Fibre engineers work in a changing world where technology and materials change the way work is done. With a new RFOD fibre optic cable now in use, the tooling required to strip the cable to the optical core is required. The previous cable only required a basic cutting tool to split the end so it can be pulled apart.
The new cable is round, and has Kevlar stands in the sheath so its harder to cut with a pair of snips, often requiring scissors that can cut Kevlar, but can often end up cutting the fibre optic core. Currently contracting as a “Fibre to the Premises” engineer, I found myself along with other engineers strip the cable neatly and prepare for installation.
Having a 3D printer, I decided to design a tool specifically for this tasks, as other co-axial strippers struggled to cut deep enough into the thick sheath or even to cut the kevlar reinforcement within the sheath.
Currently I’m on version 5, with a lock to keep the tool closed for when its in storage and also keep the tool firmly gripped on the cable when in use.
Here is a quick video demonstration on how it’s utilized.
I’ve made a few and since showing this to a few friends, they have requested one for themselves, with good feedback so far. Buts its not approved to be used by engineers working on the network. I guess there’s a long process for that. Maybe once I have had some feedback and its had more testing and development maybe at some point it could become an approved tool.