Category: Kevin

Marshville Heritage Festival, Aug 30th-Sept 1st 2025

The Marshville Heritage Society will be holding their annual Marshville Heritage Festival over Labour Day weekend, Saturday August 30th-Monday, September 1st, 2025. The fair runs from 10am-5pm each day and is located on the fairgrounds next to the Wainfleet Arena

New Monotype Control PCB Test

I’ve populated my new PCB with components and after a bit of fiddling, I’ve run a test on it and everything appears to work. The board has a few problems that had to be patched over, including: A missing trace

Our New Type-and-rule Caster in Motion

I’ve cobbled a motor mount and installed a new drive belt, and our new type-and-rule caster now runs: It still needs work, though. For one thing, the belt either needs tension adjustment or some belt dressing so it doesn’t slip

A PCB for the Monotype Computer Interface

I’ve been slowly plugging away (apparently, for at least 9 years!) at an interface to control my Monotype Composition Caster using a computer. The caster was originally designed to be controlled by a 31-channel punched paper ribbon, which is read

Pin Marks on Type at the Mackenzie Printery

I was recently asked about a marking a friend had seen on some type, wondering if it could be from the Montreal Type Foundry, or even if such a place ever existed. First, a bit of type-casting technology: Since the

Swing Frame Removal, Part 2

On our new Type and Rule Caster I want to replace the swing frame assembly with one where the crank to raise and lower the pot is above the pot rather than below it, to avoid needing to have my

What’s Inside a Paper Pulley

The motor that came with our recently-acquired Monotype Type and Rule Caster was fitted with 2″ a pulley suitable for a flat drive belt to run the caster. Such pulleys are shaped with a bit of a crown, that is,

Initial Work on the New Type & Rule Caster

While the weather was good for working outside I started to work on getting the new Type & Rule caster operational again, for now concentrating on the pot and pump side of things. The caster is fitted with a bottom-crank

An Addition to the Type Foundry

Two years ago I found out that this Monotype caster, fitted for strip casting, was available for free in the Toronto area. Unfortunately, at the time, I had no room for it and needed to expand our shop space to

An Addition to the Workshop

I just purchased a new-to-me machine for my workshop:This is a DoAll DH-612 manual surface grinder. Based on the serial number this one was made in 1959 and that may have been the first year of production for this model

Top