Letterpress printing has a property called “ink gain” where the inked area left on the printed sheet is a tiny bit larger than the type used to do the printing. Because of this, when designing type (which includes designing the…
Author: kpmartin
Designing Swing Bold @ 18 point
Having decided to use my pantograph to try making a display matrix for my Monotype caster, and having chosen to make an at-sign (@) to match 18-point Swing Bold, the next task was to actually examine other letters in this…
Making a Display Matrix, but Which One?
It seems natural for me, as a first project using my new pantograph engraver, to try making a matrix. Rather than designing a whole new family of typefaces (or even a single typeface), I decided to make a single character.…
From drought to downpour
We’ve had several weeks here with essentially no rain, and the garden has been looking rather sad. I planted tomatoes, cucumbers, melons, and basil around May 24th, with promise of rain (finally!) in the forecast but it did not materialize,…
Challenge Guillotine (still) for sale
We still have our Challenge 265 power guillotine for sale. I’ve removed the VFD and converted the wiring back to plain 208V 3-phase. The problems with the VFD tripping turned out to be due to a defective current sensor in…
More information on Matrix pneumatic valves
This week I was having another look at the pneumatic solenoid valves I want to use to run my Monotype from a computer. I was somewhat disappointed that the valves I had were the Normally Open (N/O) type and designed…
Cleaning up the pantograph
The Gorton 3U pantograph engraver/mill I just bought needed a bit of fixing up. Some of the bearings in the mechanism were loose, things were dry (of oil) and pretty dirty, and there was a drive belt missing. I have…
More Equipment!
The main reason for my visit to Don Black last Friday was to pick up a new (to me) machine. This is a Gorton 3U pantograph mill/engraver, which turned up when Don and Craig were reorganizing their stock. This machine…
Monomatic Parts
I got a big lot of what appeared to be justification wedges for a Monotype composition caster from Don Black last week, many of them brand new, still in the protective plastic dip from the factory. It turns out, however,…
Tagged with: Don Black
Strip Moulds at Don Black’s
While I was at Don Black’s today, Don mentioned that in the process of cleaning up their warehouse (a daunting project which appears to be coming along well) he found a few boxes of what he thought were Monotype parts.…
Tagged with: Don Black
Top