I have been talking to Andy about his design for a month or so and decided to make my own all wooden version of his press. I have about 6 man hours involed in the build, using my table saw, drill presse, 9" band saw and an orbital sander. I have secured the pivots with standard bolts, washers, and nuts (I am going to use clevis pins soon for quicker changes). So far I have been able to get an MA range of 7x to 14x. Since the pictures were taken I have corrected the short horizontal brace and rounded some edges for a softer look. I also used dowels to hold the main vertical support braces rather than screws. Holding the base to the vertical supports is probably the most critical aspect of this design (or any press for that matter) as the base wants to separate from the rest of the press under all the force (I found this out the hard way! screws will not hold it alone).
I have successfully measured 434 lbs (31 lbs x 14 MA) on a test for over 12 hours. I have since glued it together permanently and used the dowels as mentioned above and will be testing tonight with 49lbs. I also added an eye hook to the end to hang my weights. Thanks to Andy and his design. I truly believe this is the best homemade cheese press design.
Edit: I have about $26 in material invested into the entire press, it's just pine.
Chris