Adana HS2 Lever pressure
Hello everybody,
I’m new here and new to letterpress.
Apologies if this topic is covered (I’m sure it is) elsewhere, I searched, but maybe wasn’t using correct terms.
I’m a hobbyist print maker, mostly etching and screen prints.
Many years of satisfaction there.
I recently got a little adana HS2 to add some text to some of my prints, and print some business cards while I’m at it.
I’ve got some manuals from online (well manuals for the 8x5), but they don’t really help with my query.
How hard should one depress the lever when printing?
I am NOT after a deep impression and I’m very worried about damaging the small amount of lead type I have.
It seems I’m having to put quite a bit of pressure down to get good ink transfer, and then this means I get more impression than perhaps I’d like.
Does this imply my packing is too soft?
I don’t seem to be using very much: Mylar top sheet, 3-4 layers of tissue paper and an old litho blanket behind that. My take on modern swiss packing as seen at the happy dragons press.
I’m printing on relatively soft paper and the wonderful phrase “kiss” just doesn’t seem to apply to what I’m getting. With the sort of pressure I’d think of kissing the paper with there is too little ink.
Am I at risk of destroying my type?
Thank you
Rebecca
It is likely that the litho blanket provides more thickness than the press requires, and would certainly make too soft a surface if you are intending to get a kiss impression.
I’ll leave the specifics of the Adana to someone else (I used a Quarto Horizontal for a time, but not the HS). If anything like other similar presses, there should be a definite stop which limits the motion of the lever. The packing should allow you to reach that contact point.
I would start with little packing and add until the impression is suitable. It should not take a lot of arm pressure to print a small form on such a press.