Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Printing braille with a laser engraver & swell paper? (self.Blind)
submitted by Dangerous-Cloud105
Hi folks! I'm brand new to this community. A while back I ran some experiments using swell paper and a laser engraver set to low power with a wide kerf to see if a laser engraver might be a viable option for printing braille using a general purpose machine now available in many schools and universities.
I was able to land on some settings that were consistent, and a colleague of mine who's visually impaired tried it and shared with me that they were able to read the braille. This is an interesting initial result, but more experimentation involving people who can determine high vs. low quality braille (i.e. not me as I don't have that skillset) would be needed to see if this could be viable.
My plan is to create a text document and video with audio description detailing the work I've done so far and openly share my process and the power/speed/focus settings on the brand of laser cutter/engraver I used. When I do so, would there be folks in this community that would be interested in me sharing those details here?
My hope is that someone can take this initial information and then explore further. Even if the answer is "Turns out laser engravers aren't a viable option for printing braille", the research may be valuable. This could be a fantastic project for some university or high school students etc.
Looking forward to people's thoughts on this!
I was able to land on some settings that were consistent, and a colleague of mine who's visually impaired tried it and shared with me that they were able to read the braille. This is an interesting initial result, but more experimentation involving people who can determine high vs. low quality braille (i.e. not me as I don't have that skillset) would be needed to see if this could be viable.
My plan is to create a text document and video with audio description detailing the work I've done so far and openly share my process and the power/speed/focus settings on the brand of laser cutter/engraver I used. When I do so, would there be folks in this community that would be interested in me sharing those details here?
My hope is that someone can take this initial information and then explore further. Even if the answer is "Turns out laser engravers aren't a viable option for printing braille", the research may be valuable. This could be a fantastic project for some university or high school students etc.
Looking forward to people's thoughts on this!
Dangerous-Cloud105 [OP] 4 points 1y ago
Completely forgot some additional context. About 10 years ago I co-invented the first 3D printable prosthetic hand and released it into the public domain. Sharing this detail so that folks know up front that my intention to is release information into the public domain and I won't retain any rights to it; I'd like this to be fully open to anyone to experiment with it.
CloudyBeep 2 points 1y ago
There are specifications for braille dot and cell dimensions. Here are the ones for the US: http://www.brailleauthority.org/sizespacingofbraille/
KillerLag 2 points 1y ago
Hope it works out well! My organization used to have a machine where you could mark some kind of thermal paper and then put it in the machine, and the heat would make the markers areas raised up. Unfortunately, that machine caught fire one day and we couldn't afford to get another one :(
Dangerous-Cloud105 [OP] 1 points 1y ago
Thank you! My mom used to be a middle school teacher and they had a machine like that at her district's office, but not at the individual schools, so she had to send away for materials for her visually impaired students when she wrote worksheets. The thermal paper these machines use is the same paper I've been experimenting with using my laser engraver.
I work within digital fabrication, and I've noticed a recent trend that lots of schools (at least in the US) are purchasing laser cutter/engravers for their STEAM programs, so my thought is that braille on a laser engraver may be a way to increase options for educators and students to print braille (if using said tech as a method for this ends up being viable)
I work within digital fabrication, and I've noticed a recent trend that lots of schools (at least in the US) are purchasing laser cutter/engravers for their STEAM programs, so my thought is that braille on a laser engraver may be a way to increase options for educators and students to print braille (if using said tech as a method for this ends up being viable)
KillerLag 2 points 1y ago
Definitely a system worth trying out. I ran some experiments with 3D printing braille a few years ago, but the problem was the little trails of plastic between the dots. I think some advances in the printing process have gotten around it but I haven't been able to test it yet. The newer resin systems should also get around that.
SiriuslyGranger 1 points 11m ago
Why would you want to do that? There’s so many ways to do it already there’s specialized printers called embossers for braille materials and these are used. There’s the more manual typewriter way too.
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