[BRLTTY] Slightly OT, cleaning braille display cells

[Mario Lang]

Stéphane Doyon <s.doyon at videotron.ca> writes:

> On Tue, 2 Jan 2007, Robin Williams wrote:
>
>>  Do people on this list have any reccomendations about cleaning Braille
>> display cells? It has come to my attention that after a few month's usage,
>> some dots often remain in the up position when they should be down. I can
>> imagine that the cells could get a bit dirty if the Braille display is used
>> often, as mine is.
>>
>>  I'm using a four-month-old Brailliant 40, which has been fine until the
>> last week or so. At the moment only a couple of dots are misbehaving. My
>> previous display, a Tieman Voyager, got in to a terrible state after
>> eighteen months.
>>
>>  Any tips for keeping cells clean without damaging them will be much
>> appreciated, as I want to keep this display usable for at least three years.

Using a vaccum cleaner, keeping just a little distance so that
you not touch any dots has helped me in the past to
clear out much of the standard dust that accumulates in display cells.

> I too have run into this issue and would be interested in any tips
> others might have. I use my display several hours every day, to work
> and at home, and I have to carry it around. My Brailliant seems to be
> better at this than my previous displays for some reason. Before this
> one I had a PowerBraile and before that a Navigator.
>
> With those it was pretty much inevitable that the cells would
> eventually become clogged after some months. At some point I got fed
> up of having the display serviced and learned a few tricks: how to pop
> the cell caps on the PowerBraille and clean them. Usually with those
> old displays it was the holes in the cell cap that became partially
> clogged with some sort of smudgy dust, so I would poke a pin through
> the holes from below. It can be tricky to remove and put back the caps
> though as the caps are pretty fragile, especially the part towards the
> router button. You want to avoid handling the dot pins as much as
> possible since they're pretty tiny: hard to find after you've dropped
> them onto a dirty floor :-). Often my wife was able to clean the cell
> cap holes by scratching the dust off with a pin, without my having to
> remove the caps. You want to try not to push dirt/dust under the
> cap. In the worse case, the service technician and I once had to soak
> the cell caps in water and some sort of detergent. If this sounds like
> a lot, keep in mind it's all over the course of 15years or so.

My first display was also a PowerBraille (40), and
my first display at work was a PowerBraille 80.  For me, the PowerBraille
displays were very nice, and took a LONG time to get problems
with dust or sticking pins.  Actually, for me its the reverse,
I feel as if the newer cell types have more problems with sticking
pins than the PowerBraille ones.  My PowerBraille 80 at
work I used 6 years, 300 days a year, 8 bhours a day.
Thats pretty long, and I didn't had a service yet!  In fact, today
I moved that pb80 to my home (since I have a new display for work now),
and simply did a little vaccum cleaning first.  Its working
extremely fine for me here.  One reason why the PBs feel so nice
to me might be that I think they have slightly longer pins than the newer
cells these days, so the text feels more present, and I guess
problems with dust might show a little later than with newer displays.

Additionally, the PB is the only display type I know where
it is really simple for the end user to remove the caps.  The newer types
of displays dont make this easy.

> But cell design seems to have improved a lot, my Brailliant seems to
> be less susceptible.

As said above, I observe the reverse.

> Good thing too as it doesn't seem as easy to clean.
>
> The only advice I have for you is to try to avoid dirtying the cells
> in the first place. If your hands feel the least bit sticky or dusty,
> take the time to go wash.

Yeah, this surely increases the display live time by several years.
Dont eat breakfest while working, wash hands if you feel
a bit sticky, and by all means, avoid getting dusty particles
on your display.  I've developed a unconscious habit of realising
early enough if there is something dusty on the display, and in many
cases I manage to just throw it away before it ends up falling
into one of the holes.  Additionally, putting some kind of blanket
over the display if you do not use it also helps to increase life time,
especially if the display is in a room with lots of
dust in it...

> No eating near the Braille display. If you need to lug the display
> around, pay attention what you wrap it in. I used a piece of soft
> foam to protect my display at some point, and in retrospect I think
> the surface of the foam probably retained dust and dirt, which would
> then come in contact with the cells. Actually I can't understand why
> displays don't come with a protective case, especially given their
> price.

Well, the portable displays I use/used all had pretty
nice carrying cases...

> Of course there are factors we can't really control, like dust in
> public places, messy renovations next door, humid climate...

I even took my portable displays to camping sites (Hackers at Large
2001 in the netherlands and the CCC Camp 2003 in Berlin come to mind).
With a little extra care, this never was a problem.

> Four months seems like a rather short time to be developping a serious
> dirtiness problem. Good luck with that.

I agree, might be something related to hygiene :-)

-- 
CYa,
  Mario