Logging Scales

[stuee]

Hi.
I do heaps of fishing and also part of a bit Australian fishing scene. May of times it comes up about Braid line cheap and expensive.
I want to do some testing myself and get people to send me samples to test.
My idea was to get some sort of fishing scales with the hook that logs and mount it. Then use a stepper motor i have here to gradually wind and increase the pressure till it breaks and hopefully get a reading logged, doing best of 3 for the average then put into a table on a website for others to see.

My thing is i cant seem to find logging scales except normal ones which has pc logging which is handy but cant use a push pressure.
Also am i able to just run a button inline for the stepper motor so i can keep just tapping it to increase the pressure?

Thanks all

 

[Reloadron]

If you plan to only pull the line till it snaps a Tension S Type Load Cell is what you likely want. You choose a load cell having the range you plan to test the line at. For example if you want to test lines rated for 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 pounds or 0 through 50 pounds you would get a Tension Type 50 Lb load cell or 0 to 25 Kg. Any load cell similar would work. Then you amplify the load cell output using an IA (Instrument Amplified) circuit. For the data acquisition you would use something like this little DAQ device. You can use a geared stepper motor to apply the tension or whatever you wish. Most DAQ devices lie the one I linked to include software. You can also buy a push pull self contained tension / compression strain gauge. What this comes down to in simple terms is a Tension / Compression load cell and your interest is tension.

There are also basic fish scales like these, some should have a "Peak Hold" which will hold the peak reading when the line breaks. Just a matter of how simple or complex you want to get. Might also be interesting to note how much the line stretches before it snaps.

Ron