In order to get a good finish when milling the top surface of a part, as I will be doing to prepare matrix blanks, it is necessary that the axis of the mill spindle be perpendicular to the surface of…
Category: Equipment Acquisition, Repair, and Maintenance
An Interem Solution to the Pneumatic Valves Problems
This week I’ve been occupied with (finally) putting away all the display mats I bought last year at the Anderson and Skyline matrix auctions. They have been cluttering up the shop since last summer with their variety of packaging. I…
Tagged with: Jim Rimmer
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
Cleaning up unearths a treasure—a month late
I did a round of cleaning up in the shop, partly to search for my missing mat holder, and partly because I picked up more parts from Don Black. While cleaning up, I found the box of stuff I picked…
Measuring air valve spring strength
In addition to poor flow when open, the other shortcoming of my stock of surplus Matrix pneumatic valves is poor sealing (leakage) when operated in NC mode, where the shutter spring is the only force holding back the flow of…
Measuring air valve shutters
Looking deeper into the poor airflow observed on my stock of surplus Matrix pneumatic valves, I did a subjective measurement of the airflow on each port, on a scale from 0 to 5, using a 20PSI supply. At zero, the…
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