The guy I bought it from, would stick dowels into the holes to keep everything lined up. Worked fine so that's what I stuck with. Turns out, wetting the papers works just as well. I did have Bill make me a press stand in the off-season. I like it a lot. It's really nice being able to easily move the press around, and these cast iron presses aren't light.

I generally don't have issues blowing syrup everywhere...can't say I've ever blown a paper either.