physics in 8th grade!
Really? Amazing.
Several questions occur to me from checking out your press:
- What is the weight of your lever arm and plunger/piston/ramrod? And do you include that in your calcs?
- It seems like the lever arm would slip out of the guide at the left end if you had to press a tall cheese. There seems to be no provision for stepping the plunger/piston/ramrod up to accommodate a taller cheese. Right?
- What's the maximum pressure you have tested with your press? That digital scale doesn't look like it would max higher than maybe 11 pounds.
-Boofer-
1) I haven't weighed them yet, because I found out 1) that the kitchen scale only goes to 11 (cue Spinal Tap) and 2) my bathroom scale is inaccurate due to its non-flat surface
2) At this time, I've got no plans to make taller cheeses, but if I did, I would drill new holes in the plunger and adjust it. One reason that I kept the arm's height much more than it needed to be was to strengthen it. One advantage is that if the arm can stand on its own, it won't have friction to contend with, and the calculations will be more accurate.
I didn't want the left guides to go any higher, but one consideration I have is to bring them in -- that easy enough by unscrewing them, and I think the look would be better (right now, it looks huge compared to others').
3) To be seen...using that bathroom scale, an 19 oz empty paint can provided 32-43 lbs of pressure. By my calculations -- without the wood's weight -- I should expect 25 lbs.
I'll probably use those calculations this weekend instead of buying a scale (and be sure to include the weight of the wood).