Dear colleagues,
In the coming months there will be a number of typographer's moulds produced in the Netherlands similar to the one in the picture. They will be working devices able to cast metal type.
If you are *seriously* interested in owing a hand mould, please drop me an email at:
http://www.re-type.com/contact/**Please state the size of your mould in points (make please clear if they are Pica or Didot points).
Thanks in advance.
Comments
Delighted to see that someone's going to be making some.
I found also this link on another list :
"University of North Texas and Texas A&M University Libraries have made a 3-D printed Hand Mold and Matrix for teaching the process. you can download plans and print one!"
The mould in the picture above is the one in possession of the Plantin Moretus. Here is a picture of the one in possession of Gerard Post van der Molen, complete with custom screwdrivers and the case.
Most heat resistant plastic would explode, I imagine, and while that might not be a bad thing for some designs once control was established, let me know a while before you might try this in school.
Anyway, why using plastic when with modern technologies metal typographer's moulds can be produced rather easily?
BTW is that bismuth alloy hard enough?
BTW there are printers that use more heat-resistant materials than plastic (like concrete, which however is probably too brittle) but those are probably too expensive.
Metals with low melting temperatures for casting would be alloys, generally containing bismuth but often including lead and/or cadmium. They're generally referred to as fusible alloys and the hardness of constituent metals don't necessarily have a direct baring on the harness of the alloy. Lead is about 5 on the Brinell scale—Twice as hard as hardwood... The generic kind that might be used for wood type, just as a frame of reference. From a quick scan of specs for a few fusible alloys they tend to be somewhat harder than lead, starting at 9. (... Was pure lead ever used for casting type?)
Here's something about alloys that can used in 3D printed plastic moulds: http://www.fabbaloo.com/blog/2017/2/12/low-temperature-metals-for-casting-in-3d-printed-plastic-molds