JPH07294748A - Method for cutting plastic optical fiber - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate the shear droop by melting of cut surfaces and to uniformly finish the cut surfaces by moving a heated blade while inclining the blade to an outer side at a specific angle with the cutting direction of the plastic optical fibers inserted into a mouthpiece and cutting the plastic optical fibers. CONSTITUTION:The heated blade is moved while the blade is inclined 3 to 60 deg., more preferably 3 to 30 deg. to the outer side with the cutting direction of plural pieces or single piece of the plastic optical fibers inserted into the mouthpiece at the time of cutting these plastic optical fibers along the end face of the mouthpiece with the heated blade. At this time, the temp. of the heated blade is set at 200 to 400 deg., more preferably 200 to 350 pts.wt.. The rate of packing the mouthpiece of the body to be cut inclusive of the plastic optical fibers is preferably set at >=78%. The copresence of dummy fiber tubes, etc., exclusive of the optical fibers in the optical fibers is, therefore, made possible, by which the body to be cut is prevented from deviating or straining at the time cutting. A finishing stage after the cutting is not required and the number of stages is decreased.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an end face processing method for cutting a plastic optical fiber inserted into a base with a blade, and more particularly, to obtain a smooth end face which does not require post-finishing after cutting. The present invention relates to a plastic optical fiber end face processing method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Various methods have been conventionally used as an end surface treatment method for cutting a plastic optical fiber inserted into a base. For example, a plastic optical fiber is inserted into a base and a protruding end is cut. , Finishing rough cut surface with emery paper, inserting plastic optical fiber into the base, cutting the protruding end, pressing the rough cut surface against the mirror surface hot plate to finish, inserting the plastic optical fiber into the base , A method of directly cutting the protruding end along the end face of the base with a rotating blade, etc., a method of inserting a plastic optical fiber into the base and directly cutting the protruding end along the end face of the base with a heating blade (hot knife) and so on.

[0003]

However, the method of finishing with an emery paper after cutting and the method of finishing with a hot plate after cutting have a disadvantage that a finishing step is required after cutting and the number of steps increases. Further, in the method of finishing with a hot plate, heat treatment cannot be performed under stable processing conditions in the central portion and the peripheral portion of many optical fibers, and uniform finishing is difficult.

Further, the method of directly cutting with a rotary blade or the like and the method of directly cutting with a heating blade (hot knife) can omit the finishing step, but when mechanically cutting, water or cutting is used. When cutting with heat, it requires additional steps such as ultrasonic cleaning, and when cutting with heat, put the cutting blade in the cutting direction and the side of the cutting blade contacts the cutting surface of the optical fiber or Since they move in close proximity, it is difficult to set the temperature of the cutting blade, and if the temperature is too high, the cutting surface melts, and conversely if the temperature is low, there is the disadvantage that the blade cannot be cut and the blade is chipped.

The present invention has been made on the basis of the above-mentioned background, and an object of the invention is that a finishing step is not required after cutting, the number of steps can be reduced, and stable processing conditions can be realized. An object of the present invention is to provide a plastic optical fiber end face processing method which enables uniform finishing, does not require additional steps such as ultrasonic cleaning, does not sag on the cut surface, and has no cutting edge chipping.

[0006]

The above-mentioned problems can be solved by the present invention. That is, the plastic optical fiber cutting method according to the present invention is a method of cutting a plurality of or a single plastic optical fiber inserted into the base along the end face of the base with a heating blade, in the cutting direction of the optical fiber. On the other hand, the heating blade is 3 ° to 60 °, preferably 3 ° to 3 °
The feature is that it is moved while tilting outward by 0 °.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the temperature of the heating blade is 200 ° to 400 ° at the time of cutting, preferably 20 °.
It can be set to 0 ° to 350 °.

In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the die filling rate of the object to be cut containing the plastic optical fiber is 7 or less.
It can be 8% or more.

[0009]

The plastic optical fiber cutting method according to the present invention having the above-described structure operates and operates as follows.
First, a plurality of or a single plastic optical fiber to be fixed is inserted from one end of the base and projected from the opening of the other end. In the present invention, in addition to the optical fiber, a dummy fiber, a tube or the like can be mixed in the optical fiber, and in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the die filling rate of the cut object including the plastic optical fiber is 78% or more. With such a mode, it is possible to prevent the body to be cut from being displaced or distorted during cutting. After the body to be cut is inserted, the body to be cut can be temporarily or permanently fixed to the mouthpiece.

The heating blade is heated to a predetermined temperature. In a preferred embodiment of this invention, the temperature of the heating blade is set to 2 at the time of cutting.
The temperature can be set to 00 ° to 400 °, preferably 200 ° to 350 ° by a temperature controller. By this setting, the reproducibility of the cut surface can be improved and resin sagging can be prevented.

Next, the heating blade is moved along the end face of the optical fiber while inclining the heating blade outward with respect to the cutting direction of the cut body of the optical fiber at an incline angle of 3 ° to 60 °, preferably 3 ° to 30 °. . At this time, the blade tip moves along the end face of the die to cut the object to be cut of the optical fiber, but since the heating blade is inclined outward, the cutting blade side surface and the optical fiber cutting surface do not contact, It moves away so that the optical fiber end face after cutting is not overheated. As a result, the cutting edge of the cutting blade can be set to a high cutting optimum temperature.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail with reference to the following embodiments with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of an embodiment showing how an optical fiber is cut using the plastic optical fiber cutting method according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a cutting blade used in the embodiment shown in FIG. FIG.
The plastic optical fiber cutting method carried out by this example comprises the following steps.

First, a cutting blade equipped with a heater as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is prepared. The shape of this cutting blade is a plate, the thickness is 1.2 mm, the cross-sectional shape of the blade edge is a wedge shape, and the blade angle is 20 °. In the present invention, the shape of the cutting blade can be variously changed and selected according to the purpose and application. In this embodiment, the blade material is, for example,
There is SUS steel or the like, and if necessary, surface treatment such as hard chrome plating or SIP treatment can be applied, and this treatment can prevent the molten resin from adhering to the plastic optical fiber. In this embodiment, the blade angle was 20 °, but various changes and selections can be made according to the purpose and application, and can be set to 10 °, for example. The heater attached to the cutting blade preferably has a large capacity so that the heat fluctuation is small, and is, for example, 150 W or 200 W. The temperature of this heater is controlled by a temperature controller. In this mode, the temperature of the cutting edge is 270 ° C.
Is set to. With this setting, the reproducibility of the cut surface can be improved and resin sagging can be prevented.

Next, a large number of plastic optical fibers (CK-20, 80 manufactured by Mitsubishi Rayon) to be fixed were
It is inserted from one end of the die up to 30φ and projected from the opening at the other end. In this aspect, in addition to the optical fiber, a dummy fiber, a tube or the like can be mixed in this optical fiber. In this aspect, the die filling rate of the cut object including the plastic optical fiber is 81% of the high density filling. By filling in this way, it is possible to prevent the body to be cut from being displaced or distorted during cutting. After the body to be cut is inserted, the body to be cut can be temporarily or permanently fixed to the mouthpiece.

Next, the heating blade is moved along the end face of the die while inclining the heating blade outward at an angle of 15 ° with respect to the cutting direction of the cut body of the optical fiber. At this time, the tip of the blade
Moves along the end face of the die and cuts the object to be cut of the optical fiber, but since the heating blade is inclined to the outside, the side surface of the cutting blade and the optical fiber cutting surface do not make contact and move away, resulting , The end face of the optical fiber after cutting is not overheated. As a result, the cutting edge of the cutting blade can be set to a high cutting optimum temperature.

Next, a comparative example will be shown below. After inserting the optical fiber through the base, preliminarily cut the protruding end with a band saw and cut the cut surface with emery paper # 1500.
The end surface treatment was performed in the same manner as in the above-described example except that the final polishing was performed for 2 minutes and then for 2 minutes at the finishing rock site. The smoothness of the end face of the above-mentioned example without the complicated finishing process was almost the same as the smoothness of the end face of the comparative example which required many processes.

Further, in the second comparative example, the end surface treatment was carried out in the same manner as in the above-mentioned embodiment except that the filling rate of the material to be cut was 75%, the blade insertion angle was 0 °, and the blade was not inclined. The processed end surface became a rough and dirty cut surface due to melting and resin sag.

[0018]

As demonstrated in the above embodiments, the plastic optical fiber cutting method according to the present invention has the following effects. Since finishing is performed by cutting directly, a finishing step is not required after cutting, and the number of steps can be reduced. Moreover, stable processing conditions can be realized and uniform finishing is possible, and no additional process such as ultrasonic cleaning is required. Furthermore, the cut surface does not sag due to melting,
Also, there is no chipping of the cutting blade.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of an embodiment showing a state of cutting an optical fiber by using the plastic optical fiber cutting method according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of a cutting blade used in the embodiment shown in FIG.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Kyosuke Harada 2-4-1, Ushikawa-dori, Toyohashi-shi, Aichi Sanryu Rayon Co., Ltd. Toyohashi Works (72) Inventor Masahiro Tanaka 4-chome, Ushikawa-dori, Toyohashi-shi, Aichi Address 2 Sanryo Rayon Co., Ltd. Toyohashi Plant

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A method of cutting a plurality of or a single plastic optical fiber penetrating the base along the end face of the base with a heating blade, wherein the blade is 3 ° with respect to the cutting direction of the optical fiber. A method for cutting a plastic optical fiber, which is characterized in that the plastic optical fiber is moved while being tilted outward by -60 °. 2. The temperature of the heating blade is 200 to 40 at the time of cutting.
The method of cutting a plastic optical fiber according to claim 1, wherein the angle is 0 °. 3. The method of cutting a plastic optical fiber according to claim 1, wherein the material to be cut containing the plastic optical fiber has a filling rate of 78% or more.