Moving this blog...

Hey folks, I've moved the content of this site to a new location: www.fiddleink.com. Please visit me there!

Just hired this new guy.

Saturday Night Pi(e)

Running mats into new-to-me Alumilite Magazines. This one appears to be warped/bent. Dang. These are probably some of the cleanest matrices I have in the shop. Kills me to have pied them. Hopefully didn't do too much damage. Happy Saturday Night Pi! 

Nice work today, 31

Miter practice

I've been practicing mitering Linotype border using the Hammond glider saw. I almost took out a window here at Stumptown Printers when the miter vise clamp wasn't tight enough and a slug got away from me. Won't make that mistake again.

Proofing 10^440

Looking pretty clean so far. This type form will be used for a limited edition keepsake broadside celebrating 11 years of the Stumptown Printers' Arigato Pak.

Russian Made Linotype in Action

This is a great little video of a Russian made (?) line casting machine. Thanks to Bill Spurling for passing on the link. Check out the safety guard that flips into place over the mold and vise before casting.

Linomite

I noticed a slight little build up of type metal on the pump plunger rod when I started casting this evening, and after a couple hours of casting lines this is what that build up became:

Linomite! It was enough to restrict the plunger from returning to its fullest upward position. Gotta keep an eye on this next time. I'm guessing that this happened because the pot was a bit too cool. I'll test the theory next time we cast. Otherwise, anyone out there have tips on how to prevent this?

Ancient compositor's knot

This is a set of space bands lovingly tied up by an operator of the Stumptown Printer's model 31 long before we owned the machine. It's an example of marlinspike seamanship by an old Linotype salt. I hadn't had the heart (or need) to disrupt this tidy knot before today, but we needed the bands and so this is the documentation of the touch of a craftsman from years ago. We brought the bands to the C.C. Stern Type Foundry to use with the machine there. I believe that the old salt would approve. 

Today's message to the model 31

I managed to get a couple lines off of the machine today, but printing, die cutting, hand bindery and prepress took the lion's share of shop time. I don't like to fire up the machine unless we have at least a handful if slugs to cast. Next time...

The properly justified slug

Resilient Mold Cam Adjustment

Teachers

Handy Illustration of First-Elevator Cam

This illustration is a useful reference if you are in the back of the machine and cycling it by hand, and you need to know when to stop cycling(!) By looking at this cam, you can determine when the first elevator is resting on the vise cap, or when the justifications take place, etc. This illustration is scanned from the Intertype Book of Instruction, page 46.

But first! Release the pressure of pot lever spring!

Testing proper clearance between the face of the mold and vise jaws

Page 150

Hydraquadder causing the problem? Could be...

The Trouble Line

Occasionally while running the machine, I've experienced a "no cast". This happened randomly, or at least it seemed to be random, because after a second attempt to cast the same line often the machine would give in and produce the slug. When it didn't cast a second time, I would switch it up slightly and maybe add a thin space, etc. and I could get it to go. It didn't happen frequently enough for me to explore the issue until recently. The line pictured above is the one that stopped me and got me to look into the problem.

In this case I was setting 10pt on 10pt mold, 18 pica width, first position. I was using standard justification with the hydraquadder off. As you can see, it's a full line, 6 space bands with less than a pica to go. I sent the same line through as it is pictured (but recreated with different matrices) several times. No go. Other lines that seemed to be similar length and spacing did go, so it was a mystery to me why this one would not. 

More details to come....

Spot Color!

This makes use of 6pt Linotype Garamond, handset type, ornaments and found letterpress advertising cuts. 

I'm in the process of tracking down belt material for the main drive belt. I stopped in on our local supplier Empire Rubber where the crew there presented me with a bunch of great info and options. Good guys and a good resource. With their help, I should be able to match the lacing and material. 

Update:

The belt that I ended up using was:

Empire Rubber's item number: 20045012

Description: 4/140 II Tan FSxFS 1.5" W

Flexco Clipper Lace was used, added to trim length of 78.5"