Borescope

[cteno4]

I’ve played with boroscopes for a long time, when I was a kid I got a cast off medical one that was inflexible and lit with a flashlight, but fun to poke into things and look inside stuff.

 

with modern technologies and tiny video camera and lens systems they are now amazing tools to have at a very good prices. they are wonderful to poke into machinery or other things you can pt get a good view of and it’s too hard to tear into. Also great for fishing parts that have fallen into some hidden crevasse. They usually come with a hook and a magnet attachment for the end to do just that. I’ve fished screws that have fallen into machinery that I did not want to tear into to fish out. I’ve used them on the club layout to see into the hidden tracks to find a detailed train and easier to use to watch as fished the trains out.
 

A few years back I bought a blue tooth one that used a smart phone for display via an app. But earlier this year I went to use it and found that the app didn’t work in the current iOS on the phone and there was no app update! Tried a few other video apps to see if they used the same apis but no luck. 
 

So I needed to look into the bowels of the clothes drier and did not want to tear it apart w.o an inspection first so went looking and found they are now quite inexpensive with a nice 4.3” screen attached to it, actually easier to use than a separate phone to hold at the same time. It’s got a cf card slot to take pictures and video onto. The one I got also had a straight ahead camera and one that looks to the side as well which can be handy. All for $20 on aliexpress on sale and about $25 normally. You can get 1m ones or 5m lengths. Cheaper ones have stiffer flexible cables that are like 16g solid core wire stiffness, which in most situations helps to snake them in places but at times makes some navigation impossible. But soft cable ones are much more expensive usually and a lot hard to get in and out of most situations.

 

Not a tool I use every day, but for those time you are in the position to need to look somewhere (like behind a cabinet you don’t want to rely to move, down a drain, in a vent, an odd spot in the layout) it’s perfect and now affordable to have in the drawer when the need arises!

 

cheers

 

jeff

[Kingmeow]

You can find similar on Amazon and not have to deal with shipping from China and if you need to do a return.

[cteno4]

Yes available most tech places. Just linked the one I had ordered.
 

Btw the one I got and linked was actually with us warehouse so not shipped from China and showed up in a couple of days with free shipping. Also shipping from China now with Aliexpress has gotten very quick, usually around a week or so. They are using a newer form called uniuni for delivery now in the DC area and they even deliver on Sundays!
 

I don’t do big ticket items with them in case of a return though. The only returns in the last year or two I’ve had were from a few small electronic items that showed up not working and they refunded w.o return required. The only big issue I ever encountered for with them was purchasing a large pre built highrise n scale building (it was so odd and interesting I took the chance). It was sent by the seller just wrapped in some bubble wrap. Of course arrived partially broken. Their return process can be frustrating. In the end they refunded half as return was going to be expensive. I was able to salvage most of the building so not horrible to pay me for my time to reassemble it. But lesson learned, I only buy little things now, this boroscope is about the biggest/most expensive thing I’ve ordered in the last couple of years. But I’ve saved a lot of money on little things that are either much more expensive elsewhere with free shipping (like Amazon) or where it’s $10 shipping for a $3 part, so I’m very well self insured if something would not be refunded. All in all my issue rate is on par with ordering from within the us from places like Amazon and some good savings.
 

jeff

[Kingmeow]

Jeff, that is excellent to know from your experience!  I did not know that Aliexpress has/have US warehouses.  That was my biggest 'don't buy' and their customer service.  Going to have to give it a try one of these days.

[cteno4]

Yeah like many places they have gone AI for their front line customer service (I’ve even run into this with Amazon). but keeping it to the small stuff that’s not breakable and pretty much what you see what you get it’s been very safe with aliexpress for the small bits that storefront retail no longer carry and gets pricy and not worth the cost to purchase elsewhere. Also searching around a bit helps find the cheapest ones as prices can vary 2-3x between sellers for the same thing. Overall it’s been a good experience, but like most things when you go inexpensive there is a hiccup now and then.
 

Ebay use to be the goto for this stuff, but Aliexpress has taken over that for me now mostly and I think a lot of sellers have migrated there. Temu can have some decent deals for this sort of stuff as well, but they seem to be getting more and more expensive now, guessing now trying to show some profits. Also they are not as component and tech oriented the way Aliexpress is.

 

jeff