After disassembling and cleaning the front pin block parts, I noted wear on the Pin Jaw Guide Rod Support, as well as on the guide rod itself. Furthermore, there were several holes in the cover plate that seemed to have…

  Refurbishing the front air pin block on my Monotype caster required, among other things, removing the two sets of tongs that operate the matrix and air pin jaws. Each of these tongs has a pivoted mounting post that is…

After refurbishing the rear air pin block on my Monotype caster, I am now doing the same to the front pin block. Disassembly is a bit different from the rear block, because the front buffer must be removed in pieces:…

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have found that the air pins on my caster are somewhat sluggish, and in some cases stuck completely. To diagnose this and get the pins on the rear pin block moving freely,…

What with helping to get our daughter’s Hallowe’en costume finished in time, and trying to clean our store for the studio tour coming up this weekend, I have had little time to work on my Monotype. The current tasks are…

Last but not least of the control valves to be serviced on my Monotype caster is what I refer to as the Mould Signalling control valve. Depending on what options the caster is fitted with, this valve might be used…

After a short side trip to test and trace the individual air lines on my caster I have returned to the task of refurbishing the various pneumatic control valves. The next one to do is the Quadding and Centering control…

On removing the dummy plate on my Unit Adding valve base and testing individual air lines, I have determined that: This valve uses lines I, K, N, 0005, and 0075 (not J, K, N, 0005, and 0075 as my manual…

Using a sports inflator needle to apply compressed air to each air line individually, I am finding several oddities. The first is certainly not unexpected: Several of the airpins are sticking. I think my best bet for these is to…

Just for a lark, I tried connecting my Monotype caster to a compressed air supply, and found that the air connection to the paper tower leaked so badly that the (admittedly small) compressor could not keep up. I tried putting…