Mold 10-18 F7660

Couple stupid things I did while casting this evening:

1. Fired up the machine after a long day of regular job printing. (Not the best idea to attempt to cast while not quite on the ball.)

2. Attempted to cast the second position of a 14 pt (regular 2 letter) matrices using a 10-18 F7660 mold.

3. Tried it again.

4. Wondered why the machine was squirting.

Lesson (note to self): Don't do that. First position is no problem but second will not work. Check positioning of mat on mold before attempting to cast. And, do a little research on this particular mold: Mold 10-18 F7660.

Linotype Border Matrices

Whoa. Pretty amazing. Also makes my brain hurt a bit. This is a scan from a 1911 Linotype Border Catalogue. It would be fun to try something like this. Click on the image for a closer look.

Proofing linotype composition

Proofing linotype composition, a photo by Stumptown Printers on Flickr.


This is a proof from The Two Man Gentlemen Band release "Two at a Time," their 7th full-length release, which was recorded, designed, and packaged entirely without digital technology. Most of the type was composed on our Model 31. Additional photos of the process can be viewed here.

Congratulations to Doug Wilson and the Linotype (the film) crew!

It's a big night for these guys, the world premiere of the film happens tonight at the SVA Theatre in New York City. The newest trailer of the film is even better than the first, it adds clips of our Linotype heros Carl Schlesinger, Dave Seat and others. Congratulations and have fun at the premiere, guys. We're looking forward to seeing the film!

http://linotypefilm.com/screenings.html

Additional thoughts on delivery and elevator transfer cam damage.

Thinking more on Keelan’s damaged delivery and elevator transfer cam. Bill Spurling pointed out this repair that had been made on his Model 14

I know brazing cast iron can be tricky business, and it seems to be difficult to find folks who are willing to do it these days, but it can be done and in this case it is a clean effective repair. This solution seems to be a heck of a lot simpler than pulling the main cams and shaft apart. Still, the mystery is: how did this thing break? As far as I can see, this part of the cam is used to assist in retracting the ejector lever after the slug is ejected, but it seems that the mold cam lever does most of this work. I can't really imagine what would have caused this much force to crack the cam.

Linotype Machine Cycle View from Back

Linotype Machine Cycle from Back a video by Stumptown Printers on Flickr.

This is a post for Keelan Lightfoot who recently acquired a Linotype Model 31 with a damaged delivery and elevator transfer cam. His machine is not under power at this point, so he was hoping to see if he could determine if the damage to his machine is detrimental to its operation. Keelan, the 3rd perspective shows a line of white-out that I applied to the cam in order to determine where the follower hits it at this point. I thought it was a good idea, but it didn't really reveal much. The white-out wasn't quite dry when the cam rotated and it appeared to be un-touched after the cycle. Maybe this is good news, but I'm suspicious. I didn't really get a chance to dig around back there. But there you have it. Anyway, this perspective is not one that I see very often. It's quite a graceful motion, isn't it?

Linotype Photo Lifted from Flickr

linotype, a photo by yukali on Flickr.

This is a test post. I'm browsing Flickr photos and found this beauty. I wanted to see how the photo displays if I "share" through Blogger... Pretty easy to do, and looks pretty good, eh? A few clicks in Flickr and I've got blog content. I don't even know the photographer. Watch out! Flickr thief on the loose. Seriously, there are some fantastic photos of linecasters and related material from all around the world, past & present. A good place to start is to check out the Linotype / Intertype Lincasters group moderated by Michael Babcock of Linotypesetting.com