🚀 go-pugleaf

A company I used to work for used a big DC motor and a pulley with a
strain gauge built into the shaft.  We just stuck a reel of kevlar or
carbon fiber onto the motor shaft, and used a big hairy motor
controller of our own design to control pay-out and take-up speed.
Tension was monitored via the strain gauge in the pulley shaft.  We
had a microprocessor based design, but the engineering guru in the
group could actually do better with analog circuitry.  Our systems
were sold to people doing things like building composite nosecones and
thruster nozzles for missiles and satellites.  You can see some
details at www.fiber-tensioners.com - I left the company when they
moved to South Carolina... :-(  Most interesting job I ever had.



      -Bill Richman (bill_r@inetnebr.com)
       http://incolor.inetnebr.com/bill_r - Home of the COSMAC Elf Microcomputer
       Simulator, Fun with Molten Metal, Orphaned Robots, and Technological Oddities.)