Actuators and Sensors

Will wonders never cease?

I have recently found a local supplier of high powered Electric Actuators, controllers and damping modules!! (In the vicinity of 500# models). The price is definitely right as is the form factor.

So with this in order locally, I am back to the Load cell issue...
What I have found to date is a system that reads and sends a signal once the Load cell is at at a specific pressure-poundage. This data is sent via USB to an application running onboard a laptop, which then triggers a solenoid to effect the actuator. This is all well and good, however, at $1200 a pop, it does not fit into the model I had envisioned for this project.

There must be something out there that will fill this bill and not break the bank?

Anyone?