I found an accelerometer for $35:
Stereophile is good for somethingIn first the February 1991 issue of Voice Coil, then the November issue (footnote 1), Editor Vance Dickason described a low-cost accelerometer made from a strip of the piezoelectric polymer PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride) that enables impecunious engineers to get a more objective handle on cabinet problems. Costing just $35 plus shipping (footnote 2), the transducer consists of a 4" by 1" strip of PVDF attached to a small plastic block from which emerges a short pigtail of coaxial cable. The strip is securely taped to the surface to be analyzed; the output can be fed to any of the standard industry measurement systems.
Footnote 2: For further details on this low-cost, $35-plus-S&H, PVDF strip accelerometer, see "High Polymer Piezo Film in Electroacoustical Transducer Applications," AES Preprint 2308, presented at the 79th Audio Engineering Society Convention in New York in October 1985 by Jesse Klapholz. Mr. Klapholz can be contacted at PVDF Transducers, P.O. Box 31718, Philadelphia, PA 19147. Tel: (215) 465-1975. Fax: (215) 336-7743.John Atkinson