Adana Eight Five: how to clean ink plate?

ruk
on 27 Apr 10 (07:41)
Updated 27 Apr 10 (07:43)

I’m working to recondition an Adana Eight Five salvaged from a local hospital in the days before it was torn down.

While I’ve been able to clean it up and get everything moving as it should, I’m wondering about the best way to clean the ink plate, which is covered with years and years of dirt, ink, and other (I’ve attached photos to illustrate).

I welcome suggestions for the best way to clean this off, and also for what I should be looking for once the ink plate is clean — i.e. should it be completely smooth, somewhat rough, etc.

Adana Eight Five Ink Plate

jhenry
on 27 Apr 10 (07:53)

Use a strong solvent such as acetone (nail polish remover) and you will see the ink disappear before your eyes. This ink disk seems in very good condition, and should give you no difficulty once you get the little residual ink off.

You probably should not use the strong solvent on your rollers, however. Just start out with black ink and after a few cleanings, with standard roller wash or press solvent, you may be ready to use lighter inks without danger of the darker ink bleeding out of the rollers.

ruk
on 27 Apr 10 (08:31)

Thanks for the suggestions.

Fortunately I’ve brand new rollers (just arrived from http://www.caslon.co.uk/); the old rollers were scored beyond recovery.

ruk
on 27 Apr 10 (15:42)

I used your suggestions for nail polish remover, and thorough cleaned the ink plate this afternoon. The ink/grime didn’t quite “melt” off the ink plate, but, with a little elbow grease, it certainly came off in the end.

Once I’d cleaned off all the ink, I used a little “Fast Orange” hand cleaner on my finger tips to make one last pass; it seemed just-abrasive-enough without being too much so, and it cleaned things up to a polish.

Photos attached.

(Thanks again for your quick and helpful reply).

Cleaned Adana Eight Five Ink Plate