[Blindmath] great question...Re: Economical tactile graphics - Microcapsule or Swell Paper in a microwave oven?

Wed Aug 10 17:28:14 UTC 2011

Great question.

All it takes is a seed to cause a fertile mind to start growing ideas.

Dick Baldwin

On Wed, Aug 10, 2011 at 12:13 PM, Amanda Lacy <lacy925 at gmail.com> wrote:

> What would happen if you left one of those sheets out in the sun? There's
> plenty of that right now in TX.
>
> Amanda
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Richard Baldwin" <
> baldwin at dickbaldwin.com>
> To: <john.gardner at orst.edu>; "Blind Math list for those interested in
> mathematics" <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2011 11:56 AM
>
> Subject: Re: [Blindmath] great question...Re: Economical tactile graphics -
> Microcapsule or Swell Paper in a microwave oven?
>
>
>  Hi John, welcome back to this side of the Atlantic.
>>
>> Now if you could just figure out how to package the Tiger in a
>> price/weight/size/power range of a low-cost HP Laptop, everyone could have
>> economical access to your IVEO Learning System. Well maybe asking for
>> battery power is asking a little too much...<grin>
>>
>> Dick Baldwin
>>
>> On Wed, Aug 10, 2011 at 11:40 AM, John Gardner <john.gardner at orst.edu
>> >wrote:
>>
>>  Richard, the trick to swell paper is the differential absorption of IR
>>> light
>>> by the dark and light regions.  This is critical.  In fact, many printers
>>> will not give adequate copy - they must print with certain black inks
>>> that
>>> have an absorption band in the right region, and many black inks
>>> apparently
>>> do not.  So no heat source that does not flood the paper with IR light is
>>> gonna work.  Sorry.
>>>
>>> One can imagine a home-made system employing an IR heat lamp, which can
>>> be
>>> purchased for a few dollars.  I know that this has been tried by various
>>> tinkerers, but it has not been made to work, because nobody can figure
>>> out
>>> how to expose the full page to more or less uniform radiation of the
>>> correct
>>> intensity from a single lamp or even several such lamps.  Moreover, one
>>> has
>>> to be pretty careful not to get some portion of the paper too hot - if
>>> you
>>> do, it catches fire.  Some of the less expensive swell paper "toasters"
>>> have
>>> had an unfortunate tendency to catch fire.  As far as I know, none of
>>> these
>>> are still on the market.
>>>
>>> Commercial swell paper toasters use an IR heat bar wide enough to cover
>>> the
>>> full width of the paper.  The radiation dose is controlled by the speed
>>> of
>>> movement, and one finds the right speed by trial and error.  Swell paper
>>> is
>>> notoriously non-reproducible to manufacture, and one often needs a bit of
>>> trial and error for every new batch of paper.  Maybe modern papers are
>>> more
>>> uniform than they once were though.
>>>
>>> With practice one can learn to make pretty good swell paper graphics but
>>> it
>>> is not trivial.  I never could make reliable swell paper tactiles - which
>>> was one of the motivating forces to our invention of Tiger embossing
>>> technology!
>>>
>>> John
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindmath-bounces@**
>>> nfbnet.org <blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org>]
>>> On
>>> Behalf Of Richard Baldwin
>>> Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2011 9:06 AM
>>> To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
>>> Subject: Re: [Blindmath] great question...Re: Economical tactile graphics
>>> -
>>> Microcapsule or Swell Paper in a microwave oven?
>>>
>>> I just had another thought while communicating with another individual on
>>> this topic.
>>>
>>> My wife has a laminating machine that she uses to fuse documents between
>>> two
>>> sheets of plastic with heat. I don't know how much she paid for it, but a
>>> quick Google search shows laminating machines in the price range of $50
>>> and
>>> up. I'm guessing that the price increases with the size of the documents
>>> that the machine can accommodate and perhaps the amount of control that
>>> the
>>> user has over the fusing temperature.
>>>
>>> I wonder if such a laminating machine could be used to toast the Swell
>>> Paper
>>> at a price tag substantially less than $1500.
>>>
>>> I would like to be able to produce medium quality tactile graphics in my
>>> office at a cost that competes with the cost of a cheap ink-squirt
>>> printer
>>> (exclusive of the cost of paper).
>>>
>>> While the cost of Swell Paper will never compete with the cost of
>>> ordinary
>>> printer paper, a huge increase in demand might bring the cost of Swell
>>> Paper
>>> down to less than $1.00 per sheet.
>>>
>>> Among its other advantages, the availability of convenient and low-cost
>>> tactile graphics would open the door to the use of the IVEO Learning
>>> System
>>> for tens of thousands of blind students who have no access to a Tiger
>>> embossing machine. Lots of students and organizations that can't afford a
>>> Tiger embossing machine could afford an IVEO touchpad to use with the
>>> free
>>> IVEO Viewer software and a computer that they already own. (I have
>>> successfully used the IVEO Viewer software with an old but small Wacom
>>> digitizer pad with a USB interface and a stylus.)
>>>
>>> While the quality of Swell Paper may not be close to the quality of the
>>> Tiger output, the quality my be good enough to be used as a finger guide
>>> on
>>> an IVEO touchpad. If so, the detailed information could be embedded in
>>> the
>>> low-cost end of the process, which is to provide voice annotation in the
>>> SVG
>>> file, instead of needing to embed it in the high-cost end of the process,
>>> which is embossing the tactile graphic image.
>>>
>>> I believe that once a large database of IVEO users is established, the
>>> folks
>>> at ViewPlus could develop and sell an enhanced Viewer software package
>>> that
>>> would contains many useful features that may not even have been thought
>>> of
>>> yet, along with an enhanced IVEO Creator package to support those
>>> features.
>>> That is one end of the scenario.
>>>
>>> At the other end, an individual blind student who is willing to learn to
>>> draw using SVG could create IVEO-compatible SVG files with little more
>>> than
>>> a text editor and an idea.
>>>
>>> It all hinges on making it possible for everyone involved to conveniently
>>> and economically create tactile graphics. In my opinion, that is one key
>>> to
>>> the future of STEM education for blind students.
>>>
>>> End of sermon
>>>
>>> Dick Baldwin
>>>
>>> On Wed, Aug 10, 2011 at 10:28 AM, kelly marts
>>> <kellyvision at sbcglobal.net>**wrote:
>>>
>>> > Mr. Baldwin,
>>> > I find this to be a question that has bothered me in the past year. I >
>>> am
>>> a
>>> > teacher of the visually impaired working in public schools. I have the
>>> > luxury of
>>> > working with skilled braillists that have the task of making our >
>>> tactile
>>> > graphics.
>>> >
>>> > We are using a Tiger system as well as swell paper. The cost of the >
>>> swell
>>> > paper
>>> > is under 2 dollars per page. The cost of sheet fed braille paper is, >
>>> I'm
>>> > guessing, 5 cents per sheet.
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > The swell paper requires a 1500 dollar machine to toast the paper
>>> > and computer
>>> > systems and graphics software that are readily available. The Tiger
>>> system
>>> > has a
>>> > 6000 to 10000 dollar cost initially. Training is provided. Again, the
>>> > computer
>>> > systems to generate the graphics are readily available.
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > We use both. Which we use depends on the graphic and the experience of
>>> the
>>> > braillist. I perfer the Tiger graphics for math and science materials >
>>> in
>>> > high
>>> > school.
>>> >
>>> > This doesn't answer your question. I want to do a cost anaylsis though.
>>> > Made me think.
>>> > K
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > ______________________________**__
>>> > From: Richard Baldwin <baldwin at dickbaldwin.com>
>>> > To: BlindMath Mailing List <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
>>> > Sent: Wed, August 10, 2011 10:02:52 AM
>>> > Subject: [Blindmath] Economical tactile graphics - Microcapsule or >
>>> Swell
>>> > Paper
>>> > in a microwave oven?
>>> >
>>> > I keep thinking that one of the big needs in teaching STEM courses to
>>> blind
>>> > students is the need to quickly, easily, and economically create >
>>> tactile
>>> > graphics from printed graphs and images.
>>> >
>>> > I have read about using Microcapsule or Swell Paper, which seems like a
>>> > reasonable approach except that the heating devices are relatively
>>> > expensive
>>> > (more than the cost of an HP laptop) and not portable.
>>> >
>>> > Every teacher's lounge in K-12 and every student lounge in college has
>>> > a
>>> > microwave oven. Many faculty members have a microwave oven in their
>>> office.
>>> > Has anyone tried heating a printed piece of swell paper in a microwave
>>> oven
>>> > to see how it reacts?  If it doesn't react well by itself, would it >
>>> help
>>> to
>>> > sandwich it between two pieces of the silver crisping cardboard that
>>> comes
>>> > with frozen pizza? Or how about sandwiching it between two of the
>>> > gel-filled
>>> > pads that are designed to be heated in a microwave oven and then >
>>> applied
>>> to
>>> > sore joints? That would tend to provide a more uniform heat to the
>>> surface
>>> > of the paper. I have been unable to find any specifications regarding >
>>> the
>>> > temperature requirements for causing the microcapsules to swell.
>>> >
>>> > What can we do to dramatically improve the availability of custom-made
>>> > tactile graphics?
>>> >
>>> > Is there a group or list that concentrates on such issues.  I found a
>>> list
>>> > named Adapted Graphics for the blind and visually impaired (Adapted
>>> > Graphics) but I was unable to navigate the interface to get registered,
>>> and
>>> > in any event, there didn't appear to be any recent posts in the >
>>> archives?
>>> >
>>> > Dick Baldwin
>>> >
>>> > --
>>> > Richard G. Baldwin (Dick Baldwin)
>>> > Home of Baldwin's on-line Java Tutorials
>>> > http://www.DickBaldwin.com
>>> >
>>> > Professor of Computer Information Technology
>>> > Austin Community College
>>> > (512) 223-4758
>>> > mailto:Baldwin at DickBaldwin.com
>>> > http://www.austincc.edu/**baldwin/ <http://www.austincc.edu/baldwin/>
>>> > ______________________________**_________________
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>>> global.net
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>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Richard G. Baldwin (Dick Baldwin)
>>> Home of Baldwin's on-line Java Tutorials
>>> http://www.DickBaldwin.com
>>>
>>> Professor of Computer Information Technology
>>> Austin Community College
>>> (512) 223-4758
>>> mailto:Baldwin at DickBaldwin.com
>>> http://www.austincc.edu/**baldwin/ <http://www.austincc.edu/baldwin/>
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>>
>>
>> --
>> Richard G. Baldwin (Dick Baldwin)
>> Home of Baldwin's on-line Java Tutorials
>> http://www.DickBaldwin.com
>>
>> Professor of Computer Information Technology
>> Austin Community College
>> (512) 223-4758
>> mailto:Baldwin at DickBaldwin.com
>> http://www.austincc.edu/**baldwin/ <http://www.austincc.edu/baldwin/>
>> ______________________________**_________________
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>>
>
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-- 
Richard G. Baldwin (Dick Baldwin)
Home of Baldwin's on-line Java Tutorials
http://www.DickBaldwin.com

Professor of Computer Information Technology
Austin Community College
(512) 223-4758
mailto:Baldwin at DickBaldwin.com
http://www.austincc.edu/baldwin/