u/Mrblindguardian

I hope you like this design :)

Created in Openscad :)

A while ago someone tagged me because Printables is running a geared spinner challenge. I thought that sounded like fun, so I made this: ORBIT, a planetary gear fidget spinner where the gearbox itself is the toy. You pinch the stationary centre hub, flick the outer ring, and three planet gears spin and orbit between your fingers while a printed spring ticks against 24 detents inside the rim.

Some context on why it's built the way it is. I'm blind, and most fidget spinners are honestly boring when you can't see them: a blur, a faint hum, done. So this one is meant to be felt and heard first. The ring rim carries raised numerals 1, 2 and 3 with matching braille, the grip flutes pause at each numbered station so you can find them by touch, and the hub cap has a raised sun with one longer ray as a tactile pointer, so you can actually count rotations and play games with it, sighted or not. The planet gears take swappable press-fit caps with celestial symbols (moon, comet, star) that are instantly distinguishable by feel. If you'd rather have a silent spinner, the click spring is a separate disc you can swap for a smooth spacer.

OpenSCAD is the reason this project exists at all. It works beautifully with a screen reader, so every dimension, tolerance and tactile feature was written and verified as code. I never saw the model; I compiled it, printed it and checked it with my fingers. The source is fully parametric with Customizer groups: overall diameter, gear module and tooth counts, click strength (arm count, thickness, preload), braille and numeral sizes, and separate tolerance values for every fit, including gear backlash, the hex stem, the planet caps, and the printed screw thread on the hub cap. There's a small test plate to dial those fits in on your own printer. Gears are done with BOSL2 plus a custom braille library.

No bearings, screws, glue or metal anywhere. The gear mechanism prints in place as one piece, everything prints flat with no supports, and even the assembly instructions are written non-visually, describing what each part feels like and what correct assembly feels like at each step. It's about 75 mm across; the one I printed is 6 walls and 100% infill, which gives it a lovely dense feel and real momentum.

A while ago someone tagged me because Printables is running a geared spinner challenge. I thought that sounded like fun, so I made this: ORBIT, a planetary gear fidget spinner where the gearbox itself is the toy. You pinch the stationary centre hub, flick the outer ring, and three planet gears spin and orbit between your fingers while a printed spring ticks against 24 detents inside the rim.

Some context on why it's built the way it is. I'm blind, and most fidget spinners are honestly boring when you can't see them: a blur, a faint hum, done. So this one is meant to be felt and heard first. The ring rim carries raised numerals 1, 2 and 3 with matching braille, the grip flutes pause at each numbered station so you can find them by touch, and the hub cap has a raised sun with one longer ray as a tactile pointer, so you can actually count rotations and play games with it, sighted or not. The planet gears take swappable press-fit caps with celestial symbols (moon, comet, star) that are instantly distinguishable by feel. If you'd rather have a silent spinner, the click spring is a separate disc you can swap for a smooth spacer.

OpenSCAD is the reason this project exists at all. It works beautifully with a screen reader, so every dimension, tolerance and tactile feature was written and verified as code. I never saw the model; I compiled it, printed it and checked it with my fingers. The source is fully parametric with Customizer groups: overall diameter, gear module and tooth counts, click strength (arm count, thickness, preload), braille and numeral sizes, and separate tolerance values for every fit, including gear backlash, the hex stem, the planet caps, and the printed screw thread on the hub cap. There's a small test plate to dial those fits in on your own printer. Gears are done with BOSL2 plus a custom braille library.

No bearings, screws, glue or metal anywhere. The gear mechanism prints in place as one piece, everything prints flat with no supports, and even the assembly instructions are written non-visually, describing what each part feels like and what correct assembly feels like at each step. It's about 75 mm across; the one I printed is 6 walls and 100% infill, which gives it a lovely dense feel and real momentum.

When I think of it, as a small blind child, I didn't have any cool action figures or powerful people, who were disabled, that I could look up to.

Nowadays, it is getting better with representation of people with disabilities in modern culture, though we still have a ways to go :)

So I designed this articulated blind action figure.

Done in openscad, by a blind person :)

I hope you like it!

Get the design here https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/blind-superhero-action-figure-with-white-cane-print-in-place-articulated-posabl?srsltid=AfmBOor8HmbQoZR7qAzu-UTwyyXB-6XSwvyxJkYzejfIhIwFnOFG3yFF

When I think of it, as a small blind child, I didn't have any cool action figures or powerful people, who were disabled, that I could look up to.

Nowadays, it is getting better with representation of people with disabilities in modern culture, though we still have a ways to go :)

So I designed this articulated blind action figure.

Done in openscad, by a blind person :)

I hope you like it!

I wanted to share one of my OpenSCAD projects that I recently finished, and that i am extremely happy about.

As someone who is fully blind, I spend a lot of time thinking about how physical spaces can be made accessible through touch.

Recently, I was contacted by the parent of a blind child whose new home is currently under construction. Their idea was to let their child become familiar with the layout before the house is even finished.

The architects sent me the IFC model of the building. I extracted the relevant geometry and used OpenSCAD to generate a tactile floor plan with Braille labels, which was then 3D printed.

This was done on my prusa xl, using most of the bed. This is exactly why I need a printer with a large bed, otherwise some of the details might have been too small.

I hope you like it :)

I wanted to share one of my OpenSCAD projects that I am extremely happy about.

As someone who is fully blind, I spend a lot of time thinking about how physical spaces can be made accessible through touch.

Recently, I was contacted by the parent of a blind child whose new home is currently under construction. Their idea was to let their child become familiar with the layout before the house is even finished.

The architects sent me the IFC model of the building. I extracted the relevant geometry and used OpenSCAD to generate a tactile floor plan with Braille labels, which was then 3D printed.

I hope you like it!

As a fully blind person myself, I totally understand the importance of accessibility, not only digitally, but also physically 🙂
This is where 3-D designing and printing really shines 🙂
A while back, I got a request from a parent to a blind child, to make an accessible floor plan of their new house that would be finished by November 🙂
This is to give the child an orientation in the house, before it is built and ready 🙂
I got in touch with the architects who sent me an IFC file, and from there, I extracted the necessary data, and used openscad to design a floor plan that could be felt by touch, and also read with braille 🙂
I love these kinds of designs and tasks 🙂