3d prints for blind in Prowadnica Foundation  

3d prints for blind in Prowadnica Foundation

Hello!I was wondering whether it's worth writing about this on the forums, but I guess I'll brag a little, because, at least I hope, there is something to brag about. 😀

We run a foundation in Poland called "Prowadnica Foundation". Its aim is to support blind people, and we ourselves, all members of the Board, are such people.There are many organisations helping visualy impaired by training guide dogs, organising the teaching of everyday activities and so on, besides, we decided to look around at how modern technology can help the blind. I am a programmer and have already developed many applications for blind people since 2013. That many of them developed more and more, the need for a legal personality arose, and this is the history of the organisation in a nutshell.Of course, in addition to technical solutions, we are also active in several other fields, including training, but in this case, however, the technological activity is the most important. 🙂

When you look for 3d printing for the blind, you will find a lot of information on the subject. Many universities have conducted research, various companies have done various projects, but there is not, at least in Poland, a single organisation that seriously deals with this issue.

3D printing in terms of blind people is a shot in the arm. There are various games or aids for the blind, but their prices are prohibitive. We decided to see what could be done about it.We bought our first 3d printer in October 2021, so I only have 14 months' experience in the subject of 3d printing, but I believe that we have nevertheless achieved a little, or even not only a little. 😉

First on the agenda were the door signages with Braille letters. The cost of making such signages was very high, and we thought that FDM might make it possible to make them much more cheaply. And, indeed, the prices turned out to be incomparably lower than engraving or UV overprinting used before.The signages made by us are already in use in more than a dozen places in Poland.

Then came the time for museum models, educational tools (rulers, protractors) and, finally, board games: we designed Reversi, Scrabble, among others.

It turns out that 3d printing can significantly reduce costs of products designed for the blind, as the demand for them is low and generates high costs in traditional production. The Foundation currently has two I3 MK3S+ 3d printers, including one with MMU2S. We are very short of equipment in the face of demand, but we are doing what we can and hopefully doing good and useful work.

And by the way, it turned out that a blind person can both design and print a 3d model by themselves, and even already my fingers don't get burned as often as in the beginning. :DAll it takes is imagination and OpenScad, which is a saviour!

If anyone is interested in this topic, I would be very happy to expand on it.

I attach some photos of our products.

With the hope that the topic will turn out to be somehow interesting and not suitable only for the trash, I enclose cordial greetings.

Dawid Pieper