Button

FUTEK Button load cells are small, disc-shaped compression sensors designed for applications where space constraints, surface contact area, or the need to measure force at a specific point make larger load cells impractical. The button form factor — a short cylinder with flat top and bottom bearing surfaces — allows the sensor to be placed under a contact point, between mating surfaces, or in line with a mechanical element with minimal footprint and very low stack height. Despite their small size, Button load cells provide accurate, stable, and repeatable compression force measurements with good linearity.

The sensing element in FUTEK Button load cells is a precision-machined flexure with bonded foil strain gauges configured in a full Wheatstone bridge. Temperature compensation ensures stable output over the operating temperature range. Models are available in a wide range of capacities from a few newtons up to tens of kilonewtons, in both alloy steel and stainless steel constructions.

Output is standard mV/V, compatible with any strain-gauge signal conditioner or data acquisition instrument. FUTEK also offers button load cell variants with integrated miniature amplifiers that provide voltage output (0–5V, 0–10V) or USB digital output for direct connection to a computer via FUTEK’s USB Solution software.

Button load cells are commonly used for measuring contact forces in assembly operations, compression testing of small components such as springs, elastomers, seals, and electronic connectors, force monitoring in tooling and press operations, robotic gripper force sensing, and in-situ measurement under indenter tips or probes in materials testing. NewRoad provides FUTEK Button load cells in Israel for test and measurement, manufacturing QC, and research applications requiring compact, in-line compression force sensing.