SparkFun Electronics Forum

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the forum. Hopefully this is the place where I'll finally get some answers :pray:

I'm currently designing a product in conjunction with a UK university, and I've hit a bit of a brick wall. Basically I need a particular component, but I can't find it anywhere. It probably doesn't exist, but similar things do. If you google 'trend digital angle finder' you'll see what I need. Excuse my layman terminology here, but it's basically a digital unit that displays the current angle at which two arms meet. It is placed on the hinge (or is the hinge) and can lock the two arms in that position. I need to either make this or have it made, because finding one is impossible. The current units just display the actual angle, but I need it to do a calculation and display other digits simultaneously.

If anyone has any idea of how I can create this, or knows anyone who can, I'd love to hear from you..

Many thanks in anticipation!

Dan

Rotary encoder

Given the minimal description of what it is you want, I suspect you will get few useful answers.
What torque is required to lock and hold the arms in the required position?
What accuracy is required in the angle?
How do you imagine the lock to work?
How would it be powered?
Why does the unit need to do "some calculations" and display "other digits simultaneously" and what are those?
Is a unit with separate measurement and hinge hardware plus microcontroller and display conceivable?

Are looking for something like this but can also send out the angle data to be used in other computations ?
http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/416091 ... l-822.aspx