Fiber Fusion Splicer Maintenance

Why does the splicer need to be maintained and how often?

The fusion splicer is a high-precision instrument that integrates optics, machinery, and circuits. During daily use, especially in harsh environment, it is inevitable that dust, debris and broken fibers enter the equipment contaminating the optical system and electrodes, and jam the motor, circuit Corrosion, etc., which leads to the results such as hard to identify fiber, splice loss increase, unstable discharge, poor splicing quality, longer splicing time, and low down work efficiency. As the service life increases, there is accuracy deviation of the motor and mechanical parts from it should be, if the maintenance is not performed timely, the internal components function will be degraded. The maintenance frequency usually once a year, but it should be performed depends on use status and environment to avoid machine aging. Good splice machine maintenance can save money and keep the machine in high work efficiency.

How to do the maintenance ?

1. Cleaning:The cleaning of the optical system, including the cleaning of the objective lens, CCD, reflectors, LEDs, etc., can solve the problems such as blurred fiber image, dark background, slow core alignment, the dirty fiber, wrong fiber type identification, large splice loss, and bubbles ect.The cleaning of electrode: The oxide on the electrode surface can be removed by polishing the electrode, it keeps the discharge in right position in stable status, avoiding to deform fused fiber and insufficient fusion strength. It also can increase electrode life 1-2 times, saving the cost of replacing consumables. In general, the electrodes need to be cleaned after 500 times of splicing. The cleaning of the V-shaped groove and the presser foot can solve the problems of abnormal fiber position, excessive fiber angle, excessive travel of the motor, and long axis alignment time. The clean of device inside which can solve problems such as motor stuck due to broken fiber, circuit board corrosion, low shaft accuracy, large fusion loss, and prolonged equipment life.
2. Equipment debugging
Equipment status debugging, motor initial position adjustment, motor calibration, discharge calibration, electrode stabilization, and software upgrade can improve fusion quality and reduce core alignment time.
3. Keep an eye on the splice machine battery. The fusion splicer battery should avoid the direct sunshine, or put with heat motor to shorten its lifetime. It should be charged fully every three month and discharge it totally. If the machine is not going to be used, suggest to put out the battery.
4. Replacement of old accessories.
All fusion splicer has maintenance requirements which should have been described in the operating manual. Follow the manufacturer’s requirements for servicing to keep the machine in good status