The article "Wrap your mind around BIMMF testing" (June 2011, p. 17) contains a significant commercial blunder. The author Derek Whitehurst stated, "At the time of publication, there have been no commercially EF-compliant sources brought to market …" However, any Kingfisher multimode light source or loss test set supplied over the past three years in encircled flux (EF) compliant. So the many who own our multimode testers already own EF-compliant test sources.
Bruce Robertson
Technical Director
Kingfisher International
www.kingfisher.com.au
Scrap the tip about cable scrap
I read the tip on efficient uses for cable scrap (June 2011, p. 40). I would like to advise further, based on some tried-and-true methodology from my days as a cable-installation technician.
When clearing or cleaning dust, use a HEPA filter vacuum or a shop-vac if the environment allows. Create an adapter to reduce the cable sheath as the tip described, to suck out the dust rather than blowing the contaminants into the air. Hospitals, cleanrooms and similar environments could have mission-critical violations with respect to particulates in the air. The method initially described could violate policies.
I'm sure OSHA and organizations with dust-sensitive environments would frown upon blowing dust. Another way to capture dust is to use shaving cream or petroleum jelly (so you can see the marks that you are drilling) over the hole being drilled. Back in my days as a carpenter, we used to use an air compressor hooked up to a ¼-inch copper-tube nozzle to blow out holes being readied for epoxy and reinforced steel to adhere with concrete.
Robert Gannon, RCDD, RTPM(i)
Oregon Health and Science University
OHSU IT Capital Construction