Anyone have any of these Kelsey 3x5 parts laying around?
After a series of unfortunate events the Kelsey 3x5 I refinished in a bright company purple a few months ago was knocked off a shelf by my cat that decided to chase some shiny objects. Bing cast iron I’m impressed that the poor thing didn’t just explode when it fell 6 feet onto a concrete floor.
Besides my paint job being completely destroyed and having a big gouge in my floor the press survived largely intact except for one of the handle connecting pieces and bent roller hooks. The part is cracked straight in half.
The pictures highlight that part I am looking for. Does anyone have one of those laying around they would sell or even a broken 3x5 that has them? Besides that I could use a set of grippers and roller cores and trucks for it. I know I buy those online checking here is always a good start.
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Bring the surviving part to a local machine shop and they should be able to make a new one for you. Or buy a parts press on eBay, the ones with missing ink-disks or bed tend to be relatively cheap and plentiful.
On a separate note, why did you paint the platen? :p
And why purple? Presumably you want it as a decoration and not use it.
You should be able to find a flower pot to sit in the hole in the handle. Ivy would look nice growing across the press.
You can use the ink disk to play roulette.
It might have a ding in it, but the paint job certainly doesn’t look “completely destroyed.”
You could just turn it around so the damaged side faces the wall.
This one is purely a shelf item, I pulled it out of someones crawlspace last summer and it was making a good conversation piece with people visited the shop. I wasn’t looking for a 3x5 at the time but the $20 it cost me was impossible to pass up.
This was a before picture, its beat up now. The primer I used didn’t bond with the topcoat well so as it bounced across the floor it took a beating. I painted all of the cast pieces, that’s how the platen ended up purple, and polished the ink disk, roller hooks, rails etc…