This paper presents selected examples of construction and applications of fatigue test stands. The authors made a review of universal fatigue machines and test stands, made specifically for own and individual programs to research fatigue material properties. The publication contains the developed procedures to determine the fatigue life of materials. The authors also describe how to implement these procedures to control and measurement systems in research stands. The article briefly reviews the history of the development of fatigue testing methods, with respect to industrial needs. Moreover, it presents selected examples of solutions and applications systems for fatigue testing, available in scientific Słowa kluczowe: fatigue machine, test stand, stress, strain, fatigue test design 1 Dr inż., Przedsiębiorstwo Techniczne Energopiast Sp. z o.o., Poland,