Looking for a mini MACRO wifi or bluetooth camera

[dbb-the-bruce]

I hate it when the thing you are googling for gets drowned in the noise.

I'd like to mount a small/tiny wireless camera on my CNC so I don't need to stick my head in to try to observe stuff. I've been using my phone held by hand, works pretty good but it's still a pain to keep it zoomed in and focused.

There are a million mini / micro spy/nanny cams out there - Not what I want as I need focus range to be on the order of 6".
A borescope would work, but I don't want a big long snake to deal with. I guess I could route borescope cable but it wold be really awesome to have a matchbook sized cam mounted right near the spindle that is bluetooth or WiFi

What do I need to search for to find this thing?

Tiny cameras have gotten ridiculously cheap. I'm sure this exists and is affordable, I just can't find it.

 

[Bi11Hudson]

There are many sources that you could look to. Security is one, though as you stated, the focal length would be too far. A system for "examining" electronic assembly might be a good start. Then there are the cameras that are used by some railroad modelers in the smaller scales. (I just had to interject my hobby) I don't personally use such, but the many uTube videos of "layout tours" tell me that it is a widely used part of that hobby.

Or even "cutting down" industrial systems that are used by many crafts. What comes to mind is a sensor used by automotive mechanics. The "goose-neck" probe is fiber optic over most of the length. A sensing element at one end, with a fiber extension, and a semi-conductor video device in the enclosure. I was thinking about cutting down the extension part but on reflection where space is not as big an issue, having the flexible "business end" might be an advantage.

I would say to relax your pursuit to a craftsman level and let your thoughts expand to cover several crafts. Other than mechanics, such devices are widely used by HVAC techs, plumbers, and many others. One of those might fit the bill for what you have in mind without "reinventing the wheel".

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[j-becker]

You could add a close-up lens to a mini camera to get it to focus closer. They used to be a cheap alternative to a macro lens for amateurs and have made a renaissance now for cell phone users. Get a cheap one from aliexpress and make an adapter for your mini camera of choice.

Here is a cheap example: Mobile Phone Macro Lens 20X. Disadvantage of getting very close with the camera may be that you are more likely to collect chips on the front element and degrade the picture. But as you said cams are cheap and macro lenses like that would not exactly break the bank.

Another idea would be to use a webcam like often done in 3D printers. Admittedly they are usually a bit further back from the action but you can get very good cameras for reasonable money. They focus pretty close but are maybe more wide angle than what you would want if you mount the camera to the spindle.

 

[tq60]

This. Has a gooseneck with remote control.

Cheap on ebay but real good unit.

Can work as book scanner, microscope viewer or remote viewer.

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk

 

[dbb-the-bruce]

That's closer to what I'm looking for.

Been thinking about this today. My main number one current use is to line up jigs, fixtures and parts. What I've been doing with my old (small desktop) CNC is using either a dowel pin or a fine conical pointed carbide pin. For the dowel pin, I drill an hole that fits the pin perfect and call that zero. If I can move Z and put the pin in the hole I'm at zero, works pretty good.

Doesn't do anything about orthogonal, so I've been handling that with a test indictor attached to the spindle head and scanning an edge of the fixture in X or Y - usually just X.

Then I started using the pointy carbide as a scriber and putting long very thin lines in X and Y on my plates. Using my phone as a magnifying glass, I can get the scribe tip very accurately over the scribe lines AND check at extreme ends of the fixture plate.

This has been working very well, except when it's hard to get the phone in there. X is pretty easy as the front is wide open, Y is hard because you have to look threw a window on either side.

Hence, If I could use the same mount point on the head that I use for the indicator to hold a tiny camera appropriately close and angled, it would be a breeze to set zero and line up.

But all of this begs the question of maybe I should be smarter making my plates and holders. I tend to do a lot of small run or one off and if I make a fixture, I would like to be able to pick it up a year from now and use it again. I've started using more dowel pins and I could just use them for my larger plates. That takes care of alignment for them. The new CNC came with a pretty nice zero setter that's been great for use on stock corners. I haven't checked how accurate / repeatable it is.

But not everything is done on a plate, so need options.

My other issue is that I'm learning and also pushing my machine to do steel. If I push too hard it will mess up and loose counts, then if I'm lucky and catch it in time before something is destroyed, I need to find the exact zero again to proceed. That's where the scratch lines come in handy.

All in all, it's good to have options and having a remote camera that would let me inspect without having to stand on my head and hold my phone would be a good addition.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

-Dave

 

[tq60]

We have 2, first one was 5 bucks at thrift store but it did not have the remote.

Found another one on ebay complete with remote for maybe 25 bucks shipped.

Best darn remote eyes ever, just put the camera where we want to look.

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk

 

[ChazzC]

A few years ago I went hunting for a camera that I could use to take videos of what I was doing (and so I could see from behind). I wanted something that was rugged and could be connected to either a laptop or video display for live viewing, but didn't want to go the GoPro or similar route. I purchased the following items on Amazon:

14MP HDMI USB C-Mount Camera ASIN B015U163T0

6–60mm 1/3" CCTV Lens ASIN B08CNJK8PL

Articulating Mount ASIN B07CTFZSXZ

LED Machine Work Light ASIN B09VDLB4JH

Sceptre 16" LED Monitor ASIN B01MR3BFVP

TV Mount ASIN B00ZKFRKIU

I also found a push-on UV filter to protect the lens on eBay.

These and similar items are still available. When I put everything together I had this:

The monitor is to the left of the white drain pipe, above a shelf & out of the way.

Here is a 5/16" end mill at ~6mm:


And at ~60mm:



Yes, all adjustments are manual, but I prefer to have the ability of tweaking the settings by hand rather than relying on auto exposure & focus. The combination allows me a good close-up view while keeping the camera & lens out of danger.

 

[dbb-the-bruce]

That looks like a pretty good video setup! I'm curious, did you do the CNC conversion on the LMS mill or did you get one already put together? I've got a manual LMS mill it's the large one with DRO, I forget what they call it.

I'm really looking for an inspection camera. I need to get into my Nomad 3 enclosure and in/around/behind the work piece etc. Once I finally started looking for "inspection camera" I found this camera from B&H. Size looks just about perfect and it's wireless to my phone, don't know if I can use it from my laptop - that would be best as I can run the camera app and the CNC control app side by side and see what I'm doing when I jog.

I did look at the other camera mentioned but it's only available used and didn't seem to support remote viewing on another device other than downloading images or maybe hooking it up to a monitor. Just too bulky and to many wires for what I'm looking for.

I think the one I bought will work fine. I may spring for a borescope kit somewhere down the line - just to have around for other stuff.

 

[RJSakowski]

If I want to visually locate a feature on a part, I have this spindle mounted microscope which can locate it to within a few tenths. https://www.hobby-machinist.com/thr...icroscope-aka-cheap-optical-comparator.38077/

Most of the time for critical alignment, I will use an edge finder. For non critical alignment, I have a spindle mounted pointer with an approximate 20º tip which I will visually align with scribe marks or a center punch. I also have a laser which mounts in my boring head and generates an adjustable bullseye for alignment with a circular feature.

Regarding jig plates, when I first got my Tormach, I drilled and reamed a 3 x 4 pattern of 3/16" holes in my bed with the express purpose of precisely relocating a tool plate. I also made a cylindrical post to mount in any one of those holes to re-reference the machine. (The OEM homing via microswitches was not reliable enough to use as a reference. A subsequent conversion to optical homing increased the accuracy to sub thousandths.) The idea of the pattern was that I could mount an oversized part on the tooling plate and shift the plate to a new position to keep the part in the work envelope and continue machining. The parts that I was machining had no usable reference features once machining had started.

 

[homebrewed]

Look for USB or wireless microscopes and you will be overwhelmed by the number of options available. One with zoom capability would be best, and you certainly won't need 1,000X magnification.