Dutch Style Cheese Press, home made.

[Phischy]

Using the pics on this page and the Dutch press plans my dad and I made this press out of ponderosa pine:



I've got to assemble it and then drill the pegs to hang weights from, but this is my first official cheese making hardware!  I haven't done anything else yet.  I'm setting up my wood shop so cash is tight as I expand on 2 hobbies at the same time.  But I hope to be making soft cheeses and yogurt within the month.

[Alex]

Nice, nice, nice and very simmilar to the one I built

[Phischy]

Nice, nice, nice and very simmilar to the one I built

Yes I know, I took the dutch plans you posted and used them for measurements, rounding up after converting to inches, and then took your design and made it similar.  No point in reinventing the wheel.  I still have to mount the pegs to the arm and a few other details as we didn't have time to finish it.

[Alex]

No point in reinventing the wheel

I agree with you.

As I am a cabinet maker too and found the sketch on the web, I only had to adapt it to my needs, and build it bigger and stiffer. As I wrote before, the next step will be to add pulleys and string to enhance the pressing power with same weight.

[Phischy]

Having not made a cheese yet, let alone a hard pressed one, what was the limits in weights you found for this design?  Will you add the pullys to the end of the arm, or do a redesign?

My goal is to make cheddar with this, is this design strong enough for the weights?

[FarmerJd]

That really depends on the size of the hoop you choose to use. For smaller hoops, 6 inch and under, you can press a cheddar pretty well. Cheddar needs much higher psi than other cheeses (somewhere between 10 and 50 psi depending on who you ask on here; I would answer on the upper end). That is hard to achieve with larger hoop size. Here is a thread where sailor posted a psi spreadsheet so you can figure your pressure. Remember, (and you may be well aware of this) your levered arm multiplies the force by a factor of about 4, I would say from the pics, so be sure you figure that in. In addition to that, the best way to add pulleys is like in this primitive drawing I made (ignore the extra lever I was thinking of adding). I think this is what Alex is talking about doing too. Good Luck!

[Alex]

Phischy, you've got a partial and correct answer from FarmerJd. As for my press, I shall upgrade the present one with the pulley and string system. The press has an arm length that gives a 4x multiplier in 0.5 increments. The pulley system should provide an additional 2x multiplier, mine will have a 3x multiplier as you can see on the attached pics.
The strength of the design depends on the bolt size that has to withstand shear force due to the forces between the plunger and the hor arm and bending of the arm.
In my design there are 1/4" bolts and two parallel arms made of 3/4" x 1-1/2" pine. The maximum weight applied ever, was 10 kgs at the end of the arm, which gives 40 kgs on the plunger.
About pressing forces there is a problem that I think nobody considered, I mean the height of the cheese/the amount of curds for a certain diameter. Books describe traditionally made cheeses by mentioning rind type and look and dimensions - dia/height. From this proportion is the recommended  pressure derived. Basically, as you increase/decrease the dia of your mould, you should adjust the pressure accordingly. To my opinion this is not enough, because a certain amount of curds in different moulds will give a different height. As curds give a spring form reaction due to the taller/shorter cheese, the pressure should be adjusted accordingly.
Those are my thoughts. I'll be more than happy to hear other opinions.

[DeejayDebi]

Alex I have been toying with the same though but English combined lever and screw press. Something like this:

[FarmerJd]

I just want to add a few thoughts. Alex is right about the shear strength of the bolt being the main concern but one other concern that I had to address was that there is no brace from the top of the press to the extensions under the arm. This creates a "moment" in physics terms or a torque type stress at the point where the press frame meets the base. I added two boards to brace it as you can see from the posted pics in my last post; without them my press would break at the base.


Alex, theoretically, the height makes very little difference. The only variable that I can think of that might be involved is the friction of the curds with the wall of the hoop. As for the springiness of the curds, a good way to imagine it is if a person is standing on your shoulders, they are pressing down on you. If they place fifteen pillows on your head and climb on, you are still supporting their weight entirely, albeit their pressure is distributed more evenly. This is one of those hard to believe principles I know. As I said though friction with the walls may a factor in keeping the weight from impacting the bottom curds. As proof, I would suggest that this may be the reason we flip the cheese. The side next to the follower is always more pressed. Just thought I'd throw in two cents worth.


Phischy, I am working on plans for building a press like the one you posted too. You may already know but the reason for the screw is because there is such a large mechanical advantage that the weight moves very quickly down to the base and the pressure is decreased. Remember that a mech advantage means a distance disadvantage in the same proportion. In the example you posted I think the mech advantage is about 30 which means that for every one inch the follower moves, the weight drops 30 inches so you have to use the screw to pick it back up and keep the pressure on. I think this is why they were always so tall so that you could have a long fall for the weight (plus you could press multiple hoops). With a small press you could just set it on a table and accomplish the same thing. Good luck and please keep us posted.

[Alex]

Alex I have been toying with the same though but English combined lever and screw press. Something like this:

Regardless of the screw and the pulley system, an interesting construction of the moment scheme to achieve more pressure with less weight.

[Alex]

I just want to add a few thoughts. Alex is right about the shear strength of the bolt being the main concern but one other concern that I had to address was that there is no brace from the top of the press to the extensions under the arm. This creates a "moment" in physics terms or a torque type stress at the point where the press frame meets the base. I added two boards to brace it as you can see from the posted pics in my last post; without them my press would break at the base.

I understand what you mean. In my press the two vertical posts are from 2" x 6" pine wood assembled to the base with mortise and tennon, so, no way of bending or disassembling of those elements.

Alex, theoretically, the height makes very little difference. The only variable that I can think of that might be involved is the friction of the curds with the wall of the hoop. As for the springiness of the curds, a good way to imagine it is if a person is standing on your shoulders, they are pressing down on you. If they place fifteen pillows on your head and climb on, you are still supporting their weight entirely, albeit their pressure is distributed more evenly. This is one of those hard to believe principles I know. As I said though friction with the walls may a factor in keeping the weight from impacting the bottom curds. As proof, I would suggest that this may be the reason we flip the cheese. The side next to the follower is always more pressed. Just thought I'd throw in two cents worth. 

If talking physics, we know that by applying force on an object, we get a reaction equal to the action. I mean, when we press a cheese from above, it gets the same amount of pressure from underneath. In spite of that said, you are right, we flip the cheese (including me), but this is because my hoop is a segment of a plastic water pipe with drilled holes. I put the hoop lined with cheese cloth on a shallow glass plate that collects the whey expelled due to pressing. Although I suck most of the whey with a syringe, the bottom is somewhat immersed in the liquid. An additional reason I flip, the bottom is rounded vs the top where the follower is.
I guess that using a Kadova style mould, it's not necessary to flip.
Friction - I don't think it's significant as we use plastic type moulds with low coefficient of friction. That would be more significant when using bare wooden moulds.

[DeejayDebi]

Alex even with kadova molds you have to flip the cheeses. They tend to puddle in the bottoms and they will also leave a ridge around the top.

[FarmerJd]

Alex,


When flipping your cheeses, do you notice less knitting on the bottom when you are making the flip? or maybe visa versa? Just curious if this is a product of cheese height.

As far as friction, I have a pvc hoop and a stainless steel one but friction is a product of the friction coeffiecient and the pressure. With a lot of pressure you can have significant friction even with a slick surface although I agree it is probably insignificant on our scale. I was just trying to extrapolate and think of a tower of cheese 3 stories high; would there be a difference at the bottom if you compensated for the added weight of the cheese on top. I wonder.

Mortise and tenon joints. My kind of cabinet maker! No school like the old school!

[Alex]

FarmerJd

When flipping your cheeses, do you notice less knitting on the bottom when you are making the flip? or maybe visa versa? Just curious if this is a product of cheese height.

To be honest, I am not sure if I can see/feel any difference. I explained the reasons I flip.

As far as friction, I have a pvc hoop and a stainless steel one but friction is a product of the friction coeffiecient and the pressure. With a lot of pressure you can have significant friction even with a slick surface although I agree it is probably insignificant on our scale. I was just trying to extrapolate and think of a tower of cheese 3 stories high; would there be a difference at the bottom if you compensated for the added weight of the cheese on top. I wonder.

It's midnight now, let me think about that tomorrow

[wharris]

I use a kadova mould.  1kg.

I have both flipped, and not flipped.  Bottom line is that I will always flip from this point forward.

The way the mould is constructed, the mould is compressed from above.  While the floor does provide equal force in the opposite direction, the mould lid moves in one direction: downward onto the cheese from above.

When I failed to flip my cheese, the curd knit was significantly different from the top to bottom of the wheel.  The curd knit was consistent only when i flipped it.