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Borescope

Mastiff

Mastiff

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A friend recently bought one of those from Harbour Freight ,I think it was less than 50 bucks,and it seems to work as well as his Snap-On one that was triple the price,and looks almost identical...(maybe made in the same china factory?).
He used it to look in a cylinder on a Ford Expidition the other day that had weird rattly noises,and saw the top ring land on that piston had chunks missing!..saved him and the customer a lot of labor and money--customer decided to just keep driving it,then scrap it..or he might give it to my friend and he'll find a cheap used motor for it and keep or sell it..

Those things are practically a must to work on anything built since the 80's,so many bolts,hoses and fittings are out of sight in cramped places..great for half blind guys over 50 like me,especially..
 
I've had a videostick for about a decade now... invaluable in the marine biz...



Video_Stick.jpg
 
This one uses a smartphone for the screen. Is that what you guys are talking about, or ones with built in screens? If one with a built in screen can be had for the same money, it'd be more convenient, though being able to capture images on the phone might be handy sometimes.
 
I have a snap on. The difference there is it has a 4.5mm tip. I can put it in Diesel engines through the injector cup.
 
DEMON44 said:
I have a snap on. The difference there is it has a 4.5mm tip. I can put it in Diesel engines through the injector cup.
Click to expand...

Exactly. The difference is always the tip size. My Milwaukee is middle of the road. Its a quality piece but the tip is way too long on the end. And the mirror it came with sucks. But it is useful.
 
Mine has the camera on the end of the tip. It's just a spec basically. The mirror is smaller than the tip body so scoping the cylinder walls is cake. And with the mirror off scope the piston crown. The model up from mine records video as well.
 
My dad has the Ridged one from Home Depot. Seems like a middle road one like the Milwaukee. Tip is probably a solid 1/2 inch diameter. Has a color screen, can flip the image, adjust brightness of the light and it has a port to hook it up to a bigger screen. For how often either my dad or I use its works pretty good.
 
Thought about purchasing one of them many times but have never pulled the trigger.

My needs for them are pretty few and far between.
 
I use mine on cylinders (water induced cylinders being super common in the boats), but way more importantly for me is being able to look around bulkhead walls, compartments, etc in the boats... TON's of hidden areas in boats...

also keep in mind guys, that Snappy has lower end $300 to 400 stuff, but they also have, or at least had back in the day, BIG BIG $ ones too... tiny tips, flexi, long, etc, over a grand+....
 
ryoken said:
I use mine on cylinders (water induced cylinders being super common in the boats), but way more importantly for me is being able to look around bulkhead walls, compartments, etc in the boats... TON's of hidden areas in boats...

also keep in mind guys, that Snappy has lower end $300 to 400 stuff, but they also have, or at least had back in the day, BIG BIG $ ones too... tiny tips, flexi, long, etc, over a grand+....
Click to expand...

My old coworker/friend/machinist that passed away had a very nice snappy one with a head so small you could 90 it into a cylinder...

I really liked that one. I do like mine but the mirror sucks TBH. It goes right in a spark plug hole, you're just not really going to see much without having the piston TDC.
 
yeah, when doing cylinders, I don't use the mirror from my videostick.. be careful, than can fall off in the cylinders.... :eek1:
 
The 4.5 millimetre tip that I have on mine is the smallest one snap on makes. I scope 2 stroke Detroits through the air box opening into the cylinder intake ports. Also scope blowers through the air box ports. My mirror attachment also has a magnet on the point for checking debris on the piston.
 
You can get any of the attachments for the lower end ones. Except for the video and picture capability.
 
was that the big $ one, if ya don't mind me asking..? I remember a decade or so ago they had one that was like $1200...
 
I don't think any if them are that expensive anymore because of tech advancements. Same as with any new technology. Grossly expensive while new. Then steady decline in price over time.
 
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