3SAE Photon Kinetics FK 11-4

The most revolutionary aspect of the Photon Kinetics FK 11-4 is the ultrasonic cleaving action. A precision diamond blade is attached to a resonant acoustic-stepped horn. The ultrasonic horn resonance is started and maintained for the duration of the cleave by an electronic circuit. It is then automatically terminated to preserve battery life.

The ultrasonically vibrating blade moves slowly towards the tensioned fiber on stictionless damped bearings. Cleaving takes place without the compressive stresses and blade intrusion into the fiber that is typical of conventional cleavers. This revolutionary new cleaving technique produces superb planar ends of mirror quality with no hackle.

A stripped and cleaned fiber in the fiber holder is placed in the grooves of the cleaver and is held by a specially designed low-torsion clamp. Constant tension is then applied to the fiber by lowering the tension lever. Cleaving is initiated by pushing the blade release lever downwards. The design allows cleaving to take place as close to the coating as may be required.

The FK 11-4 fiber cleaver has been designed to provide trouble-free cleaving over many thousands of cleaves. This design does not require constant adjustment to stay “in tune”. In the event of accidental damage to part of the diamond edge, the operator can adjust the blade to bring a new part of the cutting edge into use.