Sensor design

[Ghettobarney]

There should be a sticky of all the sensor designs. Anyways, here's one I made up based off my knowledge of tape/ribbon switches. I haven't tried it yet, so if you give a go and get positive results, let us know.

_________________

OMG I BEETS MACKS 300!

[ChilliumBromide]

You might want to tweak that so that it's got 2 tubes pushing down the metal about 2 inches apart from each other. That way, it pushes down the centre more than the panel has to move.

Also, there's a sensor thread somewhere, if you want to dig it up, cool. If not, I probably will tomorrow, and then we can link it from one of the relevant stickies for reference.
_________________

I used to be active here lol

[Edible Bondage Tape]

really why dont people just use micro switches

these dending metal designs will eventually fail when the metal stresses or warps
_________________

[ChilliumBromide]

[devout]

Wikipedia says it well: "Some materials (e.g., some steel and titanium alloys) exhibit an endurance limit or fatigue limit, a limit below which repeated stress does not induce failure, theoretically, for an infinite number of cycles of load. Most other non-ferrous metals (e.g., aluminium and copper alloys) exhibit no such limit and even small stresses will eventually cause failure." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_fatigue

And on the topic of microswitches:
"They are very common due to their low cost and extreme durability, typically greater than 1 million cycles and up to 10 million cycles for heavy duty models. This durability is a natural consequence of the design. Internally a stiff metal strip must be bent to activate the switch." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microswitch

How your stress compares to the endurance limit will vary for each design, but in any case I think when sensors break its usually because the weatherstripping or other squishy materials wear out... those wont last nearly as long as any metal.

[Edible Bondage Tape]

another reason for the micro switch no need for weather stripping or other crap
_________________

[nfok3]

microswitches sound like a good idea, but how would your panel return to its original position? Would the springs in the switches be able to push it back up?

[Edible Bondage Tape]

micro switches come in more than just the style inside your super advantage you know

you can get a compact micro switch that could puch a kia car if you needed it
_________________

[devout]