Category: Letterpress for beginners
Later topic: Letterpress in the Philippines
Earlier topic: Original C&P colors

Adana 8x5 + Starter Kit

Hi there,

My wife and I run a small graphic design studio in the US and are looking to get our feet wet in Letterpress. Due to budget and space issues, we would like to start out with a table-top press, and have been looking into the Adana 8x5. We’ve gotten some price quotes from a few places, and wanted to get more input to make sure we have everything we need to get started, and to see if we could find some of the supplies and parts locally in the US to save some money.

So far we have been told the following items would be what we need to start printing with metal/wood type and plates:

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Adana 8x5 (refurbished)
New HD Roller & runners
Type Setting Stick
One font of type
Matching type spacing
Line spacing
4 adjustable Quoins to lock in the type
Wooden packing strips
Small tub of Black Ink
Machine and typesetting User Guides
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Do these items looks sufficient and is there anything else we would need or eventually need once we got started? And if you know of any US dealers that may sell supplies so that we can compare costs.

Thanks for your time!
Chris

Log in to reply   4 replies so far

You don’t need four quoins for lockup in such a small press. But you will want a very flat hard surface (a slab of precisely ground stone or metal) for lockup. I was lucky to acquire a machinist’s granite surface plate, accurately flat to about one ten-thousandth of an inch. The flatter the better for good printability. You’ll also want as many type cases as you have fonts of type — typesetting from a galley or a cigar box is very slow and frustrating.

Bob

Thanks, Bob.

I also read that a piece of plate (float) glass could possibly work in place on the metal slab. What do you think about that? Just not sure how readily available the slabs would be to find.

In regards to type cases, are you referring to the wooden drawers with dividers, or the plastic containers with dividers?

Thanks again,
Chris

Dont overdo the hunt for a plate to lock up on you can use a piece of kitchen work top as long as its a good couple of inch thick ,flat and has a smooth non textured surface .

Thanks Peter, that’s a great idea.