Adana 8x5 troubleshooting

I was wondering what anyone thinks could be wrong with my press. I just did another run with my boxcar press base and polymer plate. It was another disaster. Check out my photos. You can see the ink was never consistent and I could hardly get an impression! Does this have anything to do with the press’s capabilities? I adjusted as much as I could with the screws in back, rollers, and packing. I only got ONE good print out of about 25..

I am seriously thinking of ditching this press! Does anyone recommend getting another table top press? If so, which would give me better impression using hand power?

Thanks in advance!

image: IMG_2526.jpg

IMG_2526.jpg

image: bad ink, no impression

bad ink, no impression

image: IMG_2532.jpg

IMG_2532.jpg

image: adjusted screws

adjusted screws

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Don’t ditch your press. But instead take time to adjust it and learn to work with it. From the photos it looks that your adjustment screws need more attention. My suggestion is to create a forme with a 24 pt character in every corner and to adjust your platen, without any ink on the press. Make sure that your platen is parallel to your forme first, you can even make a blind impression on some paper. Once you’re satisfied with a good alignment, tackle the next thing, the inking. Maybe you need to tape your bearers. Be patient, you can print very well on these Adanas.

Hi Thomas,

Thanks for the advice. I had been playing around with the screws for about 40 mins. I turned them to their max ( as far as I can get them to turn) I did get one good print from the batch, but the next prints after that were all very inconsistent.

Any thoughts?

double check that the metal furniture holding the base in place is not hitting your side guide. That could explain poor impression. I can’t tell by the photo.

I can see from the photos, that this isn’t the first time you print on this press. Did you encounter problems on previous occasions, or is it happening with the photo polymer plate and the Boxcar base? It also looks to me (and PaulM) that your furniture is very high. The MOST important thing is to get the four corners exactly set. Close very carefully your platen, and check with a thin strip of paper that all corners are at equal distance from the forme. Feel your base and make sure that your screws hold everything nicely in place. Keep trying, but take your time. You shouldn’t be able to tilt the base of the press. I hope this is of any help and clear.

Thanks everyone for all of your advice!