Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Good endoscope / borescope

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Good endoscope / borescope

    Hi!

    Sorry if this is the wrong sub-section. I felt because this was video related, it'd be the proper place to post.

    I'm looking for a good borescope / endoscope. I want one that allows me to plug the end directly into a cell phone / laptop ( / maybe tablet).

    I see a bunch on the internet. I saw a review site that lists one as the absolute best out of all of them, but after doing some more research on that specific one, I found out it was a scam.

    I'm looking for one at least 25 feet in length. Longer is okay, but I don't want anything shorter. Can someone recommend a decent manufacturer for one of these?

    I am fishing wire and going from the 2nd floor to the basement is proving to be much of a challenge. There is no blocking behind the walls, which is good for this. So I cut a square in the drywall, where I want my faceplate, I use a drill and drill through the floor behind the wall using a 1 1/4" bit.

    I find out where that area is in the basement and drill up with a 1 1/4" bit. This is how I'm picturing using this device. I will run the fish tape from the basement up to the 2nd floor. I will then use the endoscope / borescope to look through the 1 1/4" hole, find the fish tape, and hook onto it with the endoscope / borescope hook attachment. Then I will carefully pull the scope out, with the fish tape attached.

    Yesterday, I ran one line, and it took me from when I woke up till 1am! I got the fish tape all the way to the 2nd floor, but getting it through that 1 1/4" hole took forever. I had to keep pulling the fish tape down a little, pushing it back up, hoping I'd hit that little tiny hole. I have a bunch of these to do on the 2nd floor and don't want to spend days just trying to get the fish tape ran.

    Any suggestions? Thanks!
    -- Law of Expanding Memory: Applications Will Also Expand Until RAM Is Full

    #2
    Re: Good endoscope / borescope

    I was thinking maybe something like this?

    https://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...9SIA5PG3C18860

    It has those attachments, which is nice. It has adjustable light, which is nice. It doesn't say it supports Linux, nor does it say it will work on a cell, so I have to do a little more research. It's made by Keekoon and required proprietary software (or so it seems).
    -- Law of Expanding Memory: Applications Will Also Expand Until RAM Is Full

    Comment


      #3
      Re: Good endoscope / borescope

      I think you need to re-think your operation method. First, run the fish tape down from the access at the second floor which if I understand you correctly, you have access to the "floor plate hole" which you have to cut / drill anyway.

      This allows the tape to "free fall" down to the "main floor" floor plate which you have cut / drilled in the basement. Some fish tapes have a little light attachment that allows you to see the end so you can "snare" it at the other end. You can either snare it with some sort of permanent magnet (on a stick) or otherwise. I have used an old fishing rod section that has allowed me to fish around for the end in the wall. Further, you might consider a slightly large hole in the main floor plate to provide easier access to reach the fish tape end thereafter.
      Last edited by budwich; 12-10-2018, 01:24 PM.

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Good endoscope / borescope

        Originally posted by budwich View Post
        I think you need to re-think your operation method. First, run the fish tape down from the access at the second floor which if I understand you correctly, you have access to the "floor plate hole" which you have to cut / drill anyway.

        This allows the tape to "free fall" down to the "main floor" floor plate which you have cut / drilled in the basement. Some fish tapes have a little light attachment that allows you to see the end so you can "snare" it at the other end. You can either snare it with some sort of permanent magnet (on a stick) or otherwise. I have used an old fishing rod section that has allowed me to fish around for the end in the wall. Further, you might consider a slightly large hole in the main floor plate to provide easier access to reach the fish tape end thereafter.
        That's what I've been trying to do, but because we do not know the overall length, I start where the cable ends and runs it backwards. That is why I wanted the camera do-hicky. To help me snare it a little bit easier.

        Same concept, but I can physically see through the hole and might have a bit better chance of grabbing it. The old fish tape (Klein Tools) ended up jamming. Although it's over a year old, Home Depot took it right back and we upgraded to the fiberglass one. It looks like it won't jam easy like the old one, but the downside is it is not attracted by a magnet.

        I am drilling 1 1/4" holes, but some of these are very difficult to access from the basement. The way the house is built, the walls extend past the cement walls in the basement. So there's a cavity back there and that is usually where the cable comes out, in that cavity. There is also almost always a floor joist right along that wall, which makes it much harder. I can fit my hand in back there and fish the tape up, but if I make a fist, my hand will not fit. Sometimes, I think it would have been better to just have a new house built the way I wanted it!
        -- Law of Expanding Memory: Applications Will Also Expand Until RAM Is Full

        Comment


          #5
          Re: Good endoscope / borescope

          Before investing in that endoscope / borescope, I'm going to run a small test. I have the stairwell going to the basement open (it had lathe and plaster and I had to take it down for one reason or another a while back and never got around to putting up drywall). This stairwell runs below one of the guest bedrooms walls.

          Because it's opened, it will not be hard to run the low voltage wires, but I think I'm going to temporarily put up some board to make it look closed near the bottom, and I'll try running the fish tape through, and seeing if I can snag the fish tape using a piece of wire. I'll make a lasso or something and slip it up in that 1 1/4" hole. I'll see if I can just snag that fish tape. If I can, I probably won't need the scope.
          -- Law of Expanding Memory: Applications Will Also Expand Until RAM Is Full

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Good endoscope / borescope

            If you are fishing wire vertically what works well is Ball Chain, you feed it from the top and it will stay straight and usually find the lower hole quite easy. then you use it to pull a pull string, then use the string to pull the wire as the chain is not that strong.
            Last edited by R_J; 12-13-2018, 03:55 PM.

            Comment


              #7
              Re: Good endoscope / borescope

              Ball Chain? I will purchase some of that. And if I'm having trouble getting it through the bottom hole (which is usually about 10 feet away from the top hole), I can use a magnet.

              For the first floor's wireless AP that I installed on the ceiling, I used an oscillating tool to cut a rectangle through the drywall and the lathe and plaster. The previous owners told a little fib when they said they took down all the lathe and plaster and put drywall up. I asked if they actually took it down or just put the drywall over the lathe and plaster, and they said they took it down.

              They did some of it, but none of the ceilings. All the ceilings either have drywall over the lathe and plaster or are still lathe and plaster. Anyway, I cut my rectangle for my low voltage 1-gang box. Then I tried using the fiberglass fish tape to fish it over to the wall, where I was going to pull it down. Unfortunately, the fish tape kept getting stuck on the lathe.

              I took some conduit and shoved it up there and used the conduit to keep the fish tape elevated enough where it wouldn't snag. I pushed and pushed, eventually, I seen part of the fish tape at the wall, where I was going to pull it down. I had to use something to hook onto the fiberglass fish tape and pull the loop down. After doing that, I was able to keep pulling until I obtained the end of the fish tape.

              At that point, the fish tape was going the wrong way. So I took string and tied it to the end, pulled the string through, cut the string, put the fish tape on the other end of the string, and pulled the fish tape through the other way. Worked real good and didn't take very much time, but I was going horizontally instead of vertically.

              The basement walls are opened up right now, which made it possible. I think if it wasn't opened, I would have never gotten around the wall. There was insulation up there that I had to temporarily remove.

              Thanks for the tips guys!
              -- Law of Expanding Memory: Applications Will Also Expand Until RAM Is Full

              Comment


                #8
                Re: Good endoscope / borescope

                Ball Chain, the same chain they use on sink plugs
                Attached Files

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: Good endoscope / borescope

                  Is that the same type they also use on those old school pull lights? Some of the basement lights still have those Ball Chains.

                  Thanks!
                  -- Law of Expanding Memory: Applications Will Also Expand Until RAM Is Full

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: Good endoscope / borescope

                    Yes it would be similar but smaller, the fish type is usually heavier, something like this from home depot https://www.homedepot.com/p/Westingh...0700/203077870
                    Many places have it in bulk and you can by it as long as you need, it is also very easy to splice if broken or to extend it.
                    Cheap and works well.
                    Last edited by R_J; 12-17-2018, 10:18 AM.

                    Comment

                    Working...
                    X