Building Grade 2 Braille

[Keith Outten]

Attached to this message is a Corel Draw X3 drawing that I just started using to create grade 2 braille for signs. The actual braille layout is derived from using a braille translator program but the program will not produce the font for engraving, it simply provides a graphic representation of the text in grade 2 braille.

Until I can find a suitable grade 2 braille font that is affordable this procedure allows me to save common words I use for commercial signs and quickly copy and paste the braille (converted to curves) into the drawing for engraving. This drawing will be updated frequently, the revision and date will be updated to reflect the latest changes.

Anyone who would like to provide input or make changes to this drawing please feel free to revise the drawing as necessary and post your revision here in this thread.

The tools for adding your own words are included in the drawing. There is a six position braille graph that you can use to drop the large dots provided to create new text. You will need a source for grade 2 braille either a translator or some type of document.

REV 01-05-28-07

[Keith Outten]

3 more words converted.
Rev02_05-29-07

[Scott Shepherd]

Keith, I'll certainly add a few words I have to it when I get a moment. In quickly looking at it, all of it appears to be in lower case, which, if I read the requirements correctly, is incorrect. I believe everything has to be in upper case, which adds the symbols for capital letters in front of what you typed.

I could be mistaken, but from memory, I seem to recall that being the standard.

Good idea and good work!

[Aaron Koehl]

Keith, I'll certainly add a few words I have to it when I get a moment. In quickly looking at it, all of it appears to be in lower case, which, if I read the requirements correctly, is incorrect. I believe everything has to be in upper case, which adds the symbols for capital letters in front of what you typed.

I could be mistaken, but from memory, I seem to recall that being the standard.

Good idea and good work!
I found a great resource on this last Thursday night, and I've been going through it to learn.

I believe the discussion of capital letters and wording is lesson 2. I plan on printing it and researching it thoroughly when I get near a printer.

Library of Congress, Instructional Manual for Braille Transcribing (http://loc.gov/nls/bds/manual/)

[Scott Shepherd]

This is what's making me think it needs to be all capital letters, from the ada.gov manual :


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.



If I'm reading that correctly, all raised letters must be capital, and the braille must match the raised letters. You can't put one thing in caps and one in lowercase, as they wouldn't match.



I could certainly be wrong, but that's the way I've read it on the signs I have done.

[Keith Outten]

Scott,

Raised letters are upper case. Braille is lower case other than the first letter of a sentence, etc. Since these are meant for signs lowercase letters are required.
I will post my source for this information as soon as I get back to my shop.

.

[Keith Outten]

Raised tactile text must be upper case. Text must have a character width (based on the upper-case letter "O") falling between 55% and 110% of the character height (based on the upper-case letter "I"). For visual /tactile text, letters must be 5/8" to 2" high. Raised text shall be a minimum of 1/32" from the sign surface.

Text that is visual only can use any combination of upper and lower case characters.

When adding braille to ADA signs you must use Grade II braille. The new guidelines also specify that braille words be lower case unless the word is the first word of a sentence, a proper noun or name, an individual letter of the alphabet, an initial or an acronym.

The sentence above is a bit vague but I interpret it to mean that only the first letter would be capitalized when a braille font is used and the word is a noun, individual letter of the alphabet, initial or acronym.

.

[Keith Outten]

Scott,

Aaron figured out that you can copy and paste the results from the braille translator to Corel Draw, then you have to convert the weird text table to your braille front, then to 24 point then convert to artistic text.

It works and makes the $19.95 braille translator well worth the money spent :)

If you can't figure out the procedure from my directions above send me your phone number via PM and I will try to explain the procedure.

:)

[Scott Shepherd]

Good find. I tried cutting and pasting when I first opened it, and got the funky word. Didn't think to convert it to the braille font and be done with it. I have a couple I'll add when I get a few minutes at work.

I think I'll give the DOJ a call on their help line and ask for clarification on the capital letters. I'm confused now. I'll let you know what I find out.

I was up at Tyson's Corner this past weekend, went to a restroom in a food court area. Signs everywhere, not a single one ADA compliant. No raised letters and no braille. Cheaters, it's not fair, I tell ya!

[Keith Outten]

Scott,

Look on the bright side, ADA signs are proffitable and it seems there are few who make them properly so there is little competition.

I spent the day yesterday laser cutting text and numbers, and glueing raised text and installing braille balls in door signs. I have stacks of door signs everywhere in various stages of completion. I should have over 450 door signs completed and installed by the end of June before I start the next batch.

.

[Scott Shepherd]

Just got off the phone with the DOJ (or whatever agency answers the phone) and the woman repeatedly told me that the grade 2 braille must be in all capital letters. I asked the question about 3 different ways to make sure she understood that I wasn't asking about the raised letters, I was specifically asking about the braille. She appeared to be very clear on what I was asking, and gave me the same answer each time, it needs to be all capital letters to be compliant, for what's that's worth.

The number to call is : 1-800-514-0301 and once they start talking, press the "7" button. That'll bypass all the menus and send you right to a specialist. Their hours are short. Today they didn't open until 10:30am, and I kept hearing something special about Thursday hours.

If anyone calls and gets a different answer, please let us know.

[Dave Jones]

Did a little search on the web and found a document from Accent Signage which has 2 interesting things in it:

==========

5) Braille Message: All messages to be lower case, and may not directly reflect the style of the tactile letters.

7) In alpha/numeric format, if tactile print reads A324B, in Braille, text should be written: / capital sign / letter / number sign / numerals / letter sign / capital sign / letter. Do not use double capital sign / dot 6 / dot 6.

==========

I would take that to mean that words and phrases are in lower case, but that room numbers or other alpha-numberic text uses upper case. They give an example for left arrow as:

/ “ar” / r / “ow” / space / l / e / f / t /

[Scott Shepherd]

That would be a direct contradiction to what I was told by them. I urge others to call and let's try and make this clear for everyone.

[Keith Outten]

Scott,

The information I posted above was found in an article written by Accent Signage Systems, Inc. I should have quoted the source earlier.

.

[Scott Shepherd]

So who's right, Accent Signs or Department of Justice?

[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.

.

[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.

.

[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?

.

[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.

.

[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.

.

[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:

[Keith Outten]

Joe,

I have found a large number of ADA signs that were fabricated with grade 1 braille. Many are not taking the time to do their homework to get it right. I can't say I'm an expert but Scott and I have been using a Braille Interpreter program that will convert text to grade 2 braille and allow us to cut and paste into Corel, with a couple extra steps it works well and its inexpensive.

Grade 2 braille uses abbreviations for many common words and phrases. Notice the "en" in both men and women which is an abbreviation rather than the grade 1 braille which uses each of the individual letters.

Note that the two signs you posted are like my grade 2 braille interpretation except for the first dot (in the lower right place) which indicates a capital letter is next. Two of the lower dots in succession would indicate all caps follow. Your signs are the same without the capital letter designation. The capital letter is not required by law, it is considered to be good practice by some although many feel that braille should always be lower case which is probably the better option. I shouldn't have used the capital designator.

Tactile text is always all upper case using a sans serif font.

Make sure that when you select your font size that the spacing meets the ADA requirements. The distance between each dot horizontally and vertically is specified in the ADA specs and is critical.

.

[Scott Shepherd]

Here's an extra of a sign I've done recently. It's 1" thick overall, with elements varying in thickness from 1/2" to 1/8" thick, and it a 3D type sign. I didn't design it, so I had to stick with the way they had it. I'd guess that it's probably not technically ADA compliant, but when they picked this style sign (designed by a professional architectural firm) they didn't leave much room to lay things out properly.

Aside from all of that, here's the sign.

[Joe Pelonio]

Scott,

It looks good. I suspect that a good percentage of the ADA signs out there do not meet the guidelines 100%. On the other hand, not many are actually used by the blind. I just did some for a theater, and he told me he's never seen a blind person go to see a movie.

Here's another question. Does it matter if the braille dots are clear? I see most of the posted examples are, but in this last case, I inserted them prior to
spraying the clear non-glare acrylic on the back. That makes the dots sort of a lighter version of the background color.

[Scott Shepherd]

Hi Joe, I don't believe the dots color matters. I don't recall ever seeing that subject. The raised lettering is a visual/tacile aid, where as the dots are pure tactile, so I don't think it matters. The regulation specifies that it has to be directly under the text, so I'm sure anyone using it would be accustomed to touching under the raised letters.

If that's wrong, someone please correct me. I do also believe that the people who sell the RasterBall product sell it in white, clear, and one other color.

[Andy Rentsch]

After getting gouged pretty good on the last couple of custom braille sign orders, I've decided it's time to try these in-house. I've read through this entire thread and found many good tips. I have no problem creating the raised letters with our laser engraver using a rowmark applique on top of 1/16" acrylic, however, I have not had the same luck press-fitting the acrylic balls into the rastered holes. I have adjusted the depth and diameter of these holes to no avail. They just wont stay in.

What am I missing here?

[Joe Pelonio]

It's a matter of exact size for the hole. I have not been able to do it with rastoring except by using adhesive, but when I vector cut the holes they seem to fit nicely at 22 points which comes out to .054.

[Andy Rentsch]

It's a matter of exact size for the hole. I have not been able to do it with rastoring except by using adhesive, but when I vector cut the holes they seem to fit nicely at 22 points which comes out to .054.


Do you vector cut a hole all the way through the material? If so, how do you control the depth of the braille ball?