Mark,
Build 'em, my friend. You have the smarts and the tools to build alot better easels than you will ever buy from any easel company.
Look at Amron's current catalog for some ideas and then hack up some red oak or whatever you can buy at Central City Lumber or Carter's out on Rte. 50 and use oak cup or coat hanger pegs (those wooden pegs that have sort of a mushroom head on them) with a few holes drilled in the faces of the easel legs for adjustment. You can get those oak pegs at Ace Hardware in Salem. They have a large craft supplies section and there are different lengths to choose from there.
I built those easels that I had in my old gallery that way and they are still working today.
Email if you want more information.
Tom