[blindkid] Affordable brailling options

Wed Jul 21 03:24:10 UTC 2010

I feel compelled to toss in a word of caution from a parent who is  
still fairly new to braille's perspective--

There are absolutely some deals to be had on used embossers on ebay--  
I have found (and bought) some of them, but it is absolutely a buyer  
beware sort of situation.

When a $200 used Romeo breaks, Enabling will probably charge at least  
$1200 to rework it (their figure, not mine-- I asked them for a  
typical repair cost with no major problems on a Romeo). If a used  
printer with no manual has the some of the dip switches in the wrong  
positions, you can be delayed and frustrated at best, while you search  
for the switch functions. If you think the switches are wrong but the  
printer is actually DOA, it may take you a really long time to figure  
that one out. Remember proficient Braille readers, some of us who are  
new to braille have to check dot-by-dot to see if we are embossing  
what we think we are so testing can be VERY tedious. If a line width  
is chopping off characters for example, that may not be terribly  
obvious to some of us.

If you needed a USB printer but ended up with an old serial/parallel  
solution, there may be a need to adapt things-- more time, money, and  
frustration. Even if you track down free or low-cost translation  
software, Braille embossers just aren't like the plug-and-play ink jet  
& laser printers many of us have come to expect in the sighted-print  
world.

The bottom line is if you're not paying for a warranty and support,  
you may find that a $200 embosser quickly becomes a $200 (or more)  
lesson in frustration, but if you like to gamble it might also get you  
up-and-running for a couple thousand dollars less than buying new  
equipment.

Personally, I do tend to gamble on things like this in many cases but  
sometimes it costs me money. In any case, to get up-and-running  
quickly, I'd most likely put finding any sort of embosser on my list  
well below borrowing the use of one with a more experienced braille  
producer or having someone more used to doing this with Braille label  
sheets help you on a Perkins for now. I'd also seek all the ready made  
solutions I could find, especially the free ones before any of the  
above-- there are quite a few of them out there.

Remember to see Carol's link for some of those:

http://www.nfb.org/nfb/NOPBC_Braille_Storybooks.asp?SnID=2

That's my two cents' worth...

Richard

On Jul 20, 2010, at 9:32 PM, Brandy W wrote:

> Tractor feed braille label is actually cheaper than the thicker kind  
> with out the tractor feed. You can often find good priced embossers  
> from ebay. I'd recomend you type the material and find someone  
> willing to emboss it for you if you provide the braille label. You  
> can buy 50 sheets for about $30 from American Thermoform. For  
> example several people have sent me documents and the braille lable.  
> I then emboss for them and send it to them for them to cut and  
> stick. I don't mind doing it for you either when my embosser comes  
> back. My port on the back isn't working right. So in the mean time  
> is there a TVI who would emboss it for you if you provided the  
> label? Or maybe an NFB memeber who has a personal embosser?
>
> Just some ideas,
>
> Bran
>
> "Families that play together learn together!"
> Brandy Wojcik
> Discovery Toys Educational Leader
> Check out our new spring line perfect for spring time learning and  
> Easter baskets and more...
> www.playtoachieve.com
> (512) 689-5045
>
> Discovery Toys wants to be a part of your family's learning success  
> and here are a few ways we can help:
> * Join my team and recieve 18 award winning products for $125
> * Host a fun get together with friends and earn free Educational  
> products,
> * Purchase award winning educational materials on my webpage,
> * Purchase or get free gift baskets for children of all ages
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Richard Holloway" <rholloway at gopbc.org 
> >
> To: <empwrn at bellsouth.net>; "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for  
> parents of blind children)" <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, July 20, 2010 7:55 PM
> Subject: Re: [blindkid] Affordable brailling options
>
>
>> That is exactly what an embosser is-- a "braille printer", but  
>> unfortunately, "faster" and "affordable" are generally not in the  
>> same category. A good low-end embosser (new) is in generally in the  
>> $2500 range and that will also require Duxbury or some similar  
>> translation software if you're going to want to produce contracted  
>> braille. That  will add $600 to $1000. There are used options for  
>> the hardware, but  if you're new to this there may be support and/ 
>> or repair issues and  repairs can easily be $1000+ for some of  
>> these units. Also, these are  generally tractor-fed devices so you  
>> can't easily run sheets of  adhesive material through them with  
>> ease-- assuming you want to stick  clear braille over the pages. I  
>> expect you can get tractor material  for that but it is probably  
>> not cheap and probably comes in good sized  boxes (expensive) and  
>> you'd have a good deal of waste with it as well  from feeding in &  
>> out to tear off the work as you go...
>>
>> The above may not be terribly helpful as I'm telling you what  
>> won't  work cheaply, as opposed to what will, but I think generally  
>> if you  want to add braille to children's books, the fix is dymo  
>> labels or  sheets of that clear material in a Perkins, so you  
>> already have the  preferred solution, it is just a bit of a hassle  
>> and somewhat slow. Is  there a local person who is faster with  
>> braille who might be able to  sit down with you for a book- 
>> brailling session once in a while? Maybe  someone from a local NFB  
>> chapter, for example if not through the  county or school system?  
>> And of course there are already multiple  sourced for pre-made  
>> books. Short-term, you could buy a lot of braille  books for much  
>> less than an embosser and the required software...
>>
>> Richard
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Jul 20, 2010, at 8:26 PM, Marie wrote:
>>
>>> Hello everyone, can y'all give me some ideas for affordable  
>>> options  for brailling some of our favorite books at home. I have  
>>> a borrowed  Perkins brailler but am quite slow currently. I also  
>>> have a labeler  which is faster but the strips are a bit awkward  
>>> when I am trying to  fit them on the book pages. Jack has recently  
>>> become more interested  in those dots and books in general. I have  
>>> been modeling sweeping my  fingers as I read and I am very  
>>> delighted to report that I found him  "reading" one of his  
>>> favorite books to himself and he was sweeping  his hands across  
>>> the page!!! Unfortunately it was in a book that I  have yet to  
>>> braille. I would love to know if there is an affordable  option  
>>> for printing up braille quickly at home. I was thinking of  maybe  
>>> something that I could hook to my computer? Is that what an   
>>> embosser is? It would be a whole lot faster if I could type the  
>>> text  and then have something "print" the Braille for me. Is such   
>>> technology available and affordable for home use?
>>>
>>> Yes I do plan on practicing more with the Brailler but until  
>>> then....
>>>
>>> Marie (mother of Jack born May 2005)
>>> See glimpses of life with my determined son who is developing in  
>>> his  own way at his own time at http://allaccesspasstojack.blogspot.com
>>> Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> blindkid mailing list
>>> blindkid at nfbnet.org
>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindkid_nfbnet.org
>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info   
>>> for blindkid:
>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindkid_nfbnet.org/rholloway%40gopbc.org
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> blindkid mailing list
>> blindkid at nfbnet.org
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindkid_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info  
>> for blindkid:
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindkid_nfbnet.org/branlw%40sbcglobal.net
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> blindkid mailing list
> blindkid at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindkid_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info  
> for blindkid:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindkid_nfbnet.org/rholloway%40gopbc.org