protrudes through a fibre exit passage 19 in the ferrule 3 the exit passage 19 may be a simple hole or passage as shown alternatively it may consist of a bundle of three or more circular section rods sealed in an aperture in the forward end of the ferrule 3 parallel to the axis of the ferrule 3 with the clad fibre passing centrally through the bundle using finger pressure only the first sub assembly 30 is mated with the second sub assembly 40 by gripping the thumb wheels 45 55 between thumb and finger and screwing the threaded shell 4 in a clockwise direction onto the larger screw threaded part 18 of the collet body 5 until the proximal face of the threaded shell 4 butts against the distal face of the crimp body 6 by this action the four tines 20 of the collet body 5 are forced into the internal passage 33 of the ferrule 3 which passage is of such a diameter as to close the four tines 20 down onto the buffer coating 53 of the fibre this results in the optical fibre being fixed in position in relation to the connector the exposed cladding 37 protruding through the fibre exit passage 19 in the ferrule 3 is now cleaved by means of a sharp cleaving blade 73 fig9 made of a suitable hard material the cleavage is effected by running the blade along or across a slot 22 fig9 in the end.