Adana Hand Presses

The Adana series were developed in the Twickenham, UK and had many different versions over the years. Most notable are the later hand presses; the Adana 5x3, the less common Adana 6x4 and the well known Adana 8x5.

Prior to these models there were several other presses, including some tabletop flat bed models and the HS "High Speed" mini platens.

In my collection I have a 5x3 (my first press), an 8x5 and an HS1 - albeit missing an inking disk.

Spares for some adana presses are available from Casloni/AdanaLetterpress UK but you can often find parts on ebay.co.uk as well.

Dual diameter Roller Runners Many adana presses come with roller runners (the small plasic wheels on the ends of the shaft which are often referred to as "trucks" on other presses) that have two diameters. The theory is that new rollers will run on the larger diameter and then as they get older and worn you flip the runners around so they run on the smaller diameter which brings the ink rollers closer to the type.
Practically, however, the rollers rarely wear out evenly over the face of the roller - they generally wear out in the location that you print the most (i.e. on the left justfied margin or the centre) but in theory the dual diameter runners offer you a little bit of extra printing out of a worn set of rollers.
Dual diameter runners are available for the 5x3, 8x5 and HS2/6x4 printers from Caslon.


Spares

If you're thinking about buying spares for your press I would heartily recommend buying additional chases - they save you the hassle of distributing type or attempting to tie up a forme for storage. If you have a 5x3 model a spare type bed isn't a bad investment, for the same reason.