3D STL Preview — Interactive preview only (drag to rotate, scroll to zoom)
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To interact with the 3D preview: Use mouse drag to rotate, mouse wheel to zoom. Touch users: one finger to rotate, pinch to zoom. Keyboard users: the visual preview is supplementary; generated STL files contain the same geometry.
Help & Guide
Choosing What to Include
The most important decision: Braille takes far more space than print. You cannot include everything — you must prioritize.
BANA wrote this guidance for business cards, and business cards are what this tool's cylinders emboss: each braille row on the cylinders becomes one line on the card, so the same space limits and priorities apply.
The Core Question
"Can someone identify me and contact me with just this information?"
If yes, you have enough. If no, add the minimum needed — nothing more.
Space (BANA, verbatim)
"The typical business card stock used in the United States and Canada can accommodate 4 lines of braille with 13 or 14 cells each, depending on the equipment used to produce the cards. One strategy that can help is to use the fold-over style of business card stock that effectively doubles the writing surface of the card. In any event, there is usually far more print on the card than will fit in braille no matter how it is produced."
What BANA lists as candidate elements
BANA lists nine elements typically found on a print card; expect most to be cut:
name
job title
organization/company
mailing address
phone
fax
cell
e-mail address
website
"There may be other elements as well, but those will almost certainly have to be omitted."
BANA's typical four-line layout
first line: name
second line: organization/company
third line: phone number
fourth line: e-mail address
"The format of these lines should be planned considering the entire card, not just one line at a time."
If the name does not fit (BANA, verbatim)
"In most cases, the person's name is essential. If the name will not fit on a 13- or 14-cell line, one option is to remove the capital indicators. If it still does not fit, remove the middle initial, if there is one. If it still will not fit, use an initial for the person's first name. Another option, if space is available, is to continue the person's name onto a second braille line beginning in cell 1."
If the organization name is too long (BANA, verbatim)
"Some indication of the name of the organization or company is usually desirable on a business card. However, this may be omitted, especially if the e-mail or web address contains the name of the company or organization. Other strategies, such as removing capital indicators, may also be used as needed. In the case of an organization or company name, abbreviating words such as 'lib' for 'library,' 'amer' for 'American,' or 'nat' for 'National' can work well."
BANA names only lib, amer, and nat by example. Use them as a pattern, not an exhaustive list.
BANA's general principles
"Follow The Rules of Unified English Braille."
"Work with a UEB-certified transcriber."
"Have a conversation with the owner of the business card so that they may decide which information is most important to convey."
"When information needs to be pared down to fit within the available space, offer the client suggestions so that they can make an informed decision."
Source: Quoted verbatim from the BANA Business Cards Fact Sheet (approved March 2024). The PDF is the authoritative source.
Embosser Setup Guide
The Embosser setup item at the top of the page has three either/or choices. Together they pick which of the four released embosser projects your cylinders are made for.
The four projects
Setup
What you get
Version 1, Standard gears
The most accurate braille dots. The drive gears print separately and are pushed onto each cylinder. Not blind-user friendly: the row markers are visual letters and triangles.
Version 1, Simplified gears
The same cylinders with the gears fixed on as one piece, so there are fewer parts to assemble. Each cylinder prints much longer and dots fail more often.
Version 2, Standard gears
Tactile row markers a blind user can feel, keyed gear pegs that fit only their own hole, and a simpler assembly. The gears print separately.
Version 2, Simplified gears
Version 2 with the gears fixed on as one piece: the simplest assembly, the longest print, and the highest chance of a failed dot.
Double-sided cards
Choosing Double-sided makes a matched pair of cylinders that emboss both faces of the card in one pass. It opens the Back of Card section and uses the tactile row markers, which both cylinders of a pair need. It works with every version and gear choice.
First: Decide . Cylinder space is limited just like cards.
The two cylinders are the rollers of the braille card embosser. Cylinder A (the embossing plate) carries the raised dots and Cylinder B (the counter plate) carries the matching recesses. The card is embossed as it passes between them.
Key Cylinder Parameters
Parameter
What It Controls
Cylinder Diameter
The roller's outside diameter in mm. The Card Thickness presets set 30.8 mm, the size the embosser was built for.
Cylinder Height
The roller's length in mm: 52 for Version 1, and 54 for Version 2, which adds a 1 mm card shelf at each end.
Polygonal Cutout
Version 1 with Standard gears only: the shaped hole through the cylinder, set by its radius and number of points. The presets set both. Version 2 and Simplified-gear cylinders do not use it.
Seam Offset
Version 1 only: turns the polygonal cutout around the cylinder's axis, in degrees. The braille does not move.
Text Capacity
Each row holds a fixed number of braille cells:
By default, each row holds 13 braille cells of text. In the Visual markers style, 2 more cells are reserved for the indicator letter and the triangle alignment indicator; with indicator letters turned off, up to 14 cells are available — the alignment triangles are always included. The Tactile seam arrow style reserves no marker cells, but 13 text cells is the most that fits a 90 mm card measured from the alignment arrow.
Cells are spaced 6.5mm apart, so the default 13-cell layout needs about 91mm of circumference — the default 30.8mm-diameter cylinder (about 96.8mm around) fits it with room for the seam gap.
A larger diameter gives more circumference, which adds margin around the seam rather than more cells per row.
In the Tactile seam arrow style, the 0.4mm card thickness preset places one arrow per row and the 0.3mm preset places three evenly spaced arrows, so you can feel which preset a cylinder was made for — and a 0.3mm cylinder will not nest with a 0.4mm one.
Tips for Best Results
Print orientation: Print cylinders standing upright for best dot quality
Simplified-gear rollers: print with the bottom gear on the build plate and supports off. They lift off the embosser's peg without a vacuum.
Seam placement: Leave your slicer's seam mode on Aligned; the seam channel does the rest
Slicer seam: Every cylinder carries a shallow seam channel where slicers hide the layer seam: beside the row markers in Visual mode, down the alignment-arrow column in Tactile mode. No seam painting is needed. Turn it off in Expert Mode if you want a plain surface.
Before you begin: Decide what information to include using the guide. The tool cannot help you if you try to include too much.
Step-by-Step
Enter your text in the "Enter Text for Braille Translation" area. Use only the essential information you've selected.
Set Placement Mode to "Auto Placement" (handles line wrapping automatically).
Check the braille: press Translate to Braille ↓ under the text box. The braille appears in the Braille (Unicode) box below, where you can edit individual cells.
Generate the STL: press Generate STL in the bar pinned at the bottom of this panel — it stays in view no matter how far you scroll. It builds both cylinders; review them in the 3D preview.
Download:Download STL saves one file with both cylinders, spaced for one print plate. For a single cylinder, choose it under Expert Mode, Cylinders to Generate.
The Two Translate Buttons
The text box and the Braille (Unicode) box translate in both directions:
Translate to Braille ↓ fills the braille box from the text above it.
Translate to Text ↑ reads pasted braille back into English, so you can check braille that came from somewhere else.
Whenever the braille box has content, those exact cells are what get embossed. Generate STL also fills the box with the braille it embosses. Until you edit the box, it empties itself when you change the text or a translation setting; once you have edited it, clear it yourself to go back to translating the text above.
Typing or Pasting Braille
Two more tools sit beside each braille box, for when you already know the braille you want:
Six-key entry, the checkbox above the box, lets you type braille as on a Perkins brailler: hold the keys of one cell together and let go. f, d and s are dots 1, 2 and 3; j, k and l are dots 4, 5 and 6; Space makes a blank cell. It is off each time the page opens.
Convert braille ASCII, beside Translate to Text, turns braille ASCII (as a BRF file or a braille keyboard program writes it) into braille cells in the box. Paste it in, then press the button.
File Names
Downloads are named from the cylinders, the selected card thickness ({preset}) and the first word of your text ({name}):
Cylinder_Pair_{preset}_{name}.stl holds both cylinders. This is the default.
Embossing_Cylinder_{preset}_{name}.stl or Counter_Cylinder_{preset}_{name}.stl holds the one cylinder chosen under Cylinders to Generate. For a double-sided card they are Cylinder_A_{preset}_{name}.stl and Cylinder_B_{preset}_{name}.stl.
Geared_ and then V2_ are added before the preset for Simplified gears and for Version 2, for example Cylinder_Pair_Geared_V2_0.4_jane.stl.
Paste braille with no text and the name is back-translated from the braille for you.
Current Availability
The tool makes cylinders only: the two rollers of the braille card embosser chosen under Embosser setup.
Key Settings
Setting
Recommendation
Placement Mode
Auto Placement (handles wrapping)
Row Indicator Style
Visual markers (the Version 1 default) or Tactile seam arrow (the Version 2 default, and always used for double-sided cards). Tactile frees the marker cells and gives a blind user a touch alignment point. Under Row Indicator Style in Expert Mode
Capitalized Letters
Enabled (default); disable it under Translation Options in Expert Mode to save one cell per capital, which is BANA's first suggestion when a name will not fit
Number Signs
One number sign per number (default) — standard UEB; choose the repeating option only to match non-standard online translators. Also under Translation Options
Language
English (UEB) contracted, grade 2 (default) — what BANA's Business Cards Fact Sheet uses, and it fits more into each row
Formatting Your Content
Once you've decided , format it to maximize space efficiency. The rule statements below are quoted verbatim from BANA's March 2024 Fact Sheet.
Phone Numbers (BANA, verbatim)
"If the telephone number has no extension, then it can be brailled as follows: #123.456.7890. Omit extra characters such as parentheses. Convert the hyphens to periods to retain the natural sub-units of the phone number. This will maintain the ease of readability, while eliminating the need to repeat numeric indicators. Do not remove the numeric indicator unless absolutely necessary."
In this app: type 123.456.7890 (no parentheses, periods between groups). The numeric indicator is added by the translator.
Why only one number sign? In Unified English Braille, a period (or comma) inside a number keeps "numeric mode" active, so the digits after it do not need another number sign (⠼). For example, 206.616.7678 translates to ⠼⠃⠚⠋⠲⠋⠁⠋⠲⠛⠋⠛⠓ — exactly 13 braille cells, which fits a default row. This is correct UEB, matching BANA's guidance above. The Computer shorthand in the translation preview reflects this: digits after each period stay digits (2 0 6 . 6 1 6 . 7 6 7 8).
Why hyphens and parentheses give you three number signs. UEB numeric mode survives a period or comma, but a hyphen or parenthesis terminates it, so the digits after each one need a fresh number sign. 206-543-4779 therefore translates to ⠼⠃⠚⠋⠤⠼⠑⠙⠉⠤⠼⠙⠛⠛⠊ — 15 cells with three ⠼, which will not fit a 13-cell row and wraps to a second line. That is correct UEB from liblouis, not a bug, and no setting in this app removes those signs. Retype the number in BANA's period form (206.543.4779) and it becomes 13 cells with one number sign. If you must keep the hyphens and still fit one row, translate first and then delete the extra cells by hand in the Braille (Unicode) field under the text inputs — that field is used exactly as you leave it.
Some online translators repeat the number sign after each period as well. That output is non-standard and uses extra braille cells. If you need to match it, choose "Repeat the number sign after each period (non-standard)" under Number Signs in the Translation Options submenu of Expert Mode — but be aware the longer result may no longer fit on one row.
Splitting a long number across two rows: when a number is too long for one row, Auto Placement divides it after a period or comma and ends the row with the line continuation sign (⠐, dot 5). The number keeps its one number sign, because numeric mode carries on across the division (UEB 6.10). For example, with 8 cells to a row, 206.555.0147 becomes ⠼⠃⠚⠋⠲⠐ then ⠑⠑⠑⠲⠚⠁⠙⠛. A split you type yourself in Manual Placement is translated row by row, so the second row starts with a new number sign and the first row gets no dot 5.
E-mail Addresses (BANA, verbatim)
"An e-mail address should be brailled according to The Rules of Unified English Braille. When an e-mail address must be divided over two lines, divide it after punctuation (e.g., the 'at' sign, a period, or a hyphen). An e-mail address may also be divided between syllables, or between alphabetic and numeric sub-units. The least desirable option is to divide an e-mail address between the letters of a syllable. Use the line continuation indicator (dot 5) at the end of the line to show that the e-mail address has been divided. As a last resort, omit the line continuation indicator. Begin the second line of the e-mail address in cell 1."
In this app: Auto Placement applies BANA's punctuation-first division preference where it can. The dot-5 continuation indicator is added by the translator, not typed.
Web Addresses (BANA, verbatim)
"A web address should be brailled according to The Rules of Unified English Braille. When a web address must be divided over two lines, divide it after punctuation (e.g., a colon, a period, or a slash). A web address may also be divided between syllables, or between alphabetic and numeric sub-units. The least desirable option is to divide a web address between the letters of a syllable. Use the line continuation indicator (dot 5) at the end of the line to show that the web address has been divided. As a last resort, omit the line continuation indicator. Begin the second line of the web address in cell 1."
Tip (this app, not BANA): omit https:// or www. if the domain is clear without it.
Capitalization
Each capital letter in braille adds a capitalization indicator (1 extra cell). The Capitalized Letters toggle, in the Translation Options submenu of Expert Mode, controls how capitals are handled:
Enabled (default): Capital letters are preserved, adding indicator cells to the braille output.
Disabled: Text is automatically converted to lowercase before translation. You can type normally — capitals are converted for you.
Why disable capitals? Saves approximately 1 braille cell per capital letter. Braille readers understand this is standard practice for space-limited applications like labels and business cards.
Expert Mode provides fine-grained control over braille generation. Click Show Expert Mode on the main page to access these options.
What's Inside Expert Mode
Important: The Preview Braille Translation button is located at the top of Expert Mode. Use it to verify your text before generating STL files.
Submenu
What It Controls
Cylinders to Generate
Both cylinders (the default, one combined file), or Cylinder A or Cylinder B on its own
Card Thickness
Choose the 0.4 mm or 0.3 mm card stock, or Custom. A preset sets every dot and surface dial for you.
Row Indicator Style
Visual markers, or tactile arrows that a touch reader feels to line up each row: four arrows on 0.4 mm card stock (one per row), three on 0.3 mm.
Shape Selection
Output shape, braille dot shape (rounded/cone), and indicator letters on/off
Braille Spacing
Number of cells per row, number of rows, cell spacing, line spacing, dot spacing, and the braille line positioning adjustments on the cylinder surface
Braille Dot Adjustments
Dot dimensions (diameter, height, tip size), recess dimensions for counter plates, and indicator dot sizes
Surface Dimensions
Cylinder diameter, height, polygonal cutout, seam offset, the slicer seam channel switch and, in Version 2, the four gear key clearance dials
Translation Options
Capitalized Letters and Number Signs — the two settings that change how liblouis renders your text
When to Use Expert Mode
Preview translations: Always preview before generating to catch warnings about text length or character issues
Capitals and numbers: Open Translation Options to keep capital letters, or to repeat the number sign after each period
Cylinder size: The Card Thickness presets set the diameter and height your embosser was built for. With Simplified gears that size is fixed
Fine-tune spacing: Modify cell and line spacing for non-standard applications
Printer calibration: Adjust dot dimensions if your 3D printer produces dots that are too large or small
Default Values
The default settings follow BANA (Braille Authority of North America) guidelines and work well for most applications. Only modify if you have specific requirements or need to calibrate for your printer.
About these business card examples: BANA's own worked examples are in Grade 2 (contracted) braille, which is also this app's default translation, so what you type below comes out in the same code BANA published. BANA's transcribers also used cell-level strategies that vary case by case, so the exact cells can still differ; the "what to type" hints capture BANA's content decisions (which fields to omit, how to split a name). Read BANA's original examples in the Fact Sheet (PDF) →
Example 1: Organization redundant with e-mail (BANA Example 1)
Print card has: Harry Potter / Hogwarts School / harry@hogwarts.edu
BANA strategy: omit capitals from organization; divide the e-mail address.
BANA Grade 2 braille (verbatim from the Fact Sheet):
⠠⠓⠜⠗⠽⠀⠠⠏⠕⠞⠞⠻
⠓⠕⠛⠺⠜⠞⠎⠀⠎⠡⠕⠕⠇
⠓⠜⠗⠽⠈⠁⠐
⠓⠕⠛⠺⠜⠞⠎⠲⠫⠥
What to type in this app:
harry potter
harry@hogwarts.edu
Result: 2-3 lines. E-mail may wrap after @ with a dot-5 continuation indicator.
Example 2: Long name spans two lines (BANA Example 4)
Print card has: Liesel A. Schimmelfennig / US Army Corps of Engineers / l.schimmelfennig@usace.army / 1-520-670-6277
BANA strategy: continue the name onto a second line in cell 1; omit organization (in e-mail); omit phone; divide the e-mail with the dot-5 continuation indicator omitted as a last resort.
BANA Grade 2 braille (verbatim from the Fact Sheet):
BANA strategy: the client chose the nickname "Fran" rather than removing capitals from "Francine"; convert phone hyphens to periods; tag cell/fax with a single-letter prefix.
BANA Grade 2 braille (verbatim from the Fact Sheet):
Source: Business card examples take the content decisions from the BANA Business Cards Fact Sheet (approved March 2024); the braille shown alongside them is BANA's own, quoted verbatim from the PDF.