Hey folks, this week we’re making accessibility buttons for the Adafruit PyGamer. These buttons are 3d printed with the braille alphabet so folks can touch and feel the buttons.
We made a full set of these button caps to press fit over the PyGamer switches. They’re are printed flat side down with the stem facing up. All buttons in this kit fit on the bed of the 3D printer and only took a half hour.
The braille alphabet will be printed on little cover pieces and super glued on top. The alphabet consists of dots in a 2 by 3 configuration. These dots are quite small but we were able to fit them on buttons with a diameter of 9mm. Each cover piece has it’s own set of dots so you can pick and place any letter you like.
To remove the parts from the bed, I like to use a razor blade. Just need to carefully get the edge of the blade underneath the part without scratching the bed.
While picking out the covers, it might be a bit tricky to make out the alphabet so I suggest a cheat sheet. so you’ll need to be cautious of the orientation when placing the covers.
Just a small drop of superglue is all it needs to bond to the caps. Once you get them on you can test out the button presses and get a feel for the dots. I think it’s interesting how your well fingertips can sense such fine details like these little dots.
UPDATE August 6 2019
Version 2 is 2mm thinner and includes an updated bottom half with cutouts for female headers.
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