Strain Gauge Puns

I have seen consumer electronics that use three strain gauges in some sort of configuration. Three points of contact make the most sense when trying to create a stable physical configuration, yet I have not been able to figure out how to pull this off.

Can anyone steer me in the right direction to wire three strain gauges up to an amplifier or ADC, preferably the HX711 since I have about 100 here?

I have a plan for force sensing joystick a side stick with small deflection. I found there are 3 load cell, 2 cell cross and 4 cell cross configuration witch one better and why is that?

deflection how to do it? I ran the simulation and those flex is pretty much unnoticeable. I know extending stick help increase range of motion but I want to make a side stick so better keep it short then I thought put a spring in it but don’t know where my last idea was ether make the stick’s shaft or load cell more flexible.

Hey guys! I have been working on a mount for my CR6 that will hold an E3D v6 hotend setup. It fits right now and everything looks hunky-dory. The last problem I have is this: the strain gauge trips fine when the nozzle contacts the bed, but because the z-height optical sensor is not also tripped (the V6 is a bit taller than the OEM hotend), I get a failure on homing.

Does this mean the z optical sensor AND the strain gauge have to trip at EXACTLY the same time? I could, in theory, make a longer thingy to trip the Z sensor sooner, but I am unsure exactly how long to make it.

Any advice?

(Attached are images of my design...a re-work and Frankenstein remix of several objects out there I combined together into ONE POWERFUL MOUNT! BWA HA HA HA HA!).

https://preview.redd.it/9gm1aph27u761.jpg?width=3464&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a8c528232e22eddae81d6c5df514293a282ca218

https://preview.redd.it/imfo4rh27u761.jpg?width=3464&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=958f1fad1aab17cb865bd83fa4066a4c4b97c5c8

I am starting a project in which I am going to be developing a device that measures ICP and then runs some algorithms to adjust a VP shunt. I was wondering if anyone knew how to develop a micro strain gauge transducer or where I could buy one.

Not for structural engineering but for flight control.

Hello engineers, I've been thinking through a problem ahead of a project and would really appreciate any suggestions on how to tackle it.I'm looking for the best way to measure the deflection of a nail that's embedded on a surface. The issue is that ideally the force measurement would be omnidirectional (minus the up/down of the nail embedding in the surface. Imagine you're flicking on the end of a nail, side to side, up and down, what would be the best way to measure this applied force using an Arduino or similar? Complicating this is that the solution would eventually need to be multi-channel (9 nails).

I've looked into strain gauges but they are often highly directional and wouldn't wrap around the radius of a nail very well, plus the multichannel nature of the implementation would complicate the amplification of the output signal (if amplification is necessary). For reference the amount of strain on the nail would be like pulling on it with a rubber band.

I hope someone could suggest a method or alternative for achieving this, I would be very grateful! Many thanks.

(Edit: It doesn't specifically have to be a nail either, that just seems the easiest way to explain, it could even behave like a joystick with a very small deflection)

Follow up: Thanks for so many suggestions! As I replied to a post earlier, I think a joystick module may actually offer all the functionality I need in a really convenient package. The pointing stick suggestion would be a great alternative to that as well. Cheers for the varied solutions - it's really helped me to think the whole thing through from new perspectives :)

Hello,
I received a replacement mainboard for my printer today and it starts, moves and heats again.

However, the strain gauge has issues:

1. When I press against the nozzle, the LED inside the hotend shroud doesn't light up
2. While auto-leveling, when the printer first moves down in the center of the bed, it immediately retracts after tripping the optical limit switch on the left side instead of moving further down to probe the bed with the nozzle.

I'm running the latest community firmware release from Oct 25th.
Does anybody have an idea how to identify the issue (and how to fix it)?

I’d like to try building a strain gauge load cell for the bed of my delta printer. For packaging reasons three contact points would be ideal.

My strain gauge load cell experience was all based around quarter bridge Wheatstone bridges, but I am aware of the half and full configurations.

My question is: is there a clever way to make use of three strain gauges on a single circuit? Ie will a “3/4 bridge” (with three active strain gauges and one resistor still work? Or do I really just need to make three separate load cells?

I'm planning to build an instrumentation amplifier with an AC excited strain gauge based on the following design. https://www.analog.com/media/en/technical-documentation/application-notes/AN-683.pdf
I was looking around for the AD630 but it seems quite difficult to get my hands on (other then aliexpress) so an alternative part/design would be welcome.

I'd like to make some comparison between the outputs in certain environments with AC excitation and without.
Other info worth reading is always welcome.

I think mine is broken.

I've got a 25,000 lbs load, and the dash gauge is reading 60.

Anyone else ever experienced this?

Hi All,

Discussion

I did my masters dissertation a few years ago on measuring fluid flow rate in pipes with strain gauges. It works and is very cheap.

I’m wondering, given the current climate, could strain gauges be used similar to heart rate monitors for cheap monitoring of coughs?

I’d imagine a wet/dry cough would have a distinct profile with a Fourier Transform.

Does this have legs to help? Why? Why not?

Check here for info on torque sensors

https://www.ebikes.ca/product-info/advanced-pas-kits.html

The sensors are internal to the bottom bracket.

They are quite expensive 50$ even on Alibaba.com

I don’t see how this cheap external disc on The One could accurately measure torque It’s only friction fit on the bottom bracket by plastic.

I think it’s an enclosed 10 magnet PAS sensor with the magnet on the PCB.