Never put anything–even a pica pole or a makeup rule–on top of a type form. Always start with a light impression on your press and slowly build up. Type is fragile no matter how "hard" it is. Improper machine operation will assure bad type no matter what metal is being used in the pot. I suggest that primary concern should be on proper operation of the machine rather than on the metal formula being used. In my shop, I have some very lousy type cast by such giants as MacKellar, Smiths and Jordan, Barnhart Brothers and Spindler, & others–founders who boasted of having the hardest type. They have to get the metal into the mold, they have to get the metal to fill every tiny part of the face of the letter, and they have to somehow get rid of the air filling the mold cavity, But keep in mind, the Mono was intended to make the user his own typefounder and Lanston always strongly advocated "cast, print, dump."Īll typecasting devices share the same problems. Speed and automation with the Monotype compromised these matters.
ATF Barth and Bruce casters cast a more solid piece of type and that also is very important. They do use better metal and they buy "new" metal, where most of us use whatever comes our way. There is no question but that ATF type is superior to what we Monotypers cast. The Bruce and Barth, as well as the various "foundry" casters used in Europe, all have the potential for casting better type because they have the potential for moving metal under greater pressure. That includes Monotype composition casters, Thompsons, Giants, Super Casters, the Bruce, the Barth - and even the hand mold.
Type of good quality can be made on virtually any typecasting device. *A test for determining the relative hardness of a metal by measuring the diameter of the indentation made when a steel ball is forced into the metal under a given pressure. With the hope that these few words on a subject -which is not really our technical specialty will assist those using type. He discussed the problem at length, and told us he believed our metal formula was entirely suited to the use of our customers. We were fortunate enough to have the pleasure of a visit by Henk Droost, master typefounder of Enschedee, who spent a week with us two years ago. The notion that copper gives extra hardness to type is considered a myth by many experts, and one which was used to sell type in the late 19th Century when competition was so keen that extravagant claims were needed for that extra advantage. For those making type, it is always good to use new metal, not metal which is mixed in the pot of the machine, and never metal which contains material such as copper, zinc and other things which harm the typemaking process. Needless to say, dropping type on its face on a concrete floor seldom improves it.Ī good book to read by those wishing to pursue this matter further is "Printing Metals" by Fry. Physical damage to the type can be avoided by placing it carefully in cases, rather than throwing it. A cylinder press, or cylinder proof press, will help a great deal, as well as being capable of better and quicker makeready.Īdditionally, careful selection of paper can discover splendid papers which will be minimally wearing on type.
If a type is desired to last, the impression should be even, and much care must be given to the makeready. Because of the beauty of some of these papers and the felicity of the impression, it may be that some types can only be used a few times, or even once in extreme circumstances, and still make the user happy. Deep impressions also wear type profoundly, as do some kinds of papers (even without wood). The paper was indeed exotic, but we were changing some pieces of type every 20th impression. We have used intriguing papers here which have had wood chips and pieces of harder substances. The most important factors in type wear have nothing to do with metal, but with printing methods. It would need a very large cylinder (for a 38x50 sheet, perhaps), perfect makeready and a wholly dependable coated book paper. If metal is too soft, it wears quickly if too hard, it can be brittle where there are kerned characters.Īs many as 500,000 impressions have been made on Monotype metal however, not only is this unthinkable for a hobbyist, the conditions to obtain these results are impossible to obtain in a small shop.
Typemetal mix manual#
The Monotype casting manual says of this mixture, "This is the recommended alloy for the dual purposes of composition and case type, for which it is well suited by reason of its good combination of wear resistance and ease of handling. I think I can shed a bit of light on the age-old controversy over the hardness of metals.įirst, the metal we use is new 10% tin, 167, antimony and 747, lead.
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