When you're looking for nondestructive ways to inspect your piston engines, one of the things you should consider is the potential for investing in a borescope. Borescopes are a great way to examine the internal components of your engine, but only when you understand how to choose them and how to use them to your advantage. Here are a few things you should know about borescopes and your engine inspections.

Things To Consider Before Buying

If you are going to buy a borescope for engine inspections, you need to consider a few key features before you make the investment.

Portability of the machine is an important factor. If you're going to be working in multiple areas or traveling to customer locations, you'll want a borescope that's compact and portable. If you'll only be doing inspections in the garage, then portability may not be as big a concern for you.

The next thing to consider is whether you want fiber or video. Videoscopes are more expensive, but they are great for busy shops because they are clear, quick, and easy to use. However, if you're not looking at a lot of volume and you're trying to stay within a budget, a fiberscope may be sufficient.

Once you know what kind of borescope you're going to buy, it's time to decide on the type of neck you want. You can choose a flexible scope or a rigid one. If you're only inspecting pistons, a rigid scope would be fine, as it's straight lines. However, if you're inspecting other components, you'll want to look at a flexible scope to have a bit more freedom to maneuver.

Things To Be Familiar With

There are a few things you need to understand before you use a borescope for the first time. First, you need to be sure that you clearly understand the magnification of the unit. Otherwise, you could be looking at a very small flaw inside a piston that's been magnified significantly to look like a large gash. If you want to be sure that you're making the right decisions about what you see, you have to understand the scale on which you're seeing it.

You also need to understand exactly where the mirror is on the borescope. That's the only way you can actually connect the position of the borescope to what you're seeing. Spatial relationships can be challenging at first, so sometimes it's best to practice with something you already recognize before trying to inspect a new engine.