Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Ludlow caster (Type slugs).

This is topic Ludlow caster (Type slugs). in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 08-13-2011, 11:41 AM:

It's a long shot, but has anybody here used one of these? If anybody has then I've got a couple of questions about them.

Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 08-13-2011, 08:56 PM:

Used one of these in a part time job in 64 & 65 during my brief stint as a college student. I'll answer what I can, also have an acquaintance who may be able to help too.

Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 08-14-2011, 03:55 AM:

Bill,

That's incredible, I didn't think I'd find somebody who'd actually used one.

Firstly, do you know the range of point sizes which the machine could cast?

Secondly, I once printed some cards for somebody, partly from some old slugs which they provided from a previous job, and partly from conventional foundry type which I set for text which had changed; e.g. new date etc. The slugs were strange, not like Linotype/Intertype ones. Looking at them end-on they were sort of 'T' shaped, with the body of the slug being considerably smaller than the point size of the type. Were these Ludlow? If so, how are you supposed to print them? You obviously need some sort of material between them, but conventional leading was too high to fit under the overhanging top of the slug without lifting it above type height; I ended up cutting some leading down to fit. Did Ludlow supply special material for this purpose? There is a video of a Ludlow caster in use on Youtube
but the details of the slug can't be seen.

I ask because, after several years this job is likely to come back to me again as there seem to be no small letterpress printers left in this part of the world now who will do a run of just one or two hundred cards in three colours.

The obvious way to do it now would be to print digitally with 4-up on A4, but they like the look of letterpress, and the card stock which they want to use is probably too thick to go through most digital machines.

Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 08-14-2011, 01:18 PM:

Look at a Risograph. I printed flyers (and a lot of other stuff) on a Risograph for years. With fiddling, they can handle card stock and envelopes.

The downside is that the registration isn't up to much, so multi-colour stuff can be a problem depending on how accurate you need to be.

Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 08-15-2011, 11:10 AM:

I'll have to get back to you on Tuesday with these answers, the last letterpress shop in this area switched to offset and whatever else about 13 months ago. They have been in business since the 1880s.