[LUNI] (OT) Fiber and fiber management

[Matt Wehland]

On Sunday 26 August 2007 14:01, sjk wrote:
> It's called interduct and is readily available from Greybar and other
> suppliers.
Thanks, After writing I found it with one of our regulars, they called it 
split tube looming (only in gray or black).  I will also look at greybar.

> You can get outdoor rated fiber with a rubber jacket and metallic
> sheath, but I have never seen it available in less than 14 strand. If
> you are envisioning the fiber as a whip, you need to be very very
> careful as the constant movement will eventually degrade the fiber.
> Otherwise, you should run your fiber through a PVC or EMT conduit as
> this will offer the best protection.

Oh I agree that this piece of fiber won't last. It isn't a good idea.  The CPU 
was supposed to be rack mounted (I even had slides on it, after the guts were 
swapped between 2 cases since one wasn't tapped for the slide screws).  Then 
I was told to take the slides off because the client wanted it on the cart.  
We were busy trying to get the editing rooms up and running, so I didn't even 
think about the fiber issue until the other day after getting the moveable 
system all hooked up and ready to test except for the fiber connection.  
Oh well.
I would also like to find some heavier jacketed fiber for other jobs, the 
stuff we used was real this patch cable type and we have already had problems 
with cat5 cables (for KVM extenders) getting caught up by machines being slid  
out and in.  No matter how I dress the fiber in, if I leave a loop to slide 
it out it will get caught up eventually.  
No, the clowns have not been gentle, the jacketing was ripped off of some cat 
5 cables within 2 days of rack mounting the computer.  I guess if there are 
20 cables hanging behind a computer and it doesn't slide in easily you just 
pull the machine back and get a running start.  Let's not even talk about how 
their guys ran the networking cabling straight down the middle of the rack, 
through all my cabling and left  30' coils hanging where I had to put more 
machines.
On other jobs we have just set up the cabling so that you have to unhook the 
computer to slide it out.  I'm thinking that is the way to go in the future 
when in a dense cabling environment, although it doesn't sit well with me.

Matt Wehland