Wednesday, July 11, 2018 -- Cast Matrix from Photo Polymer Master
This is something you have not ever seen, and will maybe never see again. I experimented with photo polymer a few years ago, with the idea to make 'masters' for casting matrices. With the assistance of one of the last electrotype companies in the U.S. we sensitized a plastic photo polymer original and then copper plated it. The resulting shell was then backed up with Tin and the resulting matrix was cast with the original home-made foundry holder in the Super Caster.
A couple of comments:
As you can see, the 18 pt. casting had a large amount of flash, this is not a big deal as the matrix could have been further hand-worked or 'fitted' as the old boys say.
Second, where there were edges in the image, we proved that sharp reproduction was possible.
Third, the type image was not 100% because the matrices had some 'dirt' from the plastic plate that we thought could be chemically cleaned out better (we did a full font of 18 pt. Troy type from the digital version offered by P22). All but the one matrix seen here was returned to the electrotyper to be cleaned, and we never got them back.
Wednesday, July 11, 2018 -- Cast Matrix from Photo Polymer Master
This is something you have not ever seen, and will maybe never see again. I experimented with photo polymer a few years ago, with the idea to make 'masters' for casting matrices. With the assistance of one of the last electrotype companies in the U.S. we sensitized a plastic photo polymer original and then copper plated it. The resulting shell was then backed up with Tin and the resulting matrix was cast with the original home-made foundry holder in the Super Caster.
A couple of comments:
As you can see, the 18 pt. casting had a large amount of flash, this is not a big deal as the matrix could have been further hand-worked or 'fitted' as the old boys say.
Second, where there were edges in the image, we proved that sharp reproduction was possible.
Third, the type image was not 100% because the matrices had some 'dirt' from the plastic plate that we thought could be chemically cleaned out better (we did a full font of 18 pt. Troy type from the digital version offered by P22). All but the one matrix seen here was returned to the electrotyper to be cleaned, and we never got them back.