Letterpress: Project, Rehabilitating a Slug Cutter
September 8, 2008
I didn’t set out on Saturday to spend three or four hours deeply cleaning and rehabbing a piece of Industrial-Revolution-era machinery, but so it goes.
I have a slug cutter, which is used to cut leading (spacing between lines) and slugs (thicker pieces of lead to provide support to set type forms). It’s probably a hundred years old and was coated with a century’s grease and grime and dirt. With Mr. Pencil’s guidance, I took all of the major pieces apart. One of the wonderful things about the items involved in letterpress is how self-evident they are. It’s obvious how this thing works if you look at it for a bit, and taking it apart doesn’t leave you worried that you will miswire an errant transistor. Or something.
After efforts with a wire brush, I went to the local auto parts store and bought engine degreaser and a drip pan and coated all of the pieces and let them soak. Then I gave them a scrubbing. We used stripper on the spring that provides support to the cutting arm. Finally, I reassembled the whole shebang and oiled it up.
Slug cutter, after rehab
Using a Slug Cutter
Step 1: Pull down on spring-loaded thumbplate and slide rod to desired position. Release to lock into place.
Step 1a: By "desired position", I mean leading/slug length. My slug cutter is able to cut on half-pica increments. Here I have it set for 25 pica.
This slug cutter has two sides, one to cut 2pt. leading (towards left here) and one for thicker 6pt. slugs (here on the right).
Step 2: Place your leading or slug in the correct side/track for cutting. In this case I am cutting 2pt. leading so it goes on the top track (see photo above for detail). Press down on handle to cut. It doesn't take much effort or force (lead is soft, after all).
Like presses, slug cutters need oil in friction spots. Here are some oil holes, glistening with a fresh oiling.
Slug cutter detail: you can see where the oil is doing its job.
This high tech is PATENTED!
2 Comments
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September 23, 2008
Lyza,
First, I’d like to thank you for posting about your slug cutter- I am *brand*new* to letterpresses (the ink is still unopened), and your pictures and explanation was very helpful in understanding how my slug cutter works.
I’m an engineer, and I *think* that I’ve figured out an improvement on your understanding of which lead is cut where, however. I think that the 6pt slug gets cut on the inside/top track, because there is greater leverage there, and the 2pt would get cut on the side away from the hinge.
Do you think that I may be right, or do you have the original manual, and I’m just missing something? Any insight would be appreciated.
Nice site!
hi i am from Argentina, I have a digital print shop, to come to hand slug cutter (I did not know it was) is equal to the photo, looking online to know it was getting to you, thanks now it works, the mine is stuck can not find how to remove obstacles to move desired the pikes, the rest is intact but I saw a piece missing later. http://www.briarpress.org/20391
regards
Pd: I do not speak English, use the google translator.