A quick tuto how to make a flex-sensor.

Please take more time to make a nice one ;-)

 

Mastablasta

10 years 3 months ago

Thanks. Was only a basic tuto. If you use a thicker paper the sensor gets less sensitive. 160gr paper worked best for me. In the video I was using only 80gr paper. Other resitive materials didn´t work as good as the paper did.  A second piece of plastic makes the sensor more stiff. You can also use it as a pressure sensor.

Nice result if you invest 15 minutes of work, thicker paper and 2 plastic strips:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPoY683dUgo

Alessandruino

10 years 3 months ago

I just tried with a copper plated foil.. With no results ( the wire was hard to weld too)...

Where did you get your adhesive copper foil?

Did you sand all of the copper foil ? 
I don't think I've seen foil yet that didn't have a varnish on it of some sort.
It makes sense in that they don't want it to patina green.. the only way to keep it bright and shiny "copper" is to spray it with a clear plastic.

This also would make sense of why - 

1. its hard to solder & 

2. it doesn't work 

Just some thoughts...

GroG

10 years 3 months ago

Saw the video now (Yay!) - thanks Masta..   was curious the theory of operation.  Is the paper a semi-conductor, or is it a capacitive sensor ?

What were you measuring in the end - resistance, voltage, or something else ?

First guess is that the paper is a semi-conductor - have you tried other materials - like the ubiquitous IC packing foam instead of paper ?

Mastablasta

10 years 3 months ago

Thanks, in the 2nd video you see a better sensor measuring the resistance with clear results. So far tested with arduino only.  The hand of my Inmoov has 5 sensors on each finger, just need to find out how to make them work with MRL.

The paper is the resitive material. I have tried other materials as well but the paper was giving me the best values.

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