Optical fiber cutter/coating material remover apparatus and method of cutting optical fiber and removing coating material

An optical fiber cutter/coating material remover apparatus comprising:

• an optical fiber cutter unit which cuts an end portion of a multi-core optical fiber held by an optical fiber holder to be a first predetermined length;
• a coating material remover unit which cuts a surface of a coating material of the multi-core optical fiber at a second predetermined length from the end portion to expose a core-wire fiber inserted in the coating material for the second predetermined length;
• a connecting portion which slidably connects the optical fiber cutter unit to the coating material remover unit with respect to the coating material remover unit,
• the optical fiber cutter/coating material remover apparatus being configured such that
• the end portion of the multi-core optical fiber is cut while the optical fiber cutter unit is apart from the coating material remover unit,
• the cut end portion of the multi-core optical fiber is inserted into the coating material remover unit by sliding the optical fiber cutter unit or the coating material remover unit so that the optical fiber cutter unit and the coating material remover unit are in contact with each other, and then
• the coating material is removed by sliding the optical fiber cutter unit or the coating material remover unit so that the optical fiber cutter unit is apart from the coating material remover unit.