Building Grade 2 Braille

[Scott Shepherd]

Spoke to someone different at the DOJ minutes ago and, again, went into great detail to make sure they understood.

The guy seemed to be very knowledgable and said that the standard did not specify capital or lowercase. I repeatedly asked him that if you do it in capital, or lowercase, then you'd be good, correct? He said "Yes, either way would be fine since it's not specifically spelled out in the standard".

[Roy Brewer]

Scott,

Accent Signage is right. But from every seminar I've attended on ADA signage, what we're discussing here is *not* a matter of *rule* but of preference.

That is, it is *recommended* that the braille be lower case because that what those who read braille are used to reading. The pundits of ADA signage say it would be "unkind" to those who read braille to find all caps just like it is unkind in email/forum posts to "scream" at people by using all caps. It has always been explained that there is even a chance of undue alarm being generated since the 'all caps' designator is at the front of the text and before the text is read they are being told "that which follows screams at you" as if potential danger.

Those of us that have been doing ADA signs for many years, covered this issue long ago. It is universally known and accepted by those do any volume of ADA signs that braille is to be lower case by preference not by law.

Your DOJ contact was simply incorrect.

[Keith Outten]

Scott,

I checked the Code of Federal Regulations 28 CFR Part 36 Rev July 1, 1994 which confirms that braille does not have to be capitalized. I also found a web page that mentions a new guideline or "Design Standards" but they have not been approved yet.

It seems that less than two pages of CFR Part 36 Section 4.30 that pertain to ADA signs are all there is officially as far as regulations go.

Concerning pictograms the CFR only requires a pictogram for telephones, the rest seem to be optional.

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[Keith Outten]

I'm not sure what everyone else is using to install acrylic braille balls but if you haven't coughed up the fee for the expensive braille insertion tool a poor mans option is a tamper proof torx bit. Ace Hardware sells a brand made by Best Way Tool that works great. If your not famillier with the tamper proof torx bits they have a small hole in the end of the bit and are designed to fit a special torx screw for increased security. The hole in the end of the bit will pick up braille balls perfectly.

After inserting the braille balls a slight tap with the round end handle end of a screw driver or universal driver will set the balls in the holes perfectly...provided you have your laser settings adjusted for the perfect friction fit.

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[Scott Shepherd]

I've revamped my braille method this weekend. Previously on the Epilog, I was rastering the braille dots in multiple passes. It took some time to do. With the new laser, I'm now doing it using two pieces of material and vector cutting the braille out, pushing the balls in from the backside, and then laminating that to the backing material. Works a real treat. It's faster than before by a long way. Vector cutting 4 characters takes about 15 seconds. Probably less if I used the right side of the table, closer to where the machine is home.

It looks much better than what I was doing before and it's so much easier.

I found the method on the ULS website. Anyone else doing it like that?

[Keith Outten]

Scott,

I have been able to raster engrave the braille holes in one pass to 0.034" deep in Corian. Since Corian is 1/2" thick material engraving from the back side is not an option but I will kep your tecnique in mind should I ever make acrylic ADA signs.

How about posting a couple pictures of your ADA signs?

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[Scott Shepherd]

One shot on rastering, wow, that's something I couldn't get to work. It was always too much power and it bellmouthed the hole from melting. I've never used Corian, so all my braille is with IPI, Gravograph, or Rowmark products, all which seem to melt when you have enough power to get a deep cut. Maybe I'll try rastering it on our new machine. Never tried that.

I should finish up the small job today and I'll post some photos then. Only thing I have left to do is assemble them. Nothing original at all. Two buildings are side by side and they said "Make the signs in this building to match the signs in that building".

[Keith Outten]

One shot raster engraving of the text and braille
I make these 6" by 8" door signs in groups of 180 at a time, the total material cost per sign is less than seven dollars. The yield is 60 plaques per full sheet of Corian which is $4.71 per plaque.
Made from 1/2" thick Glacier White Corian they have two keyholes machined on the back side for hanging.
I started CNC machining the contour line around the outside of the plaques which cut my average engraving time from 45 minutes to 5 minutes. It takes an extra 45 seconds to machine the contour line.

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[Joe Pelonio]

Where is everyone buying the braille dots?

[Scott Shepherd]

McMaster Carr. 1/16" diameter acrylic balls. Costs about $6 for 500 of them or something like that.

[Keith Outten]

Joe,

I have ordered acrylic braille balls from McMaster Carr and from a local plastics dealer in my area. MC was actually a bit cheaper than my local source.

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[Joe Pelonio]

Wow, MC is fast, my braille dots came already. Maybe I'll get a chance to try them out this weekend.

[Joe Pelonio]

Now that I have the dots I've done some experimentation. The cdr file below has in it the words "men" and "women" from the braille font that I found.

Can anyone verify if it's correct? Font file also attached. I find that at 22 points the vector holes are perfect for inserting the dots. Have yet to try the rastor method.

[Keith Outten]

Joe,

Attached is a jpg or the CD file and my modified corel drawing with grade 2 braille which is required for ADA signs. Note the first dot denotes a capital letter. On both my Epilog in my shop and the Xenetech at CNU I use 24 point for raster engraving braille.

[Joe Pelonio]

Ok, now I'm more confused than ever. I looked at some grade II braille signs for sale and they look like what I have that you say is wrong. Then I looked online at some signs for sale from manufacturers of ADA compliant signs and there's are closer to mine but still different. These are from an ADA online sign shop: