Welcome to IsleSense

Welcome to the home of practical information on load measurement. With over 50 years of personal experience in the use and application of strain gauges and with the design of load cells and instrumentation, we are passionate about this industry.

The Humble Foil Strain Gauge

We love this guy! In the early 1950’s printed circuit boards were being developed and with the need to measure strains, particularly in the aircraft industry, an easily applied gauge was required. Leading on from the bonded wire gauge, the foil strain gauge was born, just a mile from where we live, consisting of a very thin foil on an insulating backing. This is much the same now as it was back then but with many variations in geometry and material.

So, this simple gauge is the basis of the majority of commercial load cells available today.

Load cells come in many shapes and sizes and at IsleSense we like to think a bit ‘out-of-the-box’ and explore alternative methods of sensing a load or force and particularly examine lower cost solutions to measurement problems. Above are some of the pieces we have made over the years. 

'Weighton' the principles guide

This blog aims to explore, educate and provide solutions where appropriate. We will post many of our past and current projects and we are very open to include projects that others have undertaken, be they successful or even a failure. We learn from our failures and move on to build better. Weighton and friends will hopefully guide us through principles so look for the team in future episodes.

So join us and to explore projects coming up on future blogs such

as.....

• Combining strain gauge bridges and having fun with sensors
• Giving sports equipment more sense
• How to design a load cell
• How to hack a bathroom scale and measure centre of gravity
• Measuring the force on a vehicle tow ball hitch
• Effective use of the load cell amplifier 'HX711' chip and board

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