Strain gauge made out of PCB

PCB Strain Gauge A strain gauge, with amplifier, where the sensing element is the circuit board itself. Sensitive enough to measure deflections in the range of micrometers while having a full scale deflection range of +/- 3cm. strain_demo.mp4 Manufacturing The recommended board thickness is 0.6mm, although it could be made thicker or thinner for different applications. Thinner boards will result in a smaller output voltage swing. strain_gauge_3.zip 20 mm x 118 mm, 2 layer 0.15mm (~6mil) min trace width 4-element sensing bridge strain_gauge_3_rotated.zip Same as the previous one, except it uses 2-element sensing. Lower thermal drift and bias from manufacturing (theoretically) stran_gauge_stiffener.zip 20 mm x 42 mm rectangle to keep the component side from flexing Can be affixed to the board with 3M VHB 5906 Assembly This project was made with hand-assembly in mind, and does not require hot air or a reflow oven. The board can be used standalone with an integrated microcontro ... Read full article.