This is an old revision of the document!
The purpose of this project is to adapt a mechanical testing device to function inside of a CNC machine. The existing mechanical testing system created in The Cooper Union struggles to compete with commercial mechanical testers because the sensors that detect the position of the sample are too inaccurate for delicate biomaterials like cartilage. This inherently affects the calculation of the strain and modulus of elasticity of the samples being tested. The hopes of this project are to take advantage of the accuracy of the existing positioning system inside of a CNC machine. Our goal is to develop an open source design to add a load cell inside of a Roland CNC machine, and to create the software required to collect the data from the machine.