Beckhoff EtherCAT EK112 Series Manual page 53

3. Grinding and polishing
Any fibers protruding more than 1.5 mm from the connector should be shortened with a cutter knife or a pair
of scissors.
Now push the connector fully into the sanding gauge, so that the ends to be polished protrude from the lower
side. The sanding gauge is suitable for polishing one or two simplex connectors or a duplex connector.
Fig. 38: Sanding gauge with protruding fiber ends
Wear indicator
The wear indicator of the sanding gauge consists of four points on the underside. The sanding
gauge should be replaced when one of these points is no longer visible.
Now press the sanding gauge onto the abrasive paper with uniform pressure and as perpendicular as
possible. In order to achieve a uniform result, use the abrasive paper in the form of a figure of 8, until the
fibers are flush with the sanding gauge. Then clean the sanding gauge and the connector from below with a
soft, dry cloth.
Fig. 39: Polishing in the form of a figure of 8
4. Fine polishing
Now use the pink polishing sheet for fine polishing in the same manner. Apply the connector with the
sanding gauge to the matt side of the polishing sheet with slight pressure and polish in the form of a figure of
8 up to 25 times. After the procedure the fiber end should be flat, smooth and clean.
Improving the transfer performance by fine polishing
Fine polishing with a polishing sheet can improve the transfer performance between the transmitter
and the receiver or in the cable joint by up to 0.5 dB compared with to treatment with abrasive paper
alone. For short transfer distances the polishing step can be omitted.
EK112x, EK15xx Version: 3.6
Commissioning/application notes
53