Optical Fiber Protective Tubing Assembly

An apparatus for connectorizing an optical fiber of a fiber optic cable, the fiber optic cable including a buffer tube through which the optical fiber extends, the optical fiber including a core, a cladding layer around the core, and one or more coating layers around the cladding, an outermost one of the one or more coating layers defining an outer diameter of the optical fiber, the outer diameter of the optical fiber being in the range of 230-270 microns, the apparatus comprising:

• a furcation tube that receives the optical fiber, the furcation tube the having a first end and a second end, the optical fiber having an end portion that extends outwardly beyond the second end of the furcation tube;
• a heat-recoverable tube that fixes the optical fiber relative to the furcation tube adjacent the second end of the furcation tube, the heat-recoverable tube having an adhesive layer positioned inside a heat recoverable layer, the heat-recoverable tube having a first portion affixed to the furcation tube and a second portion affixed to the end portion of the optical fiber, the second portion of the heat-recoverable tube being shrunk-down on the outer diameter of the optical fiber such that the second portion of the heat-recoverable tube has an inner diameter that matches the outer diameter of the optical fiber and is in the range of 230-270 microns;
• a connectorized pigtail spliced to an end of the end portion of the optical fiber at a splice location, the connectorized pigtail including a tight buffered optical fiber having a fiber optic connector mounted at one end of the tight buffered optical fiber, the tight buffered optical fiber including an outer buffer layer;
• a splice protection sleeve is positioned over the splice location, and wherein the splice protection sleeve is affixed to the outer buffer layer of the connectorized pigtail and to the second portion of the heat-recoverable tube;
• and
• the first end of the furcation tube being fixed relative to the buffer tube of the fiber optic cable.