Changes

The Light Guide (LG) fibers were a different story altogether. As the LG fibers were over a meter in length (as opposed to the SciFis, which came in at about 2 cm), there was some trouble bundling the fibers so that all 30 would be at the same distance from the collar. Bundling could take almost an hour without the bundling tool, and with it could take about 20 minutes. The fibers would end up not being all polished, and to avoid doing many of them singly we had to rebundle them over and over again. Thus, the main issue was bundling the fibers appropriately. There were also issues holding the fibers upright while polishing with one hand, which would lead to the collar being less uniformly level and the fibers taking longer to be polished.

The Light Guide (LG) fibers were a different story altogether. As the LG fibers were over a meter in length (as opposed to the SciFis, which came in at about 2 cm), there was some trouble bundling the fibers so that all 30 would be at the same distance from the collar. Bundling could take almost an hour without the bundling tool, and with it could take about 20 minutes. The fibers would end up not being all polished, and to avoid doing many of them singly we had to rebundle them over and over again. Thus, the main issue was bundling the fibers appropriately. There were also issues holding the fibers upright while polishing with one hand, which would lead to the collar being less uniformly level and the fibers taking longer to be polished.

Finally, another issue with the LGs was the fact that they were bundled and marked 1-15 and 17-32. The issue here was that the rollover with the SciFis could not be done here, since mixing bundles would result in mixed fibers, and we could end up losing track of what fiber was from what bundle. This could be alleviated with an additional numbering rubber band being added to indicate the bundle it came from, but I did not think of that at the time and it slowed production.

Finally, another issue with the LGs was the fact that they were bundled and marked 1-15 and 18-32. The issue here was that the rollover with the SciFis could not be done here, since mixing bundles would result in mixed fibers, and we could end up losing track of what fiber was from what bundle. This could be alleviated with an additional numbering rubber band being added to indicate the bundle it came from, but I did not think of that at the time and it slowed production.

In the later part of the semester, I learned fusing. Fusing seemed to be down to an efficient science, and the fusing unit had no problems at all. The only issue is ensuring the pressures remain where they should be, and this is easily adjusted. Production is slow but consistent, with little confounding factors. I had one bad fuse, and I’m not quite sure yet as to what occurred. It may have been that I let a fiber slip by without inspecting the end (perhaps it was chipped) or perhaps some sort of air bubble formed during fusing. The only other issue is the presence of many SciFis that are about .1 millimeters thicker than the acceptable range. Seemingly, there was a good portion of the spool that was much thicker than expected. The other fibers are at an acceptable width of about 1.95 mm.

In the later part of the semester, I learned fusing. Fusing seemed to be down to an efficient science, and the fusing unit had no problems at all. The only issue is ensuring the pressures remain where they should be, and this is easily adjusted. Production is slow but consistent, with little confounding factors. I had one bad fuse, and I’m not quite sure yet as to what occurred. It may have been that I let a fiber slip by without inspecting the end (perhaps it was chipped) or perhaps some sort of air bubble formed during fusing. The only other issue is the presence of many SciFis that are about .1 millimeters thicker than the acceptable range. Seemingly, there was a good portion of the spool that was much thicker than expected. The other fibers are at an acceptable width of about 1.95 mm.