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c/avionics-technicians•kelly385kelly385•5d ago

I was sure the new fiber optic cleaning pens were just a gimmick

Our shop got a box of them about six months ago, and I kept using my old lint-free wipes and alcohol. Then I had a stubborn intermittent fault on a 787's IFE system in Seattle, with signal loss right at a connector. A senior tech handed me one of the pens and said to try it. The fault cleared immediately after three swipes, and the signal levels jumped back to spec. I've used them on every fiber job since. Has anyone else had a tool they doubted that actually fixed a tricky problem?
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3 Comments
william_garcia
Man, I feel that. @fiona_west21 is right, sometimes the simple tool you ignore is the fix.
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seth_shah
seth_shah5d ago
Reminds me of the time I swore those torque-limiting screwdrivers were overkill for avionics. Wasted half a day on a phantom comms issue that turned out to be a cracked terminal block from over-tightening. Bought a set the next week and haven't looked back.
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fiona_west21
Trust @seth_shah, those torque tools save so much time.
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