Go get a boroscope camera if you don't already have one

[cvairwerks]

Articulating is the correct term! What ***** is they don’t make them very long (longest I saw was 5.5ft) and that hinders in what areas you can access.

They do make longer ones, but you have to step up to fairly high grade industrial ones to get 2 meters or longer.. We've got XL Go's from GE at work these days and they have 2 meter long probes that are 3.9 or 5 mm in diameter, depending on which one we grab. The 8.4 mm ones will go to 9.6+ meters in length.

 

[rword]

They do make longer ones, but you have to step up to fairly high grade industrial ones to get 2 meters or longer.. We've got XL Go's from GE at work these days and they have 2 meter long probes that are 3.9 or 5 mm in diameter, depending on which one we grab. The 8.4 mm ones will go to 9.6+ meters in length.

With articulation ? That makes sense then. The diy articulation ones only seem to be 5.5ft max.

 

[Crazyjake8493]

How does that work? Is the camera part just on a USB cable or something? Mine is 3M long but it's USB so I think I can do that. But on one with an integrated display, you can still only see so far

Mine actually connects to your phone via WiFi, which is one of the only minor downsides. Not sure why they didn't utilize bluetooth instead. The end of the camera cords has a small "box" the size of a prescription pill bottle that holds the battery, Wifi transmitter, etc.

 

[Tinkerer2]

Let us know! I got the teslong version coming. Pretty similar

Well, the project got moved to the week of the 30th, so if you get yours please let us know how well it performs.

 

[rword]

Got mine yesterday. Pretty pleased with it. The clarity of the picture is awesome

 

[bugnut]

I have now purchased 2 of the cell phone monitor style $17each from amazon, not perfect but for occasional use they do fine, looking into vw front ends, viewing hard to see places in the tractor. They suit my needs. I use a magnetic phone holder so my hands are free when using the scope.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CTTSWBMV?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[Blue Chips]

Is this stiff enough to push down a sewer pipe? It probably has 1 or more 45's and maybe a 90.

I think it's rigid enough to thread through a sewer pipe. As to whether or not it can navigate a 90-degree bend, I suspect it would depend on how smooth the bend is and the radius of the bend. They're available in different lengths.

 

[YesIHaveAHammer]

Had mine coming up two months now, I can confirm it's very useful. Purchase admittedly half inspired by this thread.

Perhaps obvious, but I can't remember a recent tool purchase that brought me such a completely new and unlike anything else capability.


Water/oil/air leak? Stick this in there while the leaking thing is operating/flowing. Don't speculatively disassemble things and try to imagine where it might be leaking while it's turned off.

Can feel a fastener or clip but can't figure out how to undo/refit it? Stick this between your fingers and take a look.

Want to identify a part or get its number off the label? Just take a picture with this rather than removing it.

Stuffing a cable/pipe down somewhere, trying to get it out the other end? Use this to check what it's getting stuck on, and to help you fish in the right area at the other end.


Note you have basically zero control with lengths over say 1.5m (5ft). I've read about the technique of putting the camera head through a small ball, to avoid it getting caught on things so easily, and keep it off the surface of pipes. But not tried this yet.

Auto up orientation feature is also very useful. Would be even better if it was possible to manually set which direction was "up". Things get confusing.