Flexible inspection camera for looking under floors etc

[Murmansk69]

A new shop called Clas Ohlson has opened in Leeds, they have a massive catalogue and a website; I think there are about six other stores in the UK

They have some really interesting stuff and I wondered if anyone had tried this item:

like it would be useful for looking under floorboards etc and it seems quite a reasonable price.

They also have a type of Velcro called Duotec which instead of having two different bits that lock together, both sides are the same and consist of mushroom shaped projections which lock together - it seems to give a very strong connection but it's quite expensive. I've just bought a metre length on Ebay for =A37

[Roger Mills]

It looks remarkably similar to

which Maplins sell for £70 - although the Maplin one does video as well as still images and the Ohlson description doesn't mention video, so they *may* not be identical.

Maplin had theirs on special offer a couple of weeks ago - but it was still £40, compared with Ohlson's £27.

[Dave]

It is quite a good price, but it has one drawback, the camera end can't be directed through a hole, or cut out in a joist and can't go side ways in a stud wall. It will always be drawn by gravity.

The type I used to use in the aerospace industry had an eye piece and controls to point the end up, down, left and right, so as to get through holes further down the line, or to direct it in the direction you wanted it to go.

They take some getting used to as well, as you don't know which is up/down etc.

HTH

Dave

[spamlet]

The ones you can hire for inspecting drains come with a reel of fibreglass-like rod material for pushing the cable cam along. Diyers could use these:

(I got v similar set for ~£5 from a local discount shop, and its v useful). Doubt if non purpose built cams would be waterproof enough for drains though.)

Might be handy for hunting dropped circlips, cam chain links etc inside engines though...

It's odd how Maplins catalogue stuff always seems ridiculously pricey, but in the shops you can often get some good deals.

S

[Lobster]

Same as this one too, apparently:

on this group previously here:

Not sure what you mean there... it's rigid but flexible, so goes where you point/push it.

[geoff]

In message , Roger Mills writes

CPC have a self contained one

[MM]

Goodness, I have been looking for an inexpensive endoscope FOR YEARS! Maybe this is the one. I have always been puzzled why these things haven't been much more widely available more cheaply, since the professional ones can cost an absolute fortune (up to a couple of grand). I was only recently toying with the idea of taking the camera lens out of my cheapo webcam-on-a-stick

and fitting it to a home-made 'snake' of some kind.

MM

[MM]

Maplin is EXPENSIVE. I do buy stuff from them if it's not available anywhere else, but some of their prices are ridiculous.

MM

[MM]

MM

[geoff]

Nobody said it was for pikeys

[spamlet]

The hard part is anaesthetising your swallowing reflex, but staying awake enough to steer, and not pushing straight through the bottom of your stomach. My consultant has got it down to a minute per patient - including samples for biopsy! I am not sure that even he would try it on himself!

S S

[SS]

And you could do your own colonoscopy :-). Had to write that having just had one :-(

seems like a useful tool though.

[Dave]

Yes, I know what you mean now. It sounds like a tight wound spiral thing that can be bent to any shape. I take my comments back, as I thought it was on the end of a USB cable.

Dave

[MM]

Huh, they're probably the only sort who can afford it.

MM

[MM]

And suddenly you see an eyeball looking at you and you realise it's yours and you've gone and shoved the thing too far up. You're actually gazing through your arse!

MM

[MM]

Yeah..... I actually could do with one for spying behind the dashboard of my car where something has been rattling around in there for about four years. I think it's a Biro.

MM

[Tim Watts]

MM wibbled on Sunday 02 May 2010 20:04

Ah - the Managers' Perspective

[spamlet]

And, with any luck, it would come with an attachment for joining the blower pipes back up without standing on your head and dislocating both shoulders!

S

[Clot]

Bugger, the screen is now a mess!

[MM]

Try Kleenex. Works for me!

MM