HOCKEY PUCK

A polishing fixture used to facilitate the manual finishing of the endfaces of certain types of optical fiber connectors. Note 1: The hockey puck consists of the appropriate mating sleeve for the connector in question, mounted at right angles to, and in the center of, a disk of stainless steel or other hard material. When the unfinished connector, secured to the fiber-optic cable , is mounted in the hockey puck, excess material ( e.g. , fiber end, bead of adhesive material, and excess connector length, if present) protrudes from the opposite side of the disk. The excess is then ground away as the fixture is manually swept to and fro, usually in a figure-8 pattern, in contact with a piece of microfinishing film which is in turn supported by a rigid flat substrate. Two to four grades of microfinishing film, with abrasive particles ranging in size from 15 m to 0.3 m, are commonly used. [After FAA ] Note 2: Various manufacturers use proprietary names to identify this device; however "hockey puck" has become ubiquitous.