The Monotype composition caster uses various holders to position the matrix (which has the shape of the letter to cast cut into it) properly over the cavity of the mould. These are installed in the caster instead of a diecase…
Category: Equipment Acquisition, Repair, and Maintenance
Mobility Cradle for a Vandercook 320 Press
Some time ago, we acquired a Vandercook 320 proof press in need of some repair. So far, about all I’ve done is clean off years of dried ink under the location of the inkplate and chase out the mouse nest…
Challenge Proof Press dead-bar stops
As with most proof presses, for quick printing jobs where absolute alignment is not essential the type on the bed of our Challenge MA-15 press is usually locked up lengthwise using the quick lockup bar supplied with the press. This…
Yes! Another Press!
We recently acquired a Vandercook 320 in somewhat rough shape. I plan on fixing it up and we will probably sell it because it is bigger than what we need (we think). Alternatively we might sell our Challenge MA-15 instead.
A Chase for our Sigwalt Press
We received our Sigwalt Chicago No. 11 press with no chase so it has been sitting collecting dust for a while. I recently cobbled together a chase from a scrap of the ¾″-thick high-density polyethylene (HDPE) sheet we use to…
Estimating Dry Weight of Composition Material
While trying to remelt some old composition rollers recently, I found that some of the material wouldn’t melt. Neither higher temperatures nor additional water helped. All I ended up with was a lumpy soup, from which I strained the lumps…
Now I know…
…why the Monotype manuals say not to raise or lower the pot unless it is molten. They never explained why this could cause any problems, and the pump piston linkage is jointed enough to follow the pot up and down…
An Unusual Monotype Mould
I found an unusual Lanston Monotype 30pt display mould (for the Composition caster and Type and Rule caster) at my last visit to Don Black’s. What intrigued me was that the top of the blade appeared to be split into…
It’s Getting Real
I actually went out and purchased some aluminum stock for making the computer control valve for my Monotype. That’s a piece of 1″ aluminum square bar which will make the mouthpiece that fits against the air holes in the caster’s…
Sorting the Sorts
Now that I have the font display matrices in boxes, I have an assortment of sorts matrices to sort out and store. In addition to the sorts I also had a few cardboard boxes of unfiled small caps, odd sizes,…
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