Stickytape Sensors

Step 5 Velostat

Cut three pieces of Velostat that are slightly smaller than the shape and size of your sensor. Stick one to either piece of stickytape and then prepare to stick both pieces of stickytape together and include the third piece of Velostat in between. If everything holds together, all is good.

Now you are finished. And can test it with a multimeter. Or see the last step in my Fabric Bend Sensor Instructable for information on how to hook your sensor up to your computer >> http://www.instructables.com/id/Fabric_bend_sensor/

Enjoy.

Comments

[katsideswide]

Hi!

Thanks for a good instructable!

I'm a little lost however. I made the sensor as instructed, using the blue "labestat" dissipative film that my arduino came in. I then installed the arduino and processing programs, plugged in my arduino and installed the program on it.

Then I connected one side of the pressure sensor to the analog in 0 pin, and the other to the analog in 1 pin and ran the processor program. It gave me the graph but all 6 inputs were fluctuating up and down like crazy! applying pressure makes no discernible difference, apart from maybe making it fluctuate more. Disconnecting the sensor makes all the bars calm down a little but not completely.

Does this sound like a problem with the sensor or a problem with the arduino to you? I'm a real noob at this! I'm trying to make a small toy that makes a sound when the user picks it up. Capacitance would be best I think but it sounds super tricky...

Anyway. Thanks for a cool instructable!

[Plusea]

first of all, i'm not sure if the libestat has similar piezoresistive properties to velostat and linqstat and thus might not work to construct the stickytape pressure sensor. to test this separately from the arduino, connect the two sides of the sensor to a multimeter set to measure resistance and see what happens. if you get changes in numbers that look reasonable, then it should also work with your arduino setup.
one mistake i see is that you want to connect one side of the sensor to ground and the other to analog input 0. that is what the code is written for.
another test to do is to simply connect two wires, one to ground and one to analog input 0 and see what happens in the graph. when they are not touching the graph should be still. when you touch the wires together, one or more of the graph bars should swing all the way to the other side and remain stable there.
i hope this helps you. let me know if you have more questions.

[katsideswide]

Hi Plusea,

Thanks very much for your help! I've managed to get a better result now that i've connected the right things together (noob fail...)

The program responds as described when i connect the ground and input 1 together, so i guess it must be my switch. I'll try again with a different anti static! :D

Thanks so much!

[cameron20020]

nice idea, and rather simple, yet it looks like it could be reliable

[Plusea]

yeah, i'm amazed too, they are really super reliable so far. i started sandwiching them in some Shapelock and this makes them even more stable >>
http://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/3474231732/in/set-72157617163832637/
video coming soon...