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Miniflex Fibre Protection

Labour typically accounts for 80% of the cost of an FTTP deployment, given the highly skilled personnel and specialist equipment required when using traditional methods. In order to help reduce these costs, M2FX invented the technology behind pushable fibre, the Miniflex.

Miniflex cable is made with a rugged plastic polymer that is robust in terms of crush and tensile strength. The patented 'live hinge' grooving helps it remain flexible while resisting kinking and bunching during installation. This combination allows Miniflex cable to be pushed into duct or through crowded risers with ease.

The Miniflex range of fibre protection tubing hits the sweet spot for toughness, flexibility and size. The Miniflex Protection Tube is half the diameter of other products on the market – between 3 mm and 4 mm depending on requirements. This results in less congestion in duct and riser, and greater return on investment from cable raceway and containment.

Because of its compactness and the material it is made from, Miniflex protection tube is a fraction of the weight of competing products. This means less force is required when installing, which minimises potential fibre damage and disruption to other services. And it can be supplied with a lengthwise slit, allowing users to 'zip' their existing fibre cables into new protective Miniflex ones.

Even though it is light and compact, it still provides fibre protection, offering up to 1400 N of crush resistance as well as being flame retardant, low smoke, zero halogen (LSZH) and is UV stabilised. To do this the protection tube is manufactured with tough engineering polymers, some of which are used in car bumpers, making it tough enough to be squeezed into populated conduit, or installed in the harshest of industrial conditions.

But, while providing protection, hard plastic is not particularly flexible, being rigid and prone to kinking. M2FX has overcome this by developing a live-hinge grooved sheath. The live-hinge eliminates kinks and allows the tube to be bent and twisted during installation and usage without damaging the fibre inside. Supplied in reels or cut lengths and with or without a length-wise slit, Miniflex Fibre Protection tube can be deployed in multiple industries.

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