As the title states I am looking to use my Uno along with a hacked digital scale to (hopefully) control a pneumatic actuator once the scale hits a specific weight. And once weight has returned to 0 the pneumatic ram returns to original position.
Is this possible? I don't see why not just can't wrap my head around how to make it work.
thanks
adworld
What are you having trouble with? Hacking the scale sounds like the tough part. Every scale is different and it's unlikely you have a schematic.
If there's a strain gauge, you may be able to tap-into that analog circuit to get a voltage proportional to the weight. Or, you could scrap that circuit and build your own (perhaps just using the strain gauge and bridge). Look-up "strain gauge amplifier circuit" if none of that makes sense.
A pneumatic actuator is easy if you have compressed air and one or two electrically controlled valves, and a transistor or MOSFET to drive the actuator.
Other than reading the scale, the software is just a couple of if-statements turning on & off an output pin when the right conditions are met.
With the drift that electronic scales are plagued with, sometimes your scale might never come back to exactly "zero." Try this for some beginning reading on the subject.
thank you both.. maybe getting a load cell kit would be easier then to hack a scale?
If you got that kit then you'd have to figure out how to hook it up to your Arduino. Or, you could use just the load cell from the kit and discard the rest. On the other hand, there's lots of info on the web about hacking scales.