Options for large (20x24") easels

Hey all,

I've recently built a new darkroom, it's built to be capable of printing up to 20x24". I have the trays and enlarger to do so but i'm missing one final piece, the easel. I bid on a 20x24 saunders one but the seller seems to send his messages by carrier pigeon and has deleted the ad today. I've also looked into building one myself, i've seen options for ones with fixed frames but since i change around my composition with every negative this doesn't seem practical to me. Or can i just cut my print afterward? I've also seen someone built a vacuum easel but this seems a bit complicated and not very useful in the end. I've found little resources on building a normal style easel. I am decently handy and have a good amount of tools, my brother is studying mechanical engineering so i could ask for some help. I'm based in the Netherlands.

What do you guys think a fair price is if i find a 20x24 easel again?
And does anybody know of other options to build one myself?

There's one on my local Craigslist here in Northern California, but that won't be too useful to you in the Netherlands. But it might give you some idea of (asking) prices...

Thanks for your response,
I've only seen them go for around 1000 on ebay, the one in Germany was €500. So that's a good deal, i could try to ship it here but with import and shipping costs it's probably not worth it. Thanks anyway!

I bought my RRB 20*24 easel through Marktplaats some 7 years ago for €100; saw one a few years ago for €50

Getting an RRB easel might be a bit easier but i probably won't get it for that price, you must have been very lucky! How is that easel working for you? It looks pretty nice but you have to offset it a lot to make smaller prints right?

DutchDarkroom said:

Thanks for your response,
I've only seen them go for around 1000 on ebay, the one in Germany was €500. So that's a good deal, i could try to ship it here but with import and shipping costs it's probably not worth it. Thanks anyway!

Click to expand...

Why would there be import fees within the EU? Plus it might be cheaper for you to just go and pick it up in person.