What Is Cheaper To Use: Rigid Borescopes, Flexible Fiberscopes, Videoscopes or Your Own Eyes?
There are many questions about the perfect choice of modern assessment of materials and equipment without disassembling it. Borescopes, videoscopes, flexible fiberscopes, or even your own naked eye can evaluation and conclude how things can be fixed or what’s the problem in it. As we are going from day to day inspection, of course all inspectors and technicians are worried about the cost of the equipment to be used and the long term impact it can give. To clear things up in terms of the ease and economy in using modern equipment, here are the most important points to consider in determining which one to choose:
A rigid borescope is a fantastic tool for inspecting straight one-lined holes. This is widely used in engine cylinders, forensics, and buildings. Against other commercial scopes, this is the cheapest one. For clearer images, the larger the scope, the clearer the images so if you are looking for the best result in straight holes you should use the largest possible borescope that fits the hole of application.
Flexible fiberscopes are needed if you are inspecting a certain part inside certain equipment or a material that needs maneuvering. This is widely used to take a look at the conditions of turbine blades, seals, compressed air inlets, and combustion chambers without disassembling them. Compared to other scopes, this can give less quality images due to some bending and maneuvering inside its body, the larger the scope the clearer the image. The images vary from 10,000 pixels to at most 22,000 pixels depending on the diameter. With clearer application, more raw materials are used in manufacturing, thus the scope becomes more expensive.
Videoscopes are made out of the same lens as the other ones but have its own camera view at the other end. It has its own miniature video camera at the flexible tube end. It can go at most 300 feet so you can have an easy way of inspecting things. These also vary from each other depending on the type and specifications of the camera being used at the other end. The prices are also determined by the variety of electrical wires and the complex wavelength it can produce to give better results.
While there are many categories of scopes, you can still depend on your naked eye for inspection and evaluating your equipment. If you can disassemble the equipment or engine and you are sure about what you are doing then you won’t need any scopes. But if you are in a hurry of evaluating things like that of a client or your company’s customer then you should have a videoscope or a borescope for this job. It all depends on the location, the size of the material, and the time frame to get it fixed.
Once again, the type of inspecting tool to be used depends on the bits and pieces you are dealing with. All factors are being laid out in this article and at the end of the day it depends on you as the evaluating body to sum things up according to your preferences to get things done in short periods with less expense.
What Is Better To Use: Rigid Borescopes, Flexible Fiberscopes, Videoscopes or Your Own Eyes?
There are many questions about the use of videoscopes, borescopes, and flexible fiberscopes. Most inspection firms of course push clients to use most of these equipments against dismantling things like engines and safes which take time and money. Everyone is worried about the costs. If you are the owner of the material to be inspected, you would want to fix it at the shortest possible period and at the lowest possible cost. Sadly, these two factors sometimes can’t be done simultaneously. There are instances that it can be finished in a matter of hours but will cost you a fortune and sometimes it take several weeks but you will only pay a little because of less professional fees involved.
For rigid borescopes, you can easily take a look at the inside of the engine just by taking it in the interior the material to be inspected and just take a look from outside of it. Borescopes gives clear image data to the user and he can evaluate what’s inside in just minutes. Flexible fiberscopes can also give the same results and much more it can go anywhere inside an engine even in bends and corners because of its flexible property. With this characteristic, it can give less clear images than the rigid straight borescope. Fiberoptics are being used to transmit lights from the light source to illuminate the subject to be analyzed. With the frequent bending and turning in corners, the fiberoptics will give less data but you can provide a solution for this problem by enhancing other factors like the light source and by installing a superb lens or camera.
Videoscopes can give you a good result because you can easily record the whole process into your video recording equipment or your digital camera. These recordings can then be used for future analyses. Some companies have their own videoscope operator but are not experts on the material being inspected so the recordings and other videos will then be sent to the proper professionals for their study. Doing this can let you spend only a little and the problem will be fixed and will only involve a little time.
If most of these tools are not available, then it is time to use your own eyes for investigation. Breaking down and taking engines apart may take time but it is your own eyes and expertise that will get things done and fix things so it is as effective as everything else or even more. Using your own eyes is a great way to get things done but if you are in a hurry and you are willing to spend a little money, then you should go for a little expensive but a quick way of evaluating problems. In contrary, if you are dealing with only a little problem inside the engine and you disassemble it, that would cost much in terms of man hours and materials. So if you are not sure about the exact problem, you should use a borescope, flexible fiberscope, or a videoscope for an immediate and accurate evaluation.
10 Top Tips for Long Life of Your Borescope, Fiberscope, Videoscope … or How To Spend Less
Borescopes, fiberscopes, and videoscopes are very delicate tools. Users should take good care of it in order for the equipment to last for a long time. If you handle these tools carefully, it can even last longer than expected. Here are some of the major points to consider in caring for your equipment.
- In transporting your apparatus or taking it to far places, you should have a thick and shock-proof carrying bag. It may have foam or thick clothes inside. Some manufacturers are giving free bags for handling but if your purchased equipment doesn’t include a container, you can have a custom one.
- During operation, you should handle knobs and switches with care. Don’t be in rush in turning it on or off. For scopes liked to a camera or a live video, you should turn knobs delicately in order to prolong its life. You can prolong the lives of these knobs by using blowers to take off dirt and dust.
- In actual operation, you should have padding (clothe or carton) for the equipment when you are placing it in rough surfaces. This is to avoid scratches and sudden falls. Shiny and new-looking equipment can also give a good impression on you as the user.
- In restoring the equipment, coil the cords carefully. Remember that it contains fiber optics inside that are very fragile so you should avoid sudden bends. The coatings are also preserved if it is clean.
- When you are done with your operation, take time to clean the lens or the cord end with a dry cloth. Sometimes dirt can be cleaned in this area with wet cloth so you should consult the manufacturer or the user’s manual about the types of fluids which are safe for cleaning. Wipe out excess fluids and dirt from the cord as well.
- In connections, you should consider cleaning the USB links and plugs in order for these to transmit crisp video and image.
- For equipment with rechargeable batteries, take time to recharge it to its fullest. Rechargeable batteries can have a longer life if it is constantly charged at full so take time and don’t rush yourself.
- When restoring the equipment, place it in proper room temperature. There are very brittle materials inside like lenses, metals, and fibers which shouldn’t be moist so you should think about it in advance.
- In operation, choose the perfect place to operate and use the equipment. In inspecting a car for instance, you should take it to a roofed place if possible. Direct sunlight or rain may damage the scope.
- In operation, be sure to have a list of the actual operating time. This can determine the life of the light source. You will have a future view of your light’s life. Most manufacturers indicate the operating life of the light source. In order to reach or even surpass it, you should also do your part.
There are many other tips to consider in the maintenance and proper handling of borescopes, videoscopes, and fiberscopes. The points listed in here are the major things in order for you to have new-looking equipment. Doing so can let it reach its maximum life or even surpass the manufacturer’s anticipations.
What Kind of Borescope Equipment is Right For My Application?
Before you buy any borescope, you have to consider a few factors that will directly influence your selection of Remote Visual Inspection (RVI) Equipment. The following guidelines will help you choose right product for your particular application or the industry you are in.
- Think about the perfect diameter of the scope you will use in your inspections. It should not be to small, but big enough to give you good visual feedback of inspected area.
- Determine a perfect length of the bore scope's insertion probe. This is the distance between the hole entrance and the farthest point of your reachable inspected area. Longer the scope is better, but it also means more money. So, in order to minimize your expense think about the access to your inspection area from different spots. If you have access from a few spots, then choose 1/2 of the scope's length. If you have access only from one spot, then you need a scope that will go though the whole distance till it reaches your inspection object.
- If the travel path to inspection area is straight (without any curves and bends), then your best bet is the rigid borescopes that have superior image and are the cheapest solution amongst a big selection of Non-Destructive Tools (NDT). If the travel path isn't straight, has small curves and bends, then your good choice falls either on flexible fiberscopes or portable videoscopes without articlulated insertion tip. This is the second cheapest solution. If your situation does not fit into the ones described above, then you have to consider more expensive solution - flexible fiberscope or videoscope with articulated insetion tip.
- If the cavity is not rough, you can easily choose any standard rigid borescope, fiberscope or videoscope with vinyl coated insertion tube (this will give you additional flexibility, bend-ability). If it is the opposite situation, then you need additional protection for your rigid borescope (include protective stainless steel tube), fiberscope or videoscope (choose a unit with stainless steel or tungsten braided insertion probe).
- If you need articulation of the tip, then you are definitely looking at flexible fiberscope or a video scope with articulated tip. Our fiberscopes and videoscopes have an option with 2 or 4 ways of articulation with average articulation angle of 90° - 120°. Articulated tip can be articulated during performed inspection, if you need to pass complicated corners or parts.
- If you just need a fixed angle of side view, then you might get lucky with a set of a few rigid borescopes. Most of our rigid borescopes have the following fixed Directions of View (DOV) - 0°, 30°, 70°, 90° and 110°. If you want more expensive rigid borescope solution, then you might consider universal rigid borescopes that have interchangeable 360° rotatable tubes with fixed side angle views - 30°, 70°, 90° and 110°.
Going through the above steps you should be able to decide what you want. Now you have to thing about the lighting source for your scope. You need it in order to illuminate the inspected area, or otherwise in most cases you will see complete darkness!
- Define the area being inspected and unknown conditions. Will you have enough light at a given distance? Will the light reflect internally (polished surface) or will it be absorbed (black mate surface or carbonization)? Will you be close enough for proper magnification or enough far away for overall view of the object?
- Define how close to the object will be your borescope's tip. Closer you are, better image magnification you achieve and less light you need (Remember: common working range is within 3 mm from the scope's tip to the virtual maximum of 150 cm away).
- Farther your scope's tip is from your object, more powerful light source you need. You can choose between Portable LED Light Sources, Halogen or Xenon Light Sources, or most efficient Metal Halide Light Sources.
- Will the test results need permanent documentation based on still photos or video of performed inspection? If so, you will need to buy a scope with such capabilities (any videoscope system), or a rigid borescope or flexible borescope (fiberscope) with a video kit (USB or Analog C-Mound Video Camera + C-Mount Video Coupler + USB Capture Box with an appropriate software).
- After all, if you are very concerned about image quality of logged images and videos of your inspection, then your ultimate choice should fall on high end videoscope system!
Definition of Terms:
Borescope
Borescope is not flexible, generally inexpensive unit and it provides a superior image, compared to fiberscopes and videoscopes. A rigid borescope, boroscope or bore scope is an industrial tool best suited to inspection of automotive cylinders, aircraft turbine engine or a rifle bore. Any borescope may be used with a video camera to record digital images and video.
Micro Borescope
Micro borescope is typically flexible or semi-rigid unit. Such boroscope instruments are super thin and designed for absolutely impossible inspection access areas. Most micro borescopes or mini boroscopes are best suited for inspection of small manufactured components such as castings, turbine cooling holes and other Parts with very limited access.
Fiberscope
Fiberscope is a flexible fiber optic image bundle with an eyepiece and a lens. A flexible fiberscope, flexible borescope, fiber scope or fiber optic scope easily flexes around tight corners and articulates (not all models) it's tip for better guidance. High fiber optic content in a flexible fiber scope is critical to provide the highest possible resolution to the viewer. Amount of individual fibers in a fiber optic video bundle of a fiberscope ranges from 3,000 to 30,000 elemennts and is termed as "amount of Pixels". Fiber optic bundle is a very fragile element of a fiber scope and thus the whole unit should be treated as carefully as possible. If small gray or black dots are observed in an image when looking through fiberscope's eye piece, it it is direct evidence of poor handling of the unit, or low quality of the image bundle used in it.
Videoscope
A Videoscope or Video Borescope is an advanced type of flexible borescope that houses a very small CCD video chip in the tip of the video scope's insertion probe. Image quality of most videoscopes is good enough for most applications. More expensive videoscopes offer excellent image quality. Videoscope's probe is normally 4-8 mm in diameter and comes in lengths up to 15 m (50'). A videoscope (video borescope, videoprobe, video scope, video probe) offers digital image capture or video recording capabilities that are usually built into the unit.
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