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…
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…
After breaking two pipe ends while reinstalling the mounting plate for the Unit Adding valve, I decided that soldering in new ends would be easier than trying to get a flaring tool into the tight spots under the Monotype caster’s…
I put my replacement pneumatic lines on my Monotype caster and replaced the Unit Adding valve mounting plate. You can see them in the photo as the two clean pipes near the bottom, and the two shiny threaded ends second…
Stephen Sword, a friend from the Book Arts Guild of Richmond Hill, has a platen press at home fitted with a safety curtain. A metal frame rises above the edge of the platen as the press closes to push the…
A previous owner of my Monotype composition caster had done a bit of a butcher job repairing a broken tube under the table. There were two soldered joints (using fittings not designed for solder joints) and two tees with capped…
The Quadding and Centering system on the Monotype composition caster is controlled by two actuators on the paper tower. The one for Quadding is a simple piston inside the tower housing which causes the motion of the paper tower cam…
The last task left for Unit Shift was to install (what I call) the buffer valve. I use this term because its purpose is to store the Unit Shift selection (on or off) from the end of the ribbon read…
In my next task of getting the paper tower operational on my Monotype composition caster, I have started cleaning and lubricating the various pneumatic control valves. The first one I did is a combination of the Unit Shift control valve…
I’ve started tracing all the pneumatic plumbing on my Monotype caster, and at least now I’ve identified all the various control valves hanging off the table apron. This may be old news to any Monotype pros who may be out…