Braille Compact Printing Press

Here is an ultra compact version I tested. I set the openscad file to standard library size braille which works well, but a couple of easily avoidable issues arose. Firstly I set the tolerance too low. I thought 0.2 mm would be fine for my printer, but the pieces fit too tight. Secondly I made the depth for the tiles too low and they become too fiddly. I would recommend to anyone making these that they print a 2 cell wide test print with at least a 3mm cell thickness, and share there findings for others to get the best results.

File is uploaded in the files section. If you want a file made with any particular dimensions and can't get on with openscad, just ask.

On the file just place a "!" at the start of a piece you want to save and export stl in openscad.

From top to bottom.
Full line spacer bar, cell space, single dot, and double dot.
Frame (10 line by 20 cells in this example)
Drawer
Sleeve for just frame
Sleeve for frame and parts drawer

With this seeming so popular, i thought I should get to work on the nest version.

I am in the process of moving this design from the inkscape/123d process I was using before to fully parametric Openscad. I haven't inserted the correct braille specs in yet, but this will be easy to adjust. When done it will take just changing a few variables at the top to change between standard/large print as well as being able to specify how many cells wide and how may lines you need. I am also adding optional slip case and drawer. As well as the code I will release a couple of printable STL files based on popular suggestions for the less technical. I also added a variable for your printers tolerance so everything will fit snugly and not waste filament on bad prints.

Here is my code so far....

// frame size
lines=8;
cellsWide=12;
drawer=true;

// measurments
framethickness=3;//border
basethickness=1;//x axis
cellthickness=3;//x axis
cellheight=5;
cellwidth=6;
linespace=2;//space between lines
tolerence=0.3;
dotheight=0.6;
dotdiameter=1;
dotdistancex=2;

// parts
resize(newsize=[(((cellsWide*cellwidth)+(framethickness*basethickness))/(cellsWide*cellwidth))*((cellsWide*cellwidth)+tolerence),(framethickness*2)+(lines*cellheight)+((lines-1)*linespace)*(((lines*cellheight)+(tolerence*lines))/(lines*cellheight)),framethickness+basethickness]) frame();
sleve();
drawer();
translate([0,0,cellthickness+basethickness+10]) fullbar();
translate([0,cellheight+10,cellthickness+basethickness+10]) blankcell();
translate([cellwidth+10,cellheight+10,cellthickness+basethickness+10]) onedot();
translate([(cellwidth*2)+20,cellheight+10,cellthickness+basethickness+10]) twodots();


module frame(){
    module barrepeat(num) {
   for (i = [0 : num-1])
     translate([ 0, i*(cellheight+linespace), 0 ]) children(0);
}
   module notches(){
        module notchrepeat(num2) {
   for (i2 = [0 : num2-1])
     translate([ 0, (i2*(cellheight/3)), 0 ]) children(0);
    }
    notchrepeat(3) rotate([0,90,0]) cylinder(cellwidth*cellsWide,dotdiameter/2,dotdiameter/2);
}
    
    difference() {
    cube([(framethickness*2)+(cellsWide*cellwidth),(framethickness*2)+(lines*cellheight)+((lines-1)*linespace),basethickness+cellthickness]);
        
translate([framethickness,framethickness,basethickness]) {
barrepeat(lines) fullbar(); 
}

translate([framethickness,framethickness+((cellheight/3)/2),basethickness]) {
    barrepeat(lines) notches(); 
        
}}}
module sleve(){
}
module drawer(){
}
module fullbar(){
    cube([cellsWide*cellwidth,cellheight,cellthickness]);
}
module onedot(){
    cube([cellwidth,cellheight/3,cellthickness]);
    translate([(cellwidth-dotdistancex)/2,cellheight/3/2,cellthickness]){
    cylinder(dotheight,dotdiameter/2,dotdiameter/2);
}}
module twodots(){
    cube([cellwidth,cellheight/3,cellthickness]);
    translate([(cellwidth-dotdistancex)/2,cellheight/3/2,cellthickness]){
    cylinder(dotheight,dotdiameter/2,dotdiameter/2);
    translate([dotdistancex,0,0]){
        cylinder(dotheight,dotdiameter/2,dotdiameter/2);
}}}
module blankcell(){
    cube([cellwidth,cellheight,cellthickness]);
}