HOW TO – Make a ridiculously cheap analog pressure sensor

 Wp-Content Uploads 2010 01 Reading2

HOW TO – Make a ridiculously cheap analog pressure sensor

Tired of paying exorbitant amounts for a simple analog pressure sensor?  Well here is an easy smeasy way to make an incredibly cheap analog pressure sensor.  This pressure sensor won’t be terribly accurate in terms of measuring precise weight or things of this nature, though it can be calibrated somewhat and if you choose to coat it in something like Plasti Dip some of the variables such as humidity and the like can be minimized.  However, what this analog pressure sensor is best for is for creating things like bumper sensors that can read variable levels of pressure and various other touch / pressure sensor applications.


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2 Comments

  1. I first saw this method in a Forrest Mims book from Radio Shack. I don’t remember if it was the big book or one of the little books, but I can clearly recall the pseudo-pencil-on-graphpaper diagram. I believe he used pennies as the electrodes, but I can’t be sure of that.

  2. i’ve seen something like this

    they just used copper panels and sandwiched the foam

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