While testing out the new Operating Lever Latch Spring on my Monotype caster, I heard a clunk as something fell to the floor. It turned out to be the broken pin wrench I had lost inside the caster a couple of days ago. The vibration of running the machine had shaken it out of its hiding place.
The left end is the one I broke adjusting the pump linkage rod length a couple of days ago. The right end, which was angled, was broken about a month and a half ago when I was adjusting the column pusher spring box length.
This is a (blurry, sorry) close-up of one of the broken ends. You can see the crystalline surface left by a brittle fracture. I feel that the tool was not sufficiently tempered after being hardened, leaving the ends too brittle to resist the forces encountered when using this tool to rotate a part.
I will probably make my own replacement, and although it won’t have such a nice knurled finish, I’ll make sure it is tempered enough to bend before breaking.
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