Proper Care of Polishing Fixtures for Optical Fiber Polishing Machines

In fiber optic cable assembly, the polishing process is perhaps the most critical step to assure high-quality assemblies that meet specifications. That’s why it’s important to select the right optical fiber polishing machine – and polishing fixtures – that meet your needs. Depending on your cable assembly house product offerings, it’s likely that you have several polishing fixtures to produce different connector styles.

 

The quality of the polishing fixtures (also called polishing plates or jigs) is extremely important to your company. Considering the high cost of production equipment and components, your company will want to maintain these tools to produce a high volume of products with minimal quality issues over the long run.

 

Proper maintenance of polishing fixtures is absolutely essential

 

Polishing fixtures for optical fiber polishing machines are built with high-precision machining equipment. Fixtures made of steel and aluminum can flex and warp over time, which will negatively impact your polishing process and product quality. On the other hand, polishing fixtures made of hardened stainless steel avoid this wear effect. However, hardened stainless steel contains more iron in the alloy, so this does increase the risk of rusting. This is a key reason why proper maintenance is so critical.

 

In addition, the most common fiber optic connectors (SC, LC, and E2000) are locked onto the polishing fixture with a plastic latch or clamp, which can wear over time if not properly cleaned. Poor cleaning techniques can also prevent proper locking. This can significantly impact the polishing machine’s functionality and, therefore, product quality.

 

Polishing fixtures are expensive – this is a bottom-line reason why proper maintenance is so important. With daily maintenance, you can use your polishing fixtures for a long time with no variation in the quality level of your fiber optic cable assemblies.

 

Follow these 8 steps to clean and maintain your polishing fixtures

 

Whether your company is just starting to manufacture fiber optic cable assemblies – or you have years of experience – we recommend you rigorously follow these guidelines to properly clean and maintain your polishing fixtures.

 

It’s better to clean every day for 5 minutes rather than clean once a week for 30 minutes. In fact, we recommend you integrate a cleaning procedure throughout the daily polishing process. Cleaning the fixtures should be a regular task – and a priority – in your polishing process.

Use distilled water, because it doesn’t contain abrasive minerals. Do not use tap water – regular drinking water is different all over the world. Your company’s tap water may contain iron minerals that tend to adhere to the polishing fixture. Also, do not use alcohol. At Fiber Optic Center, we recommend the Air Cleanse Cleaning Wand. This hand-held cleaning wand has an integrated pressurized fluid and filter system for a debris-free cleaning operation. You can use the wand to clean any brand of polishing machine and fixture. Click to read the datasheet for the Air Cleanse Cleaning Wand from Domaille Engineering.

 

The ferrule holes (and for MT style fixtures the ferrule slots, surrounding surfaces, and top clamps) can be cleaned using dental brushes and particle‐free, distilled or deionized water. Again, do not use alcohol. We recommend using a 1.25mm nylon brush (purple-handled brush) for fixtures with 1.25mm diameter ferrule holes. Use a 2.5mm nylon brush (blue-handled brush) for fixtures with 2.5mm diameter ferrule holes. Either one will work fine for MT style fixtures.

 

Clean the fixture while it’s still wet from the polishing process. This makes it easy to remove the polishing debris.

 

To clean areas where a brush can’t reach, use an ultrasonic bath. When using an ultrasonic bath, you must change the deionized water every day. Otherwise, debris could contaminate the polishing fixture. (Again, here is the link for the Air Cleanse Cleaning Wand datasheet.)

 

If you have a fixture with a cam-lock interface, pay special attention to the spring slits. These are very narrow and debris can easily build up, causing the metal to flex less and interfere with the spring functionality.

 

After cleaning the polishing fixture, it’s important to dry it thoroughly to avoid rusting. This is especially true for polishing fixtures made of hardened stainless steel.

 

Over time, your polishing results may change, and the reason could be directly related to natural wear of key interfaces of the polishing machine and fixture. The EZ-Check Precision Wear Gage Kit provides precise measurements for the polishing machine mandrel, fixture mounting hole, and ferrule holes. We recommend incorporating this wear gage kit into your process control system. Call Fiber Optic Center to determine whether this tool works with your polishing machine and fixture.