Wednesday, May 9, 2018 -- Comp Holder Adaptor
Here is a neat little adaptor prototype that one of my guys printed on his 3D machine. This adaptor holds large composition matrices so that they align with a display mould. As designed, Monotype display moulds and composition moulds have their nicks on opposite sides (Cast type in the Super Caster exits the display mould and accumulates on the right side of the machine, to be read "right side up" with the nick towards the operator. If the original designer of the Super Caster were a trained compositor who was used to reading type upside-down, the machine would just use composition mould architecture and eject the type "upside down", with the nick away from the operator as it would appear in a composition stick, with no issue. With the composition machine, designed before the Super Caster, the type is still accumulating to the right of the operator, but the orientation of the type itself is reversed as the machine runs on perforated tape that is read from the last line first. This is a brilliant feature of the comp caster, it reads each line spacing requirement before it casts the line, even though the spacing information was punched in the paper tape after the line was created). By turning a large comp mat 180 degrees to cast in a regular holder it is also offset by 0.200", this little device should correct the location of the mat back to a proper position over the mould. I have a nice mat case of 18 pt. Imprint waiting to be cast. What is your experience with casting large composition on the Super Caster, is there another way to do it without having the comp mould of the correct size and still have the nick in the correct location? Thanks goes out to John Cornelisse for his original ideas about the 4SL holder and possible adaptors.
May 11 -- This holder works on large comp matrices that would normally cast in the 5SL holder, they cannot be rotated and keep the same position. The 4SL holder is more flexible and should be adjustable. If you have followed this so far, it just allows a lot more flexibility to the 4SL holder, which is such a nice holder to begin with.
Wednesday, May 9, 2018 -- Comp Holder Adaptor
Here is a neat little adaptor prototype that one of my guys printed on his 3D machine. This adaptor holds large composition matrices so that they align with a display mould. As designed, Monotype display moulds and composition moulds have their nicks on opposite sides (Cast type in the Super Caster exits the display mould and accumulates on the right side of the machine, to be read "right side up" with the nick towards the operator. If the original designer of the Super Caster were a trained compositor who was used to reading type upside-down, the machine would just use composition mould architecture and eject the type "upside down", with the nick away from the operator as it would appear in a composition stick, with no issue. With the composition machine, designed before the Super Caster, the type is still accumulating to the right of the operator, but the orientation of the type itself is reversed as the machine runs on perforated tape that is read from the last line first. This is a brilliant feature of the comp caster, it reads each line spacing requirement before it casts the line, even though the spacing information was punched in the paper tape after the line was created). By turning a large comp mat 180 degrees to cast in a regular holder it is also offset by 0.200", this little device should correct the location of the mat back to a proper position over the mould. I have a nice mat case of 18 pt. Imprint waiting to be cast. What is your experience with casting large composition on the Super Caster, is there another way to do it without having the comp mould of the correct size and still have the nick in the correct location? Thanks goes out to John Cornelisse for his original ideas about the 4SL holder and possible adaptors.
May 11 -- This holder works on large comp matrices that would normally cast in the 5SL holder, they cannot be rotated and keep the same position. The 4SL holder is more flexible and should be adjustable. If you have followed this so far, it just allows a lot more flexibility to the 4SL holder, which is such a nice holder to begin with.