A fidget to talk about Braille

The "Braille Peg Cell"

The "Peg Cell" is a small 3d printed objet you can take in hand, on which it is possible to raise or lower 6 small dots. Overall, it's a fidget in the shape of a 6-dot Braille cell, which allows you to create any combination of Braille characters. Obviously, this won't allow you to represent an entire text in Braille. But for explaining the principle of Braille, or using it as an educational tool to learn Braille in a fun and progressive way, it's simply a brilliant and very well-made tool. I tried it with a PETG print, the design is very clever and the whole device is fully printable, so there is no need to source spare parts.

The Braille Peg Cell on Thingiverse

The "Braille cube"

A small cube, slightly larger than a thumb. The cube consists of three plates connected by an M3 screw. These plates can rotate relative to each other. Depending on the position of a plate, you can display 0, 1, or 2 dots. Therefore, with the three plates, you can represent any 6-dot Braille character. An easy upgrade is to add a fourth plate to create 8-dot Braille. The design is simple and effective; the plates are 3D printed. I tested it by printing the plates in PETG with a layer height of 0.12mm, which results in a very smooth and pleasant-to-the-touch object. To assemble the plates, you will need a 20mm M3 screw and an M3 nut. I would recommend a nylock nut to prevent the screw from loosening when handling the plates. With a few additional components, the Braille cube can be transformed into a keychain, making it easy to carry.

The Braille cube on thingiverse

A Braille embossing guide with a stylus

A 3D-printable Braille guide that allows you to manually emboss four lines of Braille using a stylus. It consists of two 3D-printed parts connected by a hinge. Assembling the hinge requires a small metal rod, such as a piece of a paperclip or piano wire.

Once assembled, the guide allows you to emboss Braille onto paper up to A4 width. Small markings on the top section help you position the Braille dots correctly according to standard specifications. The bottom section features small indentations (anvils) corresponding to every possible Braille dot position.

To illustrate how it works, let's say we want to emboss the word "braillerap," which is represented in Braille as "⠃⠗⠁⠊⠇⠇⠑⠗⠁⠏". Place the sheet of paper between the two parts of the guide, checking the alignment against the paper and ensuring the two halves of the guide are aligned with each other. Four small raised pegs facilitate this alignment.

Next, use the stylus to emboss the Braille dots, utilizing the small notches in the Braille cells to position the stylus precisely. Note that you must emboss from right to left, as the paper will need to be flipped over to read the Braille dots. This is indeed the main challenge when embossing Braille text with a manual slate: you have to perform the mental gymnastics of reversing all the Braille dots.

The result is quite satisfactory; while it isn't practical for embossing long texts—high-quality metal slates are certainly easier and more comfortable to use—it is perfect for raising awareness or simply for quick, ad-hoc use when you need to produce a few lines of Braille. You simply need to download the files and find a 3D printer to print them. Naturally, it is released under an open license.

The Braille slate on Printables, including the needed file to make your own