Hey guys, I've got a quick question if anyone could help. I'm trying to find a component and I've got no idea what the name would be. What I want is something similar to a potentiometer in a guitar, but instead of having the dial turned in that way, I was wondering if you could get a device whereby a rod goes through the centre of it and it measures the degrees of rotation or the like? I could adapt a guitar pot I guess but it's not ideal...
Thanks! dirtychinchilla
Not sure exactly what you mean, generally any sort of dial is at the base a pot, and then at the top end it has different knobs.
Hi there, thanks for your reply. I'll try, in this post, to clearly tell you what I'm trying to do as any help you could give me would be very very greatly appreciated.
I'm studying Mechanical Engineering at Leeds and my final year project is very much a design focused one (hence the simplicity in the design, it's substantially more streamlined than when I began, though!).
The brief is to create a rig that can test a the maximum torsional and shear force that a bone can take. These bones (very crudely displayed in the design) are foam replicas cut in half. Children then put them back together as if they were fixing a broken bone and my rig tests it.
Basically, I'm wanting to have the ability to measure actual force done by the machine. I'm doing it more simply than that due to budget restrictions. My plan is to attach
this sort of rotary encoder to the lever and to the wheel and measure the number of turns. Then presumably, through some sort of program, have an LCD display tell you the "force" exerted on the fake bone. This is where I need some help.
I'll reiterate clearly what it is I need help with. Although I am not bad with electronics, can solder etc and understand more than basic principles, I'm not entirely confident in my ability to produce a circuit. What I want to have is an encoder hooked up to the rotating lever or wheel, which then outputs to and LCD screen. Could you tell me how I'd do this, and be able to include a little bit of programming to change the value actually displayed. I'd ideally hook it up to the mains by plug, or have some large batteries.
I've included a picture of the design (it's a 3d mockup done in Solidworks), the red circles showing where the actuators will go.
I hope that's all clear...I'll clarify any details if you need me to.
Once again, any help is massively appreciated!
People still use Avo's because they are the only devices that let you easily detect fluctuations in voltage, give it to someone who has a proper use for it 
