Tension Torsion Machine Guidance

Hi,

I am doing a university project and my group are trying to create a tension torsion test machine to work inside an SEM, we would like the option to control with torque and position and we were hoping you could recommend a motor, drive and interface for us that would be suitable for this application. We would be looking at a controlled torque of less than 0.5Nm~70oz-in and a total size of the machine being 100x100x25mm~3.9" x 3.9" x 1", so we need to be mindful of size when considering the need for a linear motor and a heater too. For the control loop, we were thinking of an optical encoder for both position and torque.

Any advice and recommendations on different products would be appreciated.

We don’t currently stock many motor/encoder options (this https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11102 is about the best we offer); I’d suggest poking around here https://www.pololu.com/category/157/enc … gearmotors and https://www.servocity.com/ to get a better idea of what’s available…

On the other side of things, if you want to look into incorporating a DIY system, you would always find a servo that matches your specs and add in an optical encoder like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECLrLupFW10 :smiley:

Thank you! Any recommendations regarding the motors themselves and how to control them?