The purpose of this project was to take an existing machine that embossed braille onto business cards and improve/redesign it to better meet the clients needs.
Our improved design was quieter, electrically powered, within budget, and much faster (able to process 2500 cards every 36 minutes). We overcame the problem of double feeding and jamming by integrating torque rollers into the feeder design. Our embossing mechanism was a very mechanical solution that utilized various components such as a crankshaft to deliver the force to the card and two geneva stop mechanisms to synchronize the card feeding and stamping processes. In addition, we considered the ergonomics of the design, including emergency stop buttons and chords, sensors, and audio indicators in order to enable blind users to run the machine safely and with ease.