L.]

One of the fiber optic cables in my forward console needs to have the very end trimmed or clipped. Every time i try to trim it i get a fuzzy really bad cut. Even with a new razor blade---how can i get a really sharp factory type cut that will transmitte lite like new? Thanks Thad

Ps: just got in from looking at that 70 LS-5 car--drove 24hrs to look at an old vette that was nothing like the owner said it was! I didn't buy it.

[George Daina]

You can't caut the optics cable....

there are a million little individual strands, and no matter how diligent you are, you will never be able to get a perfect cut.

Read your post on corvetteforum regarding the 70 and had a similar experience a few months back, but didn't travel that far.

[George Daina]

You can't caut the optics cable....

there are a million little individual strands, and no matter how diligent you are, you will never be able to get a perfect cut.

Read your post on corvetteforum regarding the 70 and had a similar experience a few months back, but didn't travel that far.

[Thad L.]

Re: You can't caut the optics cable....

Well the factory guys had to cut this cable some kind of way! Or who ever assembled the harness assy. How did they do it?

YES on that 70 LS-5: I'm still licking my wounds!

[Thad L.]

Re: You can't caut the optics cable....

Well the factory guys had to cut this cable some kind of way! Or who ever assembled the harness assy. How did they do it?

YES on that 70 LS-5: I'm still licking my wounds!

[Fred Oliva]

Re: How to cut fiber optic cable?

I seem to remember companies that supply fiber optics for the communications industry also selling fiber optic cutting & splicing kits. You may want to try searching the net for suppliers that sell these kits.

Hope this helps.

Fred O

[Fred Oliva]

Re: How to cut fiber optic cable?

I seem to remember companies that supply fiber optics for the communications industry also selling fiber optic cutting & splicing kits. You may want to try searching the net for suppliers that sell these kits.

Hope this helps.

Fred O

[Gerald Lee]

Re: How to cut fiber optic cable?

I don't know anything about 70s Vettes or the type of fiber they employe but I do know a little about fiber optics. There is only one real way to cut fiber. We use a cleave. What the cleave does is puts a small knick in the glass while it bends the fiber strand. This usually results in a 90 degree clean break. The end of the fiber then is inserted into a coupler with index matching gel or polished. Cutting fiber strands results in fractures along the length. Hence your poor results when trying to snipe them. I would try a small knick with your razor blade and bend the fiber until it snaps. They try to locate some index matching gel. That should do the trick. Oh, remember to were eye protection when cutting and working with the fiber. The glass slivers are really nasty. Good Luck!

[Gerald Lee]

Re: How to cut fiber optic cable?

I don't know anything about 70s Vettes or the type of fiber they employe but I do know a little about fiber optics. There is only one real way to cut fiber. We use a cleave. What the cleave does is puts a small knick in the glass while it bends the fiber strand. This usually results in a 90 degree clean break. The end of the fiber then is inserted into a coupler with index matching gel or polished. Cutting fiber strands results in fractures along the length. Hence your poor results when trying to snipe them. I would try a small knick with your razor blade and bend the fiber until it snaps. They try to locate some index matching gel. That should do the trick. Oh, remember to were eye protection when cutting and working with the fiber. The glass slivers are really nasty. Good Luck!

[George Daina]

The fiber cable you are talking about is...

glass. The fiber optics in the 68-69 vette is not the same, it is made of fiberglass. If the vette fiber optics are damaged, or some of the strands are severed, there is no way to repair them. Forget about the adds you read or the repair kits available from Paragon, Dr. Rebuild, etc., they just don't work. The only recourse is to purchase a new fiber harness or a wiring harness that includes the fiber optics. In the case of the originator of this thread, presuming his fiber harness is in tact and undamaged, but the wire is too long, his alternative is to unravel the harness, take up the slack, and retape the harness.

[George Daina]

The fiber cable you are talking about is...

glass. The fiber optics in the 68-69 vette is not the same, it is made of fiberglass. If the vette fiber optics are damaged, or some of the strands are severed, there is no way to repair them. Forget about the adds you read or the repair kits available from Paragon, Dr. Rebuild, etc., they just don't work. The only recourse is to purchase a new fiber harness or a wiring harness that includes the fiber optics. In the case of the originator of this thread, presuming his fiber harness is in tact and undamaged, but the wire is too long, his alternative is to unravel the harness, take up the slack, and retape the harness.

[Bill Clupper]

Re: The fiber cable you are talking about is...

Although I don't remember the material of the light transmitting fiber, I do remember that we cut them in a v-knive setup, where the fiber was effectively capthred between two "V's", top and bottom, ant the knives bypassed, forming an ever smaller hole with a knife-edge 360 degrees around the cable to cut it. After that, the ferrule was applied and the ends were polished to improve the light transmission.

[Bill Clupper]

Re: The fiber cable you are talking about is...

Although I don't remember the material of the light transmitting fiber, I do remember that we cut them in a v-knive setup, where the fiber was effectively capthred between two "V's", top and bottom, ant the knives bypassed, forming an ever smaller hole with a knife-edge 360 degrees around the cable to cut it. After that, the ferrule was applied and the ends were polished to improve the light transmission.

[Jack H.]

Re: How to cut fiber optic cable?

You don't say WHY the cable needs to be trimmed....

Often, poor light transmission results after a car is re-painted. Fibre pickups got left 'dangling' and paint overspary found its way onto the ends causing blockage. Gently cleaning the ends with lacquer thinner and/or a soft brass wire brush attachment for a Dremel Tool (be carefull NOT to remove glass material and shorten the pickup length) effects a cure.

Once you've started 'hacking' on an end, you've lost the original recipie for pickup exposure length. The only resort is trial/error in removing ferrule, cutting back insulation and replacing ferrule to regain original pickup length....

In places like side marker lamps, check that the inside of the pickup cavity isn't also blocked with foreign contaminants. On the subject of NOT being able to shorten fiberoptics, I say, hog wash. This system is simple visible spectrum light pipe. We're NOT concerned with exact length to thwart standing wave interference and/or optimize given wavelengths. You CAN cut and splice, BUT you CAN ALSO expect to lose pipeline efficiency from your in transit splices (read that dimmer than original).

[Jack H.]

Re: How to cut fiber optic cable?

You don't say WHY the cable needs to be trimmed....

Often, poor light transmission results after a car is re-painted. Fibre pickups got left 'dangling' and paint overspary found its way onto the ends causing blockage. Gently cleaning the ends with lacquer thinner and/or a soft brass wire brush attachment for a Dremel Tool (be carefull NOT to remove glass material and shorten the pickup length) effects a cure.

Once you've started 'hacking' on an end, you've lost the original recipie for pickup exposure length. The only resort is trial/error in removing ferrule, cutting back insulation and replacing ferrule to regain original pickup length....

In places like side marker lamps, check that the inside of the pickup cavity isn't also blocked with foreign contaminants. On the subject of NOT being able to shorten fiberoptics, I say, hog wash. This system is simple visible spectrum light pipe. We're NOT concerned with exact length to thwart standing wave interference and/or optimize given wavelengths. You CAN cut and splice, BUT you CAN ALSO expect to lose pipeline efficiency from your in transit splices (read that dimmer than original).