Making ADA Signs

[Larry Bratton]

Attached is a PDF that is from Accent Systems that is quite helpful explaining the different requirements for braille.

[Angus Hines]

Larry wouldn't one of the solid surface company's that use polyester instead of Acrylic...Be acceptable as a polyester resin base material?

[Larry Bratton]

Angus:
I am kind of at a loss about the polyester resin. I did some research and I did find a sign company or two that advertised it for outdoor signs. I looked further and found that Delvies Plastics sells it in liquid form intended to be poured in a mold. Maybe another product out there...? I have not read the specifications yet, only the information on the plans, so that's the next step. I will also call the architect next week to inquire about his intent and speak to him about the solid surface. I am going to make a sample over the weekend to send over to him. They are a large firm in Charlotte, NC , I have worked jobs that they did in the past. (Not sign jobs) .

I doubt the polyester inclusion in solid surface would satisfy it. Avonite in one of those products. I am told it does not come off the router as clean as 100% acrylic like Corian or LG HiMacs.

[Bob Cole]

I finished a stack of 10 signs and here is the method I use:

1. Design the sign in Corel. I used the Corel plugin for Braille. I have to say it works great and very quick to get the braille where it needs to be.
2. Cutout the template using cardstock. Will also use this step for the template for all the signs that can fit in the laser. I make sure I offset where the engraving will occur for Braille so the head doesn't have to travel so far without lasering.
3. Use the cutout for placement of the raised lettering for the signs (no raster).
4. Raster the braille. Settings took some time to figure out. I use one pass with paper still on acrylic 100pwr, 10spd, 500ppi (see second picture below for depth). I purchase my braille balls from McMaster-Carr 500 balls at a time, although the link that Keith posted above is less expensive.
http://www.mcmaster.com/#1383k41/=im7v6
5. I cut out raised lettering based on material. I purchase the 1/32 ADA alternative plastic from JP instead of purchasing the 1/16th and engraving 1/32 to get the required 1/32 height for raised lettering. I apply 3M467mp adhesive to the ADA plastic and cut reversed on the laser (sticky side up). Keeping your nails for removing the tape from the letters is helpful. I like Keiths way of just using glue/engrave instead of pieling the adhesive but for these signs any glue residue would be highly noticeable and my skills are not up to snuff.
6. Remove tape from sign and put paper template on sign and place raised letters in layout. I also use the paper layout to make sure I didn't goober in the design.
7. I painstakenly add the braille balls to the sign. I borrowed an idea from another post about applying braille balls with a security bit. The 100 piece security set ($4.99) from HarborFreight has a CR-V3/32 bit which seems to work the best. Use friction fit. Once the pressure is figured out, it goes pretty fast.

[Larry Bratton]

Bob:
Looks good!
Except I have a question. I just happened to have sign I made yesterday and just looking at the photo, it appears that your braille is different from mine. I too use Aaron's plug in. Did you by chance use all upper case letters for the translation? ADA requiires that the braille be in all lower case and the tactile text be all upper case. Aaron's plug in does not make that change. If you command it to translate the line that is selected, it will translate it as upper case. Otherwise you get it denoted as caps and that doesn't meet the spec. I manually type it in lower case and allow the placement below the selection.

Also, Bob, if this does prove to be the case, just looking at the translated braille, I think you can probably remove those first two balls at the front of the braille line and it will be correct. You should be able to repair those with solid surface adhesive and no one would be the wiser.

[Bob Cole]

I know about the lowercase/caps and went back to my file and sure enough, you are correct, I typed in all caps. What is interesting about this is I verified my braille ball placement with another sign at this facility and 2 other public websites making so-called ADA compliant signs. I checked the other signs I did and they are all lowercase braille.

I made two restoom signs and they are both like this one. Guess we will see if I get to remake these signs or not (I need more practice anyway)

[Scott Shepherd]

ADA requiires that the braille be in all lower case and the tactile text be all upper case.

Larry, can you list the section of the code that calls for that? I haven't located it in my quick search of the code and I distinctly recall a phone conversation with the Department of Justice ADA rep where he told me that it didn't matter. I called about that about 1 1/2 years ago and I think Keith and I had a discussion on the forum about it as well.

The DOJ seemed more concerned that something was on there, rather than nothing. They seemed to note that they really didn't care and it wasn't specifically noted in the code, so that left it up to interpretation.

If you can point to the code, it would help, as it's a conflict with what I have been told by them.

Thanks!

[Larry Bratton]

Scott:
Refer to my post "Helpful ADA Info" that is a couple of days back. Page 2, 5th item down on the left. This is a PDF from Accent Systems..I would say they should know. I have made mine using this procedure for a long time.

Also, as you know, I own a license from Accent, so I kind of learned what I know from their manuals.

Here is a website that may be helpful also. It's a article on braille and how it is structured etc. If you look at the section that talks about contracted braille and you type in the phrase "you like him" in Aaron's plug in, in lower case, it matches identically the dot pattern as shown on this page.

http://www.afb.org/braillebug/braille_deciphering.asp

[Larry Bratton]

I know about the lowercase/caps and went back to my file and sure enough, you are correct, I typed in all caps. What is interesting about this is I verified my braille ball placement with another sign at this facility and 2 other public websites making so-called ADA compliant signs. I checked the other signs I did and they are all lowercase braille.

I made two restoom signs and they are both like this one. Guess we will see if I get to remake these signs or not (I need more practice anyway)

Bob:
As I stated, I think you can repair those. That's one of the neat things about solid surface. It's relatively easy to make a blemish or scratch go away by using the intended adhesive and some careful sanding. Speaking of sanding, I know that Keith does his paint fill cleanup by sanding it away, thus he ends up with the requires matte (non-glare) finish. The Hi-Macs I am using, comes with matte on one side and polished on the other. For ADA I use the matte side. Since you didn't have any paint fill, how did you get to a matte finish?

Also, I guess people think I am nuts, but don't knock it until you have tried it. After I paint fill this stuff, I simply take a microfiber cloth and spray WD40 on it. I then proceed to simply rub off the excess paint. No sanding required.

As far as using the Rowmark applique goes, I do that too. However, I make my layout in Corel, apply a piece of applique (I use adhesive back) big enough for your tactile symbols and text to be covered, then simply vector cut it. I use the Epilog recommended settings for laserable plastic, then I just pull and weed out the excess. By the way, that setting is low enough to just kiss cut the applique and it won't even mark the solid surface. So, if you make a boo boo, just pull it off and start again (experience speaking there

[Scott Shepherd]

This is a PDF from Accent Systems..I would say they should know.

Funny, I thought the same thing about the Department of Justice that wrote the code

[Scott Shepherd]

Just called the Department of Justice ADA hotline and spoke to them about it. There is no ADA standard on upper or lower case use of Braille characters and either can be used and is perfectly acceptable according to them.

So take that for whatever it's worth.

[Larry Bratton]

Just called the Department of Justice ADA hotline and spoke to them about it. There is no ADA standard on upper or lower case use of Braille characters and either can be used and is perfectly acceptable according to them.

So take that for whatever it's worth.

Scott:
Did you read the Info PDF I posted? I didn't call the Department of Justice. I just simply used what I consider to be a reliable source for information. So, should we call Accent and say to them...the D of J ADA hotline says you can change your document? Has this changed lately? I believe this information was up to date as the document was created in April of 2007. I will continue to make mine with lower case per the license I have and you continue to make yours per someone on the phone with the U.S. Government. Could you get that in writing from them and post it. Accent has posted that info in writing, so I'll ask them the source of their info and report back.

[Scott Shepherd]

Yes Larry, I did read the document, that's where the confusion came in and why I called the people who wrote the standard for us to follow. You are following a manual written by a private company, not the federal government. The standard you are following is correct, you can make it all lower case. I was simply noting that Bob's sign didn't need to be remade per the DOJ's instructions. If he wants to make it again because he believes the Accent standards trump the ADA standards, that's fine too, but I felt we all share in being educated on what the actual standard is versus what a private company says it is.

It is in writing already, in the ADA standards. In 4.30 of the code, along with in the appendix at A4.30.

My post wasn't to take a shot at you, but rather to post what the federal standards are, not private standards. Also, Accent speak a lot about a California code that's on top of the ADA standard. Perhaps the CA standard does call out for all lower case.

Bottom line, you can make the braille anything you want and it'll pass ADA standards.

[Scott Shepherd]

Here's the section :

4.30.4* Raised and Brailled Characters and Pictorial Symbol Signs (Pictograms). Letters and numerals shall be raised 1/32 in, upper case, sans serif or simple serif type and shall be accompanied with Grade 2 Braille. Raised characters shall be at least 5/8 in (16 mm) high, but no higher than 2 in (50 mm). Pictograms shall be accompanied by the equivalent verbal description placed directly below the pictogram. The border dimension of the pictogram shall be 6 in (152 mm) minimum in height.

A4.30.4 Raised and Brailled Characters and Pictorial Symbol Signs (Pictograms). The standard dimensions for literary Braille are as follows:

Dot diameter .059 in.
Inter-dot spacing .090 in.
Horizontal separation between cells .241 in.
Vertical separation between cells .395 in.

Raised borders around signs containing raised characters may make them confusing to read unless the border is set far away from the characters. Accessible signage with descriptive materials about public buildings, monuments, and objects of cultural interest may not provide sufficiently detailed and meaningful information. Interpretive guides, audio tape devices, or other methods may be more effective in presenting such information.

In the words of the DOJ, the lack of any definition of lower or upper case needing to be used would leave it open to interpretation of the person making the sign. Neither would be wrong, since it is not specified in these sections.

Their words, not mine.

[Larry Bratton]

Scott:
Got to the bottom of what is going on. I talked with tech support at Accent and they are sending backup. Here's the deal.

The use of all lower case is required by Ansi 117.1-2003. This standard has been adopted by almost all the states and many municipalities as building code. It is in fact NOT FEDERAL LAW as of yet. However, Accent says in a short time it will be under the Obama Administrative. So, technically the Dept of Justice can make that statement at this time. However, in my state of SC, they have adopted Ansi 117.1 as the building code. So, enforcement is by state and local authority. He also stated that the sign industry as a whole, uses the Ansi standard to be on the safe side of it.

I'll post what he sends me via e-mail.