I was cleaning up the workshop a bit last week and ran across a small project which had fallen by the wayside. As part of all the Monotype parts I had collected, there was a random assortment of line length…
Category: Kevin
Casting Twisted Type
I was recently casting some 14-point Caslon Old Style on my Monotype Composition Caster and I was finding that after casting a long run of some wider letters, the type was coming out with an interesting distortion:The top of the…
Making a Vandercook 320 carriage stop
As part of getting a Vandercook 320 proof press into working condition, I had to make a carriage stop/bumper block. One of the original ones was missing from the press. Another of the stops was held on with only one…
An interesting type duplicating mould
Yesterday I was at the Mackenzie Printery and Newspaper Museum in Queenston Ontario. The museum is not open to the public right now, but members still meet there to work on organizing and cataloguing the collection, and I was in…
Monotype Computer Control: First Run
I have my 12-point Binny Old Style diecase set up, so last Saturday, I tried my first run with my laptop controlling my Monotype Composition Caster. The text is a little note to include when I ship type across the…
Finding Missing Composition Matrices
I have a Monotype diecase for Lanston 12-point #21EFG Binny Old Style which includes most French accents, but was missing question and exclamations marks in both roman and italic, as well as the small cap Z. I was quite pleased…
Mystery Monotype Diecase Combs
When running a Monotype Composition Caster to cast from cellular matrices, the matrices are usually contained in a diecase, which holds a 225, 255, or 272 matrices in a grid arrangement. The caster positions this diecase to select the appropriate…
Video: First run of Monotype Compostion Caster Computer Control
I just posted a video on YouTube of the first run of my Monotype Composition Caster under control of my laptop computer. I have been working on the hardware and software for this interface on and off over several years,…
Replacing a defective light switch
A few years ago I installed improved lighting in my basement workshop. Recently I’d been noticing that the light switch sometimes made a “pop” or slight sparking noises when I switched it on or off. This seemed to be getting…
Giving up on Strip Casting (for now)
After several unsuccessful attempts at casting strip material on my Monotype Composition Caster, I’m giving up for a while. The problems I’ve been fighting with include: Unfused strip material, which easily breaks up into pieces Blowback through the nozzle seat…
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