This won’t help Christie, but Brandi…it says you’re in/near Des Moines. If you are up for a trip out to Chicago, please do talk to Paul Aken as Jen mentioned below. He has a “platen press museum” which is just an amazing HUGE building full of presses and all kinds of other antique equipment he restores, plays with, or sells. Someone recommended him to me for looking for a less-expensive tabletop; not because he sells them cheaply, but because he often has a decent rotating selection of pieces in various states of disrepair, usually before he gets to restoring them himself.I got a rather large Craftsman tabletop (very similar to a Pilot) that needed a good cleaning, was missing a couple parts, etc. but not MAJOR work…for much cheaper than it would sell for on ebay or than he would have sold it once he finished cleaning/fixing/restoring it. So I just had to put in some elbow grease getting it “pretty” and replacing the few parts, and also got to learn a lot more about the machine, vs. just buying one that was totally ready to go. It’s still not a cheap investment, even for the little Kelsey’s as you’ll still need to buy rollers, furniture, type or a boxcar base, quoins, ink, and so on…but I still saved hundreds of dollars overall compared to buying the same press off of someone who had already fixed it up (and even right after I bought mine in February, there was an ebay auction for an identical press, in almost identical condition, not restored, needed work…that went for almost $300 more than what I paid).So if you’re trying to find something cheaper than the going rate on briarpress, ebay, etc. and you are willing to put in some time into fixing up a press, you might want to contact him to see what he has. Or, even if you are willing to pay for a full working one, he has fair prices I think, and will definitely be able to help you find something. His contact info is listed under The Platen Press in the yellow pages section of Briarpress. Good luck!
