Fiber Optic Fusion Splice

Sumitomo Electric Lightwave Introduces Industry’s First Mass Fiber Automatic Blade Rotation Cleavers for FTTx Termination Efficiency 

Research Triangle Park, NC, June 6, 2012  —  Sumitomo Electric Lightwave (www.sumitomoelectric.com), a leader in fiber optic product design and manufacturing, introduces the FC-6RM-C fiber cleaver, the industry’s first and only automatic blade rotation cleaver for high precision cleaves of 1 to 12 fibers for use in fusion splicing, field termination, and other precision applications. For single fiber applications, the company has launched the FC-6RS automatic blade rotation cleaver. Both units address the market need for a more precise fiber cleaver that eliminates the time consuming and error prone process of height and blade rotation adjustments, thereby increasing ease of use, precision, and the cleaver’s maximum product life.

To solve field technicians’ difficulties and frustrations with manually adjusting and rotating the cleaver blade position for accurate fiber cleaves, Sumitomo’s patent pending technology automatically rotates the cleaver blade during use for easy, fast, and precise cleaves in a two-step process that prevents double scoring of fibers. The difficult process of blade rotation adjustments has in the past necessitated increased service and maintenance of the fiber cleavers. Most cleaver manufacturers advertise long maximum life of the cleaver blade, but typically only one-third or less of the advertised life is actually realized due to the frequent improper cleaver blade rotation and height adjustments.

The FC-6RM-C and FC-6RS significantly reduce the need for maintenance and service by extending the maximum life of the cleaver blade to 144,000 cleaves after making factory height adjustments with initial capacity of 48,000 consecutive cleaves requiring no adjustments. The automated cleavers ultimately allow the user to streamline the cleaving process undisrupted to cleave single or multiple fibers with maximum precision and time efficiency.

“The introduction of the FC-6R cleaver series, along with our recent first-to-market innovations including the industry’s only fully functional touch screen Quantum fusion splicers, reflects Sumitomo’s commitment to offering our customers new and better technologies for speed, increased productivity, and lower deployment costs for their networks,” comments Joshua Seawell, Sumitomo Electric Lightwave’s director of its Lightwave Network Products division.

Sumitomo’s new FC-6RM-C mass automatic blade rotation cleaver includes a convenient scrap collector. The FC-6RS is available with or without a scrap collector. Both cleavers feature user selectable blade rotation options with specifications for clean, precise cleave quality that ensure  low reflectance terminations enabling optimum performance of fiber optic components and systems. The cleavers offer a typical cleave angle of <0.5 degrees and are ideal for use with splicing both single-mode and multimode optical fibers in a light and portable unit, providing a footprint and design that optimizes limited workspace.

About Sumitomo Electric Lightwave:

Sumitomo Electric Lightwave (SEL) is a major industry leader in the development, innovation, and manufacturing of the highest quality and most reliable optical fiber, fiber optic cable, fusion splicing equipment and accessories, connectors, passive components, Fiber-to-the-Home solutions, and FutureFLEX® Air-Blown Network systems for communications, wireless, residential broadband, FTTx, data center, and enterprise networks. Dedicated to continuous innovation and exceptional customer, engineering, and training services, SEL partners with customers to tailor industry-1st solutions that advance information and communication networks in North, South, and Central America.

Established in 1984, Sumitomo Electric Lightwave is a wholly owned company of Sumitomo Electric Industries, LTD., the global leader in information and communications technology.