What about using small pneumatic cylinders with limit sensors. You could position these cylinders on a jig which corresponded to the position of the items being tested. The limit sensors and stoppers on the cylinders themselves could be adjusted to provide the proper amount of force(utilizing a...
I agree with tygerdawg. A cheap plc with a very simple program, and a solid state 12-24vdc relay would be the simplest way to do this. In the program you could put a counter which you could have it tied to an output(led) that would indicate a certain number of cycles completed.