Smolt,
I admire the design of your sturdy press, and especially the fact that you can select two different mechanical advantages. I'm curious about what could be improved?
Actually, I have been playing with possible improvements in the design of the press that I made a while back (a picture here:
http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,12702.msg98529.html#msg98529, and plans in reply # 11 here:
http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,6509.0.html). One design that I think is ultra-cool is the compound-lever, very-high-MA press that is pictured and described in reply # 6 of the latter thread -- and I see that you commented on it as well, specifically noting the issue of range of movement. Are you by any chance experimenting with a variation of that design?
I have some thoughts about how such a design might be modified to allow selectable MA, both to allow more range of movement, and for ease in achieving lower pressures (I don't know that I
need 40 psi very often, but I certainly do need to be able to apply only .25 psi, or even less, for the initial press of many cheeses). I'm still debating, though, whether to go with something simpler, still with selectable MA, but topping out at 8x or so MA.