While reading your post, I begun thinking about those pressure sensors
when you said "cheap sensor", before reaching that part on your text
that you mention the pressure sensors! Funny, isn't it?

I guess that you can use them if you could dissassemble one and build
another type of structure for it.

Could you give more details on those flat surfaces? If one of them is
fixed and stable, maybe you could just stick the force sensing part of
that pressure sensor over or under that surface.

Force sensors measures forces indirectly, measuring some mechanical
deformation due to that force, in the range of micrometers.

Another issues are calibration, relative position independance,
temperature compensation, noise, protection, cabling, signal conditioning...

What about those bathroom weight scales? ;-)

Francisco


Michael A. Powers wrote:

>Hello,
>
>I have an application that requires the use of a mechanical force transducer.  Basically, I want to know the force that one flat surface imparts upon another.  Does anyone know of a cheap sensor that can be bought (or easily made) that is appropriate?  I saw some pressure sensors in Jameco's catalog, but they appeared to be gas pressure sensors and wouldn't be applicable here, or would they?
>
>Thanks,
>-Mike
>
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