The Adana 5x3 is a great little press. Much lighter in operation than the 8x5, but still a great, albeit small, platen. Some amazing prints have been produced by people who've reoriented a large piece of paper several times to create a much larger print than the 5/3's size limitation, but it is a labour of love. The time spent in registration must be phenomonal.
The beauty of the 5x3, though, is that it's small enough to pull out and put away without much effort. The 8x5 is similar but the 5x3 fits in a much smaller place, is far lighter, and requires much less operating room - so you can run it off a coffee table with ease and only notice that you've trod ink all through your carpet hours later.
The chase of the 5x3 has (like the HS1, but not the 8x5) set screws in it to permit you to lock up a forme in it without requiring quoins, which use up a valuable portion of the print area - particularly so in a press with a chase as small as the 5x3. The only problem with the set screws is that if the chase is crammed those set screws may protrude from the chase and prevent it from being loaded into the 5x3 bed.
Additionally, the bed of the 5x3 ALSO has set screws in it for holding the chase - so type could be set directly in the bed to give you a tiny bit more printing real estate in both directions.
| Rubber Length | Rubber Diameter | Runner Diameter Sml | Runner Diameter Lg |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 & 1/4" | 19mm or 3/4" | - | - |
| 135mm | 20.3mm | 25.4mm | 26.5 |
| 135mm | 20.9 | 26.5 | 26.5 |
Note that the last entry runner diameter was a runner with a single diameter which I'd got from the old Elli Evans store.
I'd strongly recommend the Caslon rubber rollers if your rollers need replacing. Rubber is the material that will last the longest
and will cope well with longer storage. The cheaper synthetic rollers will last a while but they'll break down a lot quicker than
the rubber ones.