A method of removing a foil shield from a cable. The method includes: positioning the cable proximate a heating source; heating the foil shield in a designated area to weaken the foil shield; and removing an outer insulation of the cable and the foil shield after the foil shield has been heated.

A coating removing device includes a heating section that includes a heater to heat a coating of an optical fiber, and a blade to make an incision in the coating of the optical fiber; a gripping section that grips the optical fiber and is capable of moving with respect to the heating section; and a counter that counts a coating removal event number by detecting separation between the heating section and the gripping section.

A heater cartridge comprises a heater contained within a distal section of housing pipe near a working portion, such as soldering iron tip or a blade for stripping wire. The wall thickness of the housing pipe is generally thin to limit heat transfer to a proximal section of the housing pipe near where a user's hand would be normally located. The wall thickness is thinner in a region near the heater as compared to a region expected to have a high bending moment.

An automated process for producing exposed electrical contact areas on the conductor part of an epoxy coated bus bar. When the epoxy coating is in the glassy state, one can safely and economically, preferably via automated apparatus, put the epoxy into the rubbery state by positioning the bar and applying localized heat at a select area of the coating; monitoring the heating to above the glass transition temperature of the epoxy, bringing cutting tools into contact with the epoxy for cutting and removing the rubbery coating away from the bus bar, and cooling the bus bar to bring adjacent coating back to the glassy state, thereby leaving an exposed electrical contact area of conductor on the bus bar with little or no surface damage.

Methods of transforming a cable are disclosed herein, wherein the cable comprises an inner conductor and an insulator disposed around the inner conductor, and wherein some embodiments include heating the inner conductor to soften at least a portion of the insulator adjacent to the inner conductor, directing a fluid along the softened insulator and thereby creating a space between the inner conductor and the insulator along a length of the cable, injecting a lubricant into the space between the inner conductor and the insulator, and after creating the space between the inner conductor and the insulator, extracting the inner conductor from the cable.

A method of removing a metallic cable core that extends through an outer cable sheath of a length of data transmission cable is disclosed. The core is surrounded by a filler material contained within the outer cable sheath as an integral part of the cable. The method comprises the steps of resistively heating the core by supplying electric current to it to reduce the viscosity of the surrounding polymer material; and pulling the core out of one end of the outer cable sheath while the viscosity of the filler material is in a reduced state.

An advanced cable preparation system for automatically and accurately preparing electric cables for termination is provided. The system includes multiple subassemblies and modules for removing one or more cable layers in order to prepare the cable end(s) for safe and effective termination. The system can include a housing with a sensor module, a processing module, and a one or more subassemblies including a cutting module, a power module, a neutral handling module, and a communication module. Some embodiments of the system can also include a heating module and a roller module. The advanced cable preparation system and method automatically detects one or more cable parameters of the electric cable using the sensor module and adjusts the configuration of one or more modules to appropriately remove one or more layers of the electric cable to prepare the electric cable for termination.

A multi-member cable includes at least a first cable element and a second cable element. The first and second cable elements may extend in parallel, be stranded in a helical winding pattern, or be stranded in a reverse-oscillatory winding pattern, along the length of the cable. At least one binder is helically wrapped about the first and second cable elements to hold them together. The binder is formed of a material which disintegrates when exposed to a particular liquid or heat. In a preferred embodiment, the binder may be formed of polyvinyl-alcohol (PVA).

A coating removing device includes a heating section that includes a heater to heat a coating of an optical fiber, and a blade to make an incision in the coating of the optical fiber; a gripping section that grips the optical fiber and is capable of moving with respect to the heating section; and a counter that counts a coating removal event number by detecting separation between the heating section and the gripping section.

A method is for producing a cable which comprises a conductor and a barrel. The conductor has individual wires and is enclosed, at least in portions, by a piece of insulation. The conductor is heated and a crimping process is carried out for electrically contacting the barrel with the conductor. The barrel is pressed together with the heated conductor during the crimping process in such a way that the conductor is initially compressed on a first axial sub-portion of the conductor and subsequently the compression of the conductor is spread to a larger second axial sub-portion.