Diana
this looks very much like the press in the link you gave
http://www.jerrysartarama.com/discou...hing-press.htm
here is one review I found on that press from an earlier archived post by forum member and occasional contributer Charles Morgan. Sorry I tried to paste this in here as a quote but no option available to do so:
Here is what Charles wrote, but take note his review would include other types of printmaking usage with the press which may or may not be applicable in your case if it is just for printing drypoint:
I do own the small press from Jerry's, and it has a number of serious flaws. For one thing, I found it very fidly to get the pressure right, and had great difficulty printing intaglio with it. Also the maximum separation betwen the rollers is quite small, and so you will have difficulty printing any but the thinest woodblocks or mounted lino. I found the crank handle to be almost unusable, so I made a "star wheel" for mine.
The small diameter rollers on both these presses are not very suitable, as they cause severe blanket creep ... which means your paper is likely to shift. In the end, I used contact cement to glue velcro onto the ends of the bed, and then stitched velcro onto the ends of the blanket to help cut down the creep.
Even with my modifications, which improved the Jerry's press greatly, I would not recommend it.
I would advise you to consider other options ... (1) Even paying someone to build you a bottle jack press would be cheaper and you would be better satisfied. (2) Or one of the smaller Richeson etching presses mentioned would be a better bet than the Speedball. (3) If you are only doing relief work, you might be just as happy with a home made proofing press, although personally I find the restriction to have all blocks "type high" to be a royal pain. (4) If you are thinking of going for a proofing press, experiment with smaller blocks and a kitchen rolling pin ... put rails along side your block of the same thickness as your block (or lino) to support the ends of the rolling pin. If you are happy with the results, it is a simple matter to make a longer "rolling pin" out of pvc sewer pipe. If you want one but feel unable to make a pvc roller yourself, just contact me off list ... I will send you details of how to do it (very simple) and I am sure you can find someone local to make one for you for just a few dollars.
Cheers ....... Charles
ps. he makes a good point about blanket creep and his remedy for it is worth noting
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