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By sweetjustice
#128046
I'd like to put a strain gauge on my bedrail to allow my alarm clock to sense whether I've gotten out of bed. Obviously, high accuracy is not critical. Digikey doesn't seem to have anything under ten bucks, which is a lot to pay for what seems like a bit of etched foil.

Am I missing something, or is that really as cheap as strain gauges get?
By NleahciM
#128056
I've heard of people making their own, ie something like this.

I haven't tried it myself, but my understanding is that you can get decent results from this method.
By jremington
#128066
Antistatic foam (used to protect ICs from electrostatic damage) is a variable resistance material. The resistance is lower when compressed. If you sandwich a piece between two conductors, it will measure force over a fairly wide range.