How should I clean my Adana

If in the UK use White Spirit. There is a reduced smell version in B&Q.
Get as much ink as possible off the rollers and ink disk by using some sheets of thin A4 card as cleaning cards. These can be reused over and over again.
As you close the press slip a card under the rollers as they run over the disk. After using several cards and there is little ink coming off the rollers and ink disk then wipe over with the white spirit on a cotton rag.
For cleaning a plate press news print onto the plate until there is no ink transferred and then wipe over with white spirit. While still damp go over the plate with a bristle brush (not plastic bristle) to get ink out of small crevices.

To clean the press I use pieces of newspaper pages cut to about the width of the ink disc and wide enough to cover the disc from where the rollers contact it to the top of their travel on the disc. I lay a sheet of newsprint on the platen to keep drips off the tympan, then lay one on the ink disc, run the rollers up to the bottom of the paper, and dribble a small amount of solvent, like the white spirit, or kerosene, as you run the rollers up slowly. Work them up and down on the disc while adding a small amount of solvent until all the ink on the rollers is wet with solvent. Be careful not to add too much solvent or it will drip off the ink disc into the press. Then roll off, discard that piece of newsprint and replace it with a fresh piece, and repeat. After about the third sheet of newsprint most of the ink will be gone from the rollers and ink disc. At that point I usually wipe both down with a used rag with some solvent on it, turning the rag until it comes away clean.

I’ve done wash-up that way for about 40 years on small and large presses and almost never get any ink on me and not often on the rest of the press. It’s quick and easy to do. Takes me about 2-3 minutes to completely clean up.

Bob

Hi there, I agree exactly with what adlibpress and platenprinter say, except to add that your rollers might not like kerosine, or maybe they may call it parraffin. So its
cheap for sure, but some rollers may not like it. They need
keeping in a special way when not on the press, supported just and only at both axle ends, so the roller surface covering touches no other surface at any point at all. Even if dead tired, your rollers MUST be cleaned before you finish for the day. One might get dried ink off an ink disc with emery cloth but that wont do your rollers any good at all! Most of our letterpress inks will dry pretty hard overnight.

I’ve very successfully used Lincoln Wash on my 3 different Adanas and Cropper Peerless treadle press for many years with no ill effects either to myself, to the rollers, or to the wooden or metal type.

Hawthorn stock it:

http://hawthornprintmaker.com/index.php/sundries/ink-wash-up.html