Anyone here make braille before?

Volitan · Oct 7, 2020

I have a job coming up which will be hundreds of brass plates that need to have braille on them. It seems the prevailing method, which is among sign makers, is to drill a hole and press in steel or plastic balls with a tool like this, from a company called Accent Signage (they're having website problems right now, can't get a link):

This is good because we have to engrave a different word on each plate with braille to match, so we can do the braille right in the CNC at the same time.
The downside is that they're saying pushing stainless balls into brass will wear the tool out quicker than putting them into plastic, such as a sign in a building, so it will need repair more often. Also, they strongly recommend laying out some adhesive first which adds a couple steps to each one. I could use acrylic balls but would still need adhesive because if the press fit into brass is too tight the balls will crack.

So I thought I'd ask here, anyone have a better method for making braille in a production environment?

Thanks

Mike1974 · Oct 7, 2020

No clue, but sounds like an interesting project. :cool:

Could you copy the 'wear' part of the tool design and make it out of 4140ht or sumthin like S7 about 45-50 rc?

sirAIG · Oct 7, 2020

Make a tool/harden it.

How many parts/presses are we talking about?

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

Rick Finsta · Oct 7, 2020

How about a form tool that would cut the hemispherical shape in the machine? Or are the braille features proud of the topmost surface of the brass plate?

I have a friend that has thrown me some RFQs from the sign-making world (she's a designer) and they are not stingy at least!

Peter from Holland · Oct 7, 2020

Mill the braille embossed perhaps
Might take longer on the milling machine but then you are done
No balls falling out eighter
Etching and then punching it half round is another option perhaps

Peter

EmGo · Oct 7, 2020

Rick Finsta said:
How about a form tool that would cut the hemispherical shape in the machine? Or are the braille features proud of the topmost surface of the brass plate?

They stick out. You've never noticed them on elevator control panels ?

Mike1974 · Oct 7, 2020

Building on what rick said, could maybe mill the braille as pins/bosses, then use a form tool similar to a hollow punch (sort of) that would rotate and just plunge straight down onto the bosses to round the tops over?

Is there a standard to which braille lettering is spaced, and/or size? Suppose that might make the milling tedious if the spacing is very small.

Volitan · Oct 7, 2020

Milling them in was my first thought too. They would be proud of the top surface though, so a pocket would have to be milled in to do it. The architects would have to approve it. It has to be aesthetically pleasing for the sighted as well.

My other thought was to order pins from a screw machine shop that are rounded on top and press them in but then I'd have to design I guess, a semi-automatic tool to hold them and load then next one in like a stapler or nail gun I guess? Has to be done on the CNC.

Beefing up the other tool may be the way for us to go since we have easy access to tool steel and heat treating.

As far as quantity, It'll be in the neighborhood of 1,000 plates with an average of I guess 10 "bumps" on each?

Volitan · Oct 7, 2020

The standard (not done reading up on it yet) seems to be a height of .025-.037, a diameter of .059-.063, spacing of .090 - .100 for each grid of 6

This is a rough idea, there are contracted words and other things involved too from what I'm learning.

EmGo · Oct 7, 2020

Volitan said:
As far as quantity, It'll be in the neighborhood of 1,000 plates with an average of I guess 10 "bumps" on each?

Are they all the same ? Then I'd think about investment casting followed by ball burnishing ?

gregormarwick · Oct 7, 2020

Deboss from the other side in a cnc punch press?

You didn't say how thick the plate was...

EmGo · Oct 7, 2020

gregormarwick said:
Deboss from the other side in a cnc punch press?

You didn't say how thick the plate was...

I thought of that also but we have quite a bit of experience with cheesy methods here .... thin enough to press means that after a few years, the bumps crack and fall off and those thin plates get all bent up and look like shit. You'd be amazed by how much wear and tear a thing like that gets.

If I were the customer, I'd decline.

Volitan · Oct 7, 2020

It's a 5/16 brass plate. The numbers/letters are different on each one. I'll have to look up deboss, not sure what that means.

Volitan · Oct 7, 2020

I see, punch it in from the back. I would have to have something covering the from front then? Plus each one will have a different word/number combination on it. That's why I'd really like a process that can be done in the CNC when I engrave the words/numbers. They have to match too, so having it done together is less chance for error.

I can put the job on a 4th axis fixture though and have access to both sides.

Peter from Holland · Oct 7, 2020

Drill the holes and then rivets glued in with locktite

Peter

DanielG · Oct 7, 2020

You can get epoxy in a wide variety of viscosities. Can you drill a shallow hole where each bump needs to be and then using an adhesive dispensing robot (which are off-the-shelf and relatively cheap) to dispense a drop of the correct size and viscosity that surface tension pulls it into the correct shape?

ss_user · Oct 7, 2020

With 5/16 plate you have lots of bearing surface to stabilize pins that are pressed into holes. With luck you should be able to drill and not have to ream the holes.
Now to find pins with a dome on the end. :-)
Interesting project! Have fun.

Peter from Holland · Oct 7, 2020

ss_user said:
Now to find pins with a dome on the end. :-).

Rivets

peter

sfriedberg · Oct 7, 2020

Rick Finsta said:
Or are the braille features proud of the topmost surface of the brass plate?

Yes. People read them with their fingertips. The bumps are proud of the surface, not recesses.

Rick Finsta · Oct 7, 2020

Not what I said, gents... I asked if they were proud of the topmost surface. Many of the signs like this I've seen for quoting have a raised edge around the periphery that mean you're cutting a pocket and could leave the braille characters as bosses that could be rounded with a form tool. Yes, I know the bumps are proud of their immediate surroundings. Sounds like the front of these are flat with the braille proud of that, though.

Anyone here make braille before?

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