What Are Corning (Siecor) Unicam Connectors? Fiber Optic Tutorial Series One

Word Count:
446

Summary:
The termination process for industry standard epoxy and polish fiber optic connectors.

For standard epoxy and polish fiber optic connectors, the termination process typically includes 7 steps (up to 30 minutes) which are:

1. Strip the optical fiber to expose the 125um (140um or other sizes depending on your fiber) fiber cladding

2. Clean the exposed bare fiber with isopropyl alcohol and lint-free wipes

3. Insert the bare fiber into the connector center hole until ...


Keywords:
Corning, Siecor, Unicam, Fiber, Optic, Connector, Termination


Article Body:
The termination process for industry standard epoxy and polish fiber optic connectors.

For standard epoxy and polish fiber optic connectors, the termination process typically includes 7 steps (up to 30 minutes) which are:

1. Strip the optical fiber to expose the 125um (140um or other sizes depending on your fiber) fiber cladding

2. Clean the exposed bare fiber with isopropyl alcohol and lint-free wipes

3. Insert the bare fiber into the connector center hole until the fiber stops

4. Inject fiber optic epoxy with a syringe dispenser into the connector body

5. Cure the fiber optic epoxy with high temperature which could be 85°C, 100°C or even 120°C depending on the type of fiber optic epoxy(you need a special connector epoxy curing oven for this purpose)

6. Scribe the fiber protruding from the tip of the fiber connector

7. Polish the connector tip with lapping films either by hand or specialized fiber optic connector polishing machine(especially for single mode fiber connectors)

So you see that the process for terminating optical fiber is a complex procedure. It takes time and practice and only highly trained fiber optic technicians can do the work properly with high yield ratio.

But fiber optic contractor installers for premise networks usually do not have the luxury of time or the expensive tools for this type of termination. And that is when quick termination fiber optic connectors come into handy.

Quick termination fiber optic connectors are specially designed for fast termination without lots of experience required. A fiber optic contractor installer can do a quick termination within 2~3 minutes.

There are many different designs but the typical one such as Corning Siecor Unicam connector is like this:

The Unicam connector is pre-polished in factory with a fiber stub hidden inside the body of the connector. The installer then only needs 5 steps to complete a Unicam connector termination with industry standard quality.

1. Strip the optical fiber to expose the 125um fiber cladding

2. Clean the exposed bare fiber with isopropyl alcohol and lint-free wipes

3. Cleave the fiber with a cleaver

4. Insert the fiber into the Unicam connector until it stops

5. Crimp the fiber onto the Unicam connector with a fiber connector crimper tool

A fiber optic contractor installer can make a Unicam connector termination within 2 minutes. Compared to the standard epoxy approach (up to 30 minutes), that is 87% time saved.

Unicam connectors offer equivalent insertion loss performance as a standard epoxy and polish connector. Unicam connectors also meet or exceed the mechanical and optical performance specified by EIA/TIA 568.B.

Fiber Optic For Sale Co stocks all types of Corning Siecor Unicam connectors including Unicam ST, TKT Unicam CTS SF, Corning TKT Unicam, Unicam LC, Unicam SC, Unicam tool kit and TKT Unicam Elite.