5 Steps To Keep Your Printing Rollers/Brayers In Good Condition

I had bit of a disaster with one of my professional quality rollers/brayers recently. I bought a Durathane roller/brayer about 15 years ago, and I’ll be honest, my knowledge of cleaning them properly wasn’t the best. So over time the Durathane deteriorated and became a little bit sticky and unusable.

I now know a lot more about keeping my rollers/brayers in good condition, regardless of their quality. So keep on reading to find out how to keep your printing rollers/brayers in a good condition and hopefully will last you a life time worth of printing

*I always use oil based inks when printing and these are how to clean up oil based ink

1 Remove Excess Ink

Using clean newspaper, roll off as much ink from the roller/brayer until there is hardly any ink left. This will make the next steps easier

2 Clean The Roller/Brayer

I never use water on my rollers/brayers. Using a oil based cleaner, like Zest it, or you can use vegetable oil, place a little bit onto a clean rag and wipe the surface of the roller/brayer. Make sure you do the sides/edges of the roller/brayer too. Keep wiping until it looks clean and not oily

3 Remove Excess Cleaning Oil

Now this is the step and the next step I didn’t do with my fancy roller/brayer when I first got it, but I now do.

On a fresh clean piece of newspaper, roll your roller/brayer. This may seem pointless but it will remove any cleaning oil residue

4 Dust Roller/Brayer with Corn Flour

Add some corn flour/ corn starch to the roller/brayer. This will ensure any cleaning oil is absorbed. Gently rub on and off again.

5 Store Rollers/Brayers correctly

Most will have a stand/feet attached to the frame which you can rest your roller/brayer when not in use, however if you don’t then resting them on the rubber roller for periods of time can distort them. So hanging the up is a good solution, just make sure the rubber part is not touching anything.

By following the 5 steps above will keep you printing rollers/brayer in tip top shape for years to come

So what happened to my Durathane Roller/Brayer?

Luckily the roller/brayer part was removable and replaceable, yay. So to find out how I restored my knackered roller/brayer please read my blog post How I Restored My Old Printing Roller/Brayer