Strain gauge or what?!

[Wond3rboy]

Hi the other day i asked my cousin to order a few strain gauges(to save money on S & H) and send them to me.He replied that the guy told him that one can not ship strain gauges because they are considered 'dangerous material'.I was like ***.I mean what the hell can strain gauges do!.My cousin lives in NewZealand.Now the query is whether any one knows whether USPS creates a similar problem in delivering strain gauges?I mean they are just general purpose strain gauges...any comments?

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

I would suggest that perhaps it's a concern for terrorist activities?, perhaps used as triggers for bombs on bridges or something?.

Back in the IRA days mercury switches (bought from RS Components) were commonly used to trigger car bombs - eventually all such orders were reported to the Police.

 

[Wond3rboy]

UPS does the same thing.It considers a 'security risk' to take strain gauges from a person.It says that it can ship if its from the manufacturer but in this case those people dont ship here.Well i guess i am left with no option but to get them form China(I hope they just work!!)


PS: Its a weird crappy world with a lot of idiots roaming!

 

[Menticol]

I didn't know what a strain gauge was, until I googled it some seconds ago. That's funny.

1. Terrorists can use everything to trigger bombs (even themselves)!!!
2. Less technologic materials can do the job, so why bother buying such a complicated electromechanical part?

So, as a conclusion: Stupid restrictions against a... strain gauge!! (hahaha) will not stop them on any way!!

PS: Instead, they jam the work of honest people

PS2: Same thing applies here, but against Isopropilic Alcohol. Great for cleaning wet electronic devices, paint stains... until a "#$%&@ terrorist had the great idea of using it on drug processing. Now is expensive as hell, and all orders are reported.

 

[Coligny]

is there a big difference with load cell ? they look radically different but seem to do the same job...

(after googling, it seems to be the same... and a damn complicated way -and expensive- to make stuff go boom...)

 

[Wond3rboy]

Yeh most load cells use strain gauges and a person did advice me to use load cells instead but they are configured to measure weight and i want to measure bending..and such forces.