Year: 2014

A Manual Punch for Monotype Ribbons

In the process of patching together the only ribbon I have for my Monotype, some of the holes have been blocked and needed to be re-punched. Furthermore, repairing the edges of the ribbon requires re-punching all the tractor holes. Finally,

Monotype Display Mat Storage

The question came up recently on the Typecasting mailing list as to the best way of storing American-style display mats. These originally came in boxes with a slotted wood insert and a covering made of heavy cardboard covered with faux-leather

Composition Casting Followup: Type Carrier Repair

While trying to do some composition casting last weekend I found that an internal part of my type carrier was broken, so I had to give this part a quick servicing. There aren’t actually that many internal parts to deal

Composition Casting Followup: Nozzle Problems

During this weekend’s attempts at composition casting I had problems with type metal flow, both flowing where I don’t want it, and not flowing where I do want it. I had many problems with nozzle freeze. On each casting cycle,

It Speaks! Well, mumbles, anyway…

I spent the weekend trying to do some composition casting on my Monotype caster, using the ribbon I had keypunched while I was at Mono U 8 last summer. By Sunday evening I had something I could take a proof

Monotype Mould Signalling Lever

The Monotype caster has a small lever which is used to control the opening of the upper mould blade to produce low spaces. This lever is actuated by an arm that descends from the bridge, which in turn is controlled

Cleaning the “Scissors” on a Monotype Display Mould

While waiting for other things to resolve themselves, I set out to clean the display mould that I has last used on my Monotype caster. This particular mould is an English-style display mould, which uses replaceable inserts to change body

Unclogging Cooling Passages in a Monotype Mould

After installing my refurbished 10-point mould on my caster I tested the cooling water flow and found that the flow through the mould itself (rather than just the cooling passages in the table) was inadequate. I know from when I

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A Mess Delays Work

The snow plow that I use to clear the driveway here stopped working. The winch which raises the blade stopped running, and since it seemed to be related to the cold weather (and heating the unit appeared to fix it

More Monotype Mould Measurements

After doing some R&R on one of my Monotype composition moulds I found that when installed on the caster, the type carrier could not reach into the mould without rubbing on the face of the left type block. One of

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