Any Ideas for a cheap touch sensor??????

[Amoque]

You might also continue to look for the Atmel Qtouches. I've used them many times even recently and never paid more than ~$1 per chip. Checked Digi-Key... $.78 - $1.01 single price. Biggest issue is I don't think the come in DIP package anymore...

[Normnet]

See the other basic site Touch interface for a proven design.
The code is simply loading an array with AD readings, sorting high to low, retaining all but the highest and lowest and then averaging to determine the final reading.
The hardware is two leads the sensor and the driver.
See Microchiphip AN1286 as the sensor and driver code is almost identical with above post.

Norm