Clip-On Visual Aid

myminifactory

My creation is of small printable charms that go on your bills (or anything else) and are meant to help you quickly distinguish bill denominations within a wallet. Bill folding is often a common method used by the visually impaired but it's not without its drawbacks; too many bills can get very thick. Modern bills have embossed printing that act as a tactile guide, but not all bills have this feature. These little charms all slide on and off paper money smoothly but have unique textures and contours to allow for easy sight-free organization. The charms are thin enough that multiple devices can be used at once. I find that these charms are also generally useful beyond the wallet. These aids can help keep important papers organized and utilizing different colors only improves usability. It’s taken a few iterations, but I'm very happy with the current results. For the sake of sharing, I'm including some of my design log. Enjoy... ---Day 1--- Idea: Small charms or markers for paper and card money that allow someone with impaired vision to easily feel the difference between marked items. Function: an alternative to bill folding and other ways of determining multiple bill denomination relative to each other. Lunchtime daydreaming; thought of an idea for Money charm/marking device. Got home from work, so now it's time to work: My initial model idea looks nothing like what I later end up with. Its bulky and more suited for clipping onto a credit card. The idea was there but not the form. I just kinda thought of the idea and went with it. After that I tried to think up some design goals to meet: Design Goals for Bill Charm - charms to help know what's in your pocket: light weight - anything extra going in your pocket or wallet kinda sucks. try to make it less sucky. Should be light enough that a few can be in a wallet at a time. thin but durable - too thin and it wont last and lose its spring. too thick and it will get in the way. Probably shoot for credit card thickness. Header can be a little thicker maybe. easy to use - should clip on and off the bill smoothly. I find myself using the Braille character as the means of first contact because its thicker than the rest. That could be good, the fact that the identifier is being used to identify itself. I'll call it a night and mull it over in traffic tomorrow. ---Day 2--- Hmmmmm...tried the device in my wallet. sticks out a bit much. It does remind me of a folder's divider tabs, which is something I was going for. Kinda nice to grab the tab and out come the bills, loosen the grip and the charm comes off. I should go to sleep. Home from work, time for a print :) Darn. My printer started to not work as I started another print. I'm still pretty new to the machine and printing, so I'm not totally sure what's wrong. The hotend to bowden tube connection seems to be jamming, though nothing obstructing. I haven't clean-cleaned the nozzle yet, maybe that's the issue. I bought this printer as a kit from China and am just kinda glad it worked. I'm going to have to give it all a tune up and hope I can get another print, otherwise the last version will have to suffice as my submission. If I didn't want to make a couple prints right now, I'd be happy to spend the time tinkering with my toy, but right now it just feels inconvenient. Oh well. ...I think the lining tube inside the hotend got funky. (replaced hot tube with spare) ...soooo, that lining was important. my spare hotend tube looked like it would work. Now I have filament stuck in between the top of the heatsink. All coiled up, almost as if there was too much room in the little chamber. If only a lining could be placed inside to prevent such an issue...live and learn I guess. Use the right parts. I was able to get it out with a heat gun and tweezers but this is a little discouraging. I have an older hotend setup from when I first 'tried' to make a delta type printer. I'm just not sure the total length is there to clear the mounted fan. I should step away before I make a worse mistake or get hurt. Back to SketchUp for the design; I'm sure I'll get the printer up and printing again soon enough... ---Day ???--- Well I ended up moving and my junky printers have been put in storage to be fixed another day.