That is, for people who operate an English Monotype Composition Caster (as opposed to the American Lanston Monotype machine). Even more specifically, given the mix of English and American equipment now in use, for users of English composition moulds. There…
Category: Equipment Acquisition, Repair, and Maintenance
Progress on the Mackenzie Printery’s Linotype (Lower Reed Comb)
This is yet another repair I had to make on the Linotype at the MacKenzie Printery and Newspaper Museum. The keyboard assembly has a row of 91 short pushrods, known as the Lower Reeds, which push up when a key…
Tagged with: Linotype
Linotype Knife Block R&R
The knife block on the Linotype at the Mackenzie Printery Museum was pretty much impossible to adjust due to dried out lubricant. This block controls the position of the right knife which trims the thickness of the cast slug to…
Tagged with: Linotype
Progress on the Mackenzie Printery’s Linotype (Broken Upper Reed)
One of the tasks I had in getting the Linotype at the Mackenzie Printery and Newspaper Museum working was to repair one of the keyboard reeds which I had broken (I blame the service manual for failing to warn of…
Tagged with: Linotype
Monotype Repairs: An Enclosure for a New Pot Temperature Controller
While using my Monotype Composition Caster recently, I’ve noticed that the pot temperature has been drifting. On several occasions I’ve found it to be quite a bit hotter than the setpoint, to the point where I had to select a…
Air Compressor for the Monotype Caster
I’ve been using a compact air compressor to run my Monotype Composition Caster. The machine uses pneumatics to control what matrix it casts, when to start a new line, how wide to make the adjustable-width casts, etc. Originally the caster…
Adjusting the Second Transfer on a Linotype
Continuing my work on the Linotype line caster at the Mackenzie Printery and Newspaper Museum, this weekend I adjusted the second transfer alignment, where the matrices are transferred from the second elevator to the distributor bar. On at least two…
Tagged with: Linotype
Sticking Monotype Air Pins
Recently while trying to cast some fonts on my Monotype Composition Caster, I have found that the galley cycles did not operate reliably, forcing me to watch the casting run like a hawk to manually trigger the galley cycle to…
Linotype Mystery Parts
On the Linotype at the Mackenzie Printery and Newspaper Museum, there are a couple of parts that I can’t find in any of the parts manuals I have: There is a lug on the slide that transfers the matrices from…
Tagged with: Linotype
Progress on the Mackenzie Printery’s Linotype (Second Elevator Transfer, part 3)
Well, this was a real easy diagnosis! Previously I noted that, on the Linotype at the Mackenzie Printery, the safety interlock that stops the machine if the transfer from the first to the second elevator did not appear to be…
Tagged with: Linotype
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