Gday Jacques,
I have seen a long time ago a design based on a printed cct board track.
It consisted of a fine track that traced a s pattern up and down a
"finger" that was used as a strain gauge.
It worked on the principle that the resistance varied with the amount of
bend on the finger.
The track went up and down the finger about 10 times.

regards

Lee McLaren
Tasmania Australia



Jacques Vrey wrote:
>
> Hi to all.
>
> I was wondering if anyone out there has attempted to make an
> electronic scale using PIC's. I have a few ideas for the PIC side
> of things but 'What to use for a SENSOR??' I was thinking of
> strain guages but over here in sunny South Africa, these are either
> hard to come by or very costly. I'm considering a LVDT (Linear
> Variable Differential Transformer) option but I wan't to keep
> mechanics to a minimum. I was wondering if any of you out there have
> some idea's that you would like to share on the topic.
>
> Thanks.
>
> P.S. Thanks to Mal Goris, Andrew Errington and Don McKenzie for
> their help, my programmer is now up and running!
>
> Jacques Vrey
> Iscor Profile Products Newcastle
> Tel:27-(0)3431-48759
> jvrey@it.new.iscorltd.co.za