Custom font generation means pattern embossing

[Attoparsec] loves learning languages, but says he has trouble remembering anything. We find it hard to believe given the number of languages ​​[Attoparsec] has been able to translate into embossed plastic. That's right, this project is about creating custom font wheels for an embosser, formerly known as a label maker.

If you think this seems like a tricky and possibly time-consuming mission to undertake, you're right. In case you're not familiar, the old embosser uses both a positive and a negative of each glyph in order to impress the sticky plastic strip. It all started when [Attoparsec] discovered the Dymo 1595, which comes with font wheels for Japanese hiragana and katakana in addition to English.

After sacrificing the English wheel, it was time to model the wheel part itself. It was easy enough, but the characters themselves were another story. Due to the operation of the device, the negative must be larger than the positive to allow enough room for the tape. After trying to get the correct draft angle on characters in several CAD packages, [Attoparsec] was told that it should be pretty straightforward in OpenSCAD, and it was.

Printing in resin took about five hours to complete both wheels at the same time. Once [Attoparsec] finished the workflow, they were off to the races. In this video alone, they've created Old English, Esperanto, the International Phonetic Alphabet, an alphabet created by playwright George Bernard Shaw, the Palm Pilot entry script and, of course, Tolkein's Tengwar. Don't forget to watch the video after the break.

Tired of turning the wheel of your embosser to make labels? Automate the process with one or two stepper motors.

Thanks to [smellsofbikes] and [Jonas] for the advice!