Seeking information on borescope/endoscope

[yimc]

Good day all. I am looking for a good quality (really inexpensive) borescope with which to examine oil/water piping with. Ideally it would be fibre optic, with length to about 15-20 feet.

Is there a mfg. that might make something like this? The only thing would be that the focal length of such a tool would be from 1 - 6" at most. Colour is not a requirement.

Thanks in advance.

 

[TheBlacksmith]

Inexpensive and Borescope may be incompatible terms; however every borescope I've ever seen used was an Olympus. They are a leader in this field, whether it is for your use, or medical use; they may have some lower cost, less fully featured models.

Blacksmith

 

[unclesyd]

The comments by Blacksmith, "Inexpensive and Borescope may be incompatible terms", are very true. They are other manufacturers than Olympus (Welch-Allyn?) is one. I've use both and agree that Olympus is probably the best. I have seen no problems with the Welch-Allyn. Another thing to remember is that it’s the fiber optic cables that are expensive.
Depending on the size of pipe you are inspecting there are CCD cameras that are less expensive.

You might checkout renting several types of fiber optic inspection devices and get a good evaluation as to your needs. They are pipeline inspection people that cost a lot of money or people like Rotter-Rooter that are relatively inexpensive. These people will give you a very good look at different CCD cameras.

There is also a company in Florida that has used NDT inspection equipment. I'll try to find the address and make another post.

 

[canyoncruz]

I know the guy who design a borescope for edmund scientific, at a good price. In the pasrt I worked with a company called POC in Torrance CA. Thhere we developed and interferometric scope that aslo contained a range finder, lamps and color CCD in a 3/8 in diameter. It was developed to measure cracks on turbine blades with out taking the engine apart.