Us Map for the Blind

I got this idea from Thingiverse when I was looking at braille keyboards. I was thinking I would build something for the blind to help them see the world, but I was stuck on original ideas. I then thought that it might be nice for the blind to be able to see state boundaries since most political maps are not textured. I spent a week on this, but it should be easier for you to make it with this guide.

75 grams of PLA filament, a 3D printer that can print superfine (I used a Dremel 3D45), 14 hours, and a prayer that it will not warp. My design was designed in TinkerCAD, transferred to Cura and then the Dremel software, but the design can be done in Blender (NOT recommended for AutoCad-nightmare to map the states)

Having trouble producing states? Even though they were produced in Tinkercad, if you find a png you can convert it into a SVG with this Link:

https://image.online-convert.com/convert-to-svg

On the Tinkercad shape menu, go to the shapes dropdown menu. Select Shape Generator-All. The United States States should be the very first one on the list.

(I might do one for China and Europe in the Future...)

This step is going to take a long time, and for best results try to get the borders as aligned as possible. I also colored them based on the 2020 election, but that is not necessary. My board's dimensions were 9.5"x9.5", but do not stress over the size since it will eventually be resized down. Some Tips:

Turn off Snapgrid(or as low as you feel comfortable) to bring them as close together as Tinkercad will allow

Use Shift+Right click to move around the workspace (I didn't know how to do this until afterwards, but it will be a BIG help)

Change the height of each state so that you can clearly see the border of each state. I overtried and sized them accordingly to the population per state, though a random pattern will work. I would recommend a .02 mm distance at LEAST, though you might have to make them bigger if you are using a lower quality printer.

State Population Chart I used:

https://worldpopulationreview.com/states

This is a really cool tool, along with the other text tools, that can come in handy in scenarios other than this. On the Shape menu dropdown box, select Shape Generators-All (same as before). Go to the second page and it should be right next to the Hebrew Generator. Make 50 (51 if you include D.C., I did not) copies and type the correct states.

THIS IS THE LONGEST STEP!! It took me 3 days to complete it. You have to resize each text box to the appropriate size and center it onto the state. Make sure that are at least .2mm larger than the state that they are being placed on. Rotate them to keep on the state bordersThe aligning tool really came in handy...

NOTE: I am not entirely sure, but I might have rotated some upside down. If so, please let me know and I will fix it.

Mine had to be scaled down a bit in Cura to fit ( around 58%). I printed on a Dremel 3D45 with PLA, but any printer and any filament can be used. I would not recommend ABS, however, since it might warp.