UXR Borescopes General Information

GENERAL INFORMATION

This web page has some brief information about Borescopes. From this page you can jump through the pages in our on-line catalog. The first page you should look at is our Why we have the best prices! This briefly describes the borescope market from the price perspective and why UXR continues to have the best prices anywhere. For an overview of our rigid scopes you can jump to the Rigid Borescopes main page , where you can look at our lowest price scope which is only $499. Borescope!!!and continues to be a best seller since we introduced this to the market 3 years ago. For those small access areas our 2 and 3mm Semi-Rigids use fused quartz fiberoptic bundles to bring back- clear bright images- magnified 50x. Moving on to our Flexible Borescopes (Fiberscopes) Main Page our product line is covered with P/N and ordering information provided. The individual product pages include our $599.00, low cost View-Scope , the popular FFPACK3 package which includes our General Purpose Articulating Model , and our advanced 2 way Articulating Models, and 4 way Articulating Models. After you have looked at our scopes- you should then jump to the Adapters, CCD Video, Light Sources pages to get an idea of what accessories are available- one of which is our newest addition- our Portable High Intensity Light Source , Then go to view the possibilities of documenting your inspection with Look Through a Borescope! (Actual Images) pages. At the bottom of this page- If you are undecided which borescope is right for you, please read or print out from your browser the applications questionaire below to help determine what type of Borescope best fits your application.

RIGID BORESCOPES PAGE

UXR offers (2) optical designs: ROD LENS and ACHROMATIC. Both of which are constructed of high quality stainless steel tubing, engineering materials and high resolution optics. The ROD LENS designs are manufactured with a series of Glass "Rods" that are spaced a given distance apart relaying the image to the eyepiece. The optical quality and color correction is premium with this design. Our ACHROMATIC designs consists of a series of achromatic doublet lens spaced apart from one another to relay the image back to the eyepiece. The image enters at the end of borescope and each achromatic (color corrected) lens relays the image to the next lens in the chain until it is presented to you for viewing at the eyepiece. This unit has excellent image quality too. All units that we offer have a fixed direction of view (DOV) meaning either they look forward, to the side, or other angles. Mirror tubes can be used to allow a forward looking borescope to view to the side or at an oblique angle.

FLEXIBLE BORESCOPES (FIBERSCOPES) PAGE
There are typically (2) types of Flexible Borescopes- typically non-articulating and articulating models. However all flexible borescopes (fiberscopes) are constructed with a small diameter (0.5mm- 1.5mm) image bundle consisting of small glass fibers. These micron diameter fibers are aligned perfectly at each end of the bundle- which is known as a coherent image bundle. The non-coherent light bundle sits next to the image bundle inside the outer protective sheath and it's purpose is to carry light from the light source to the end of the fiberscope. The process that is used to manufacture coherent image bundles is an engineering marvel that is complicated and expensive. For general purpose use, we offer both an articulating and non-articulating version of our popular general purpose flexible borescope (FFSL1 and FFSLA1) The outer protective sheath can be bent into position and it stays until it is moved- much like the gooseneck on a microphone podium. With our advanced line of scopes- UXR offers both 2 and 4 way articulating models. Our 2 way articulating scopes are 4 or 6mm (FF4000 and FF6000 series) in diameter and articulate Up/Down and the 8mm (FF8000 series) scopes are offered with 4-way articulation Up/Down/Left/Right.

VIDEO, LIGHTING, AND ACCESSORIES PAGE To enhance your inspections, all our borescopes can be purchased with optional video equipment and various light sources either at time of purchase or sometime in the future after you purchase one of our borescopes. UXR will integrate, test and configure a system to your specs as part of our pricing- this insures everything works together. Light guide cables, light sources, adapters and other accessories are also available. You will find we have the best package prices anywhere!

LOOK THROUGH A BORESCOPE! PAGE These images are raw and un-retouched as captured as graphic file right from the video source. UXR was the first company to offer these video captured views on the internet back in 1995. Soon others followed. Video sources were captured direct from our CCD video camera, from standard consumer grade VHS tape, and a video print that was then scanned back into the computer.

GENERAL APPLICATIONS QUESTIONAIRE
Review the following questions to help determine what borescope is the right one for the job.

What is the smallest access hole size?

You need to determine what restrictions you have in inserting the borescope into the area being inpected.

Does an access hole exist? If not, will one need to be made?

Is a Borescope inspection port or opening available on the engine or equipment you will be testing?

Typically the smaller the diameter, the more expensive and delicate the instrument becomes.

How far in from where the borescope enters the access point will do you need to go?

This determines the length of borescope or visual inspection device you will need. Typically the longer the borescope the more expensive it becomes as well.

Once inside the object being examined, will you need to: (Viewing directions diagram)

Go around a corner or a minor bend? (requires a flexible unit)

Look forward? (Forward or 0 Degree viewing)

To the side? (90 Degree or side viewing)

Both Directions ( Rotating or articulating the tip)

Backward (120 Degree or retro Viewing angle)

Off angle? (Another angle between 0 and 120 degrees)

Most Rigid borescopes have a fixed direction of view, however they can be rotated about their axis.

Articulated Flexible Fiberscopes have a fixed direction of view, however can be articulated at the tip to other angles provided there are not any constraints within the cavity or physical area being inspected.
What type of defect, anomaly or condition are you trying to find by performing this visual inspection?
Considerations:

Will you have enough light with the lighting provided in the borescope and it's light source or need an additional light source for viewing?

How small is the area of interest?
How far away will the area of interest be from the tip of the borescope?

Two considerations- Magnification and Focal range. Rigid Borescopes have specifications of various focal lengths as do Flexible Borescopes. However with flexible borescopes- images are formed with a bundle of very small (micron sized) fibers- much like a computer screen has small dots aligned to create an image. So the farther away from the tip you are looking, less fibers are used to create the image that you see. The best image resolution is within the .200" (5mm) to 5.0" range (130mm) working range.

How much magnification will be needed if any? Most units we offer have 25X magnification at the eyepiece.
Will you need to record and document the inspection by using a CCD video camera?
Documenting inspections can be quite important for future reference, insurance purposes, quality control to insure complete and proper inspections are performed by your employees or any number of reasons. Both B/W (Black and White) and Color CCD cameras are available.

UXR (800) 530-3371 * (805) 527-9219 * FAX (805) 520-8277