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pasitheaA while back I got a teeny tiny surveillance camera to use as a webcam on my computer. Last night, Susan was talking about having trouble with a bit of copper pipe getting stuck inside a statue and I realized these little cameras have a greater potential. For about 50 dollars, one can build a pretty nice endoscope for probing around in tight places.
Little did I know this was going to become almost immediately useful to me. Last night, I borrowed Susan's ladder so Stacey and I could hang our bicycles from the ceiling in the hallway, both getting them out of the way and keeping more bits from being stolen off them, but we were having a little trouble finding the crossbeams and Stacey suggested going up in the attic to look. There's a very narrow gap in the heater closet and she thought she might be able to squeeze up. Instead, I suggested we use a probe. My camera was already mounted on a big L I took it off my animation desk and dropped the cable and a the end of the L into a bit of pipe, taped a flashlight to it, and turned on my camera and up we went. :)
Turned out the hole was much too small to climb up through anyhow, but the camera worked fine and we were able to look around without getting covered in filth.
I think sometime soon I'm going to build a better model using a camera that has lights mounted around its lens and a bit of flexible piping. In theory, after that, I should be able to explore all kinds of neat places. The exhaust pipes of cars, behind the fridge, down gopher holes, etc. :) Now back to mounting these racks.
Little did I know this was going to become almost immediately useful to me. Last night, I borrowed Susan's ladder so Stacey and I could hang our bicycles from the ceiling in the hallway, both getting them out of the way and keeping more bits from being stolen off them, but we were having a little trouble finding the crossbeams and Stacey suggested going up in the attic to look. There's a very narrow gap in the heater closet and she thought she might be able to squeeze up. Instead, I suggested we use a probe. My camera was already mounted on a big L I took it off my animation desk and dropped the cable and a the end of the L into a bit of pipe, taped a flashlight to it, and turned on my camera and up we went. :)
Turned out the hole was much too small to climb up through anyhow, but the camera worked fine and we were able to look around without getting covered in filth.
I think sometime soon I'm going to build a better model using a camera that has lights mounted around its lens and a bit of flexible piping. In theory, after that, I should be able to explore all kinds of neat places. The exhaust pipes of cars, behind the fridge, down gopher holes, etc. :) Now back to mounting these racks.
