Hello and welcome to the inaugural
episode of N Squared. For my first video I will be showing you how to make
a ridiculously cheap
analog pressure sensor. So first you want to cut a small piece
of static dissipative foam that will be your pressure sensor.
This is the type of foam many chips you buy
come embedded in so you might have some just lying around.
In case you don't have any there's a link in the description.
Now cut two wires for the positive and negative charge.
They can be as long as you want
but i am going to make them fairly short because this sensor is not for
any specific project.
Now cut the ends of the wires a little
longer than the foam piece you have because you will eventually be poking the wire
through the foam.
Normally I would use wire strippers however I have lost mine so I'll be
using a pocket knife which,
as you're about to see is not something
I had tried before but I get there eventually. Don't judge.
Now poke
the exposed part of the wire all the way through the foam so it comes out of the
opposite side.
It may take a few tries but after you do that bend the wire sticking out
back through the top of the foam so you can't pull the wire
out of the foam.
Then do the same thing you just did but with the other
wire however make sure the two wires don't touch
and make sure they won't touch if you press on the foam peace or else the
sensor will not work.
When you are done your pressure sensor should
look something like this from the side.
Now you need to cut the other ends of
both wires so you can connect the sensor to your projects.
Again you get to see my amazing skills at stripping wire insulation with a
knife.
Jealous? But seriously where are my wire strippers?
Finally after that you should probably
test the sensor. You do not have to but you can't go back after this next step
and it will take a long time.
I was having some problems with my
multimeter but after I sorted those out you can see that when I apply pressure to
the foam
the resistance changes pretty well. You want to press in between the wires.
If you press them toward each other they might touch depending on how close you
put them,
which may or may not be what you want depending on your applications.
Finally if you want to stiffen up
the sensor and make it a bit more durable for some applications
you can optionally coat the sensor in liquid electric tape
or Plastidip. I chose the liquid electric tape linked below.
Completing this step is as simple as taking the lid off the bottle and dunking
the sensor in.
Then set the sensor in a pair of helping hands to dry.
The part of my hand that just got tape on it was really irritated the next day
SO BE CAREFUL NOT TO GET ANY LIQUID ELECTRIC TAPE ON YOU WHEN YOU DO THIS!!!
You then have to wait for Earth
to spin about 180 degrees in till morning for the electric
tape to dry.
After that long process your pressure sensor should be done.
just check your multimeter to make sure it is working properly.
As you can see with mine
the resistance doesn't change as much because it is much stiffer
when pressing it. If you'd like to stiffen it up even more for your
application you can just give it more dips in the liquid electric tape
letting it dry each time.
All right that's it for today
I hope
you enjoyed the first ever N Squared video. If you did consider liking, favoring, and
sharing it.
Subscribe so you can catch all the amazing robotics electronics in 3d
printing projects I have planned.
Also comment on what you liked and what you didn't so I can make future videos
even better
thanks for watching (Especial to the deaf who I spent an hour editing the subtitles for).