Final project

Braille embosser

Luckily for us the question if digital reading (tablets, ebooks and so forth) would kill the traditional book has already run its course, freeing us from one of the most stale, uninspired and clichéd controversy of these late years.
The question, however, stands still when we speak about braille printing; its a commont idea that, with all the assistive technologies availables (text-to-speech, audio books), braille is becoming a relic of the past, no longer needed. This (dangerous) belief doesn't take into account the educational purpose of braille, its role as the main medium to literacy (here, here and here).
Is has been a big surprise then when I discovered that braille embossers, even those aimed to small offices and home users, are still quite expensive (around 2000 dollars), thus being out of reach in any number of occasions.

My aim is to try and build a very simple and low cost braille embosser which, despite of its limitations, could become the starting point of a more serious and in deep research path.

Development log and files

For the sake of keeping this page as clean and streamlined as possible the full log of the development is available here. All the files needed are available in this archive.
The archive is organized in four folders, one for the 3d models, one for the eagle working files, one for the models of the 3d printed pieces, one with the drawings of the parts to be cut. Here is the full tree:

            
.
|-- 3dmodels
|   |-- belt-fastener.stl
|   |-- CableChainEnds.stl
|   |-- CableChainx4.stl
|   |-- feeder-inner-roll.stl
|   |-- feeder-mold.stl
|   |-- linear-bearing-housing.stl
|   |-- master-support.stl
|   |-- motor-holder.stl
|   |-- polA-support.stl
|   |-- polB-support.stl
|   |-- return-pulley.stl
|   |-- solenoid-holder.stl
|   `-- steelrod-support.stl
|-- code
|   |-- binarybraille.py
|   |-- boardcode.ino
|   |-- main.py
|   `-- ui.ui
|-- cutting
|   |-- frontal.dxf
|   |-- lateral.dxf
|   |-- sled-plate.dxf
|   `-- top.dxf
`-- electronics
    |-- master
    |   |-- eagle.epf
    |   |-- final-master.brd
    |   `-- final-master.sch
    |-- pololu-revA
    |   |-- pololu-standalone.brd
    |   `-- pololu-standalone.sch
    `-- pololu-revB
        |-- eagle.epf
        |-- pololu-standalone.brd
        `-- pololu-standalone.sch

7 directories, 29 files