Author Topic: Dutch Style Cheese Press, home made.  (Read 77079 times)

FarmerJd

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Re: Dutch Style Cheese Press, home made.
« Reply #30 on: January 10, 2010, 03:12:13 AM »
This is my point, Wayne. There must be some factor that produces this.

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: Dutch Style Cheese Press, home made.
« Reply #31 on: January 10, 2010, 03:18:20 AM »
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.

I do find that this is not as much an issue with the bigger kadova molds but the tapper on the smaller ones tends to almost hold it back somewhat. The bigger ones will press to about an inch from the bottom before hanging.

wharris

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Re: Dutch Style Cheese Press, home made.
« Reply #32 on: January 10, 2010, 03:21:52 AM »
I do find that this is not as much an issue with the bigger kadova molds but the tapper on the smaller ones tends to almost hold it back somewhat. The bigger ones will press to about an inch from the bottom before hanging.

Others might think you are merely contributing to the conversation....
I, however, know you are really lording your larger Kadova moulds over me.....  :)

(am so envious.)

Offline Boofer

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Re: Dutch Style Cheese Press, home made.
« Reply #33 on: January 20, 2010, 07:23:21 AM »
Alex & Phishy - Would either of you care to share details about your press? In particular, type and size of lumber components. I'm concerned about the tensile strength of the lever arm and other stressed components.

I think I need a little sanity check on my calculations. 1700 pounds?!  :o  Is that really possible? That would come close to creating a cosmic black hole in my kitchen.  ???

If these numbers are anywhere near accurate, the press would need to be crafted in steel or cast iron. Seriously, I realize I don't need this much pressure to adequately squeeze my cheese. It's extrapolated to this degree as a curiosity only.

-Boofer-
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FarmerJd

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Re: Dutch Style Cheese Press, home made.
« Reply #34 on: January 20, 2010, 02:51:23 PM »
Great spreadsheet. As far as the press taking the pressure (1700 lbs), the only 2 places where there is a problem is the lever arm (as you pointed out) and the the extended legs under the arm because there is no brace to carry the moment force to the end of the legs. I had to put 2 braces (seen here) on my press after I began using it because it was beginning to deflect the 2 extension legs significantly. This is not necessary for smaller amounts of pressure.


The primary consideration with adding the pulleys (before you go to the trouble as I did), is that you will not have room for the weight to move far enough to keep the pressure on your cheese unless you increase the height of the press significantly. I posted my troubles here. 20 to 1 mechanical advantage means the follower moves 1 inch when the weight moves 20 inches. You may have already considered this and if so please ignore. I just went to a lot of trouble for nothing because I had not thought of it. Good luck.

Offline Boofer

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Re: Dutch Style Cheese Press, home made.
« Reply #35 on: January 20, 2010, 03:10:02 PM »
Farmer - Yes, I had considered the travel distance to accomplish the 4:1 pulley advantage. Anyone who has ever used a block & tackle can appreciate that little gotcha. You have to give up something to gain that advantage. Pulling on a rope forever  ;)  is the tradeoff. It was a curiosity thing. I do believe the calcs are correct...just a little impractical for a cheesepress. But you have to appreciate the idea of a 20:1 advantage!  ;D  In reality, I'll probably gear down to two pulleys as I have seen here in some commercial cheeseries.

What ratio are you using with what weight. I'm sorry I don't remember that detail. I do recall seeing those big hurky weights you had on yours.

How is the recovery coming along? You probably still have quite a smoky smell lingering.

-Boofer-
Let's ferment something!
Bread, beer, wine, cheese...it's all good.

Alex

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Re: Dutch Style Cheese Press, home made.
« Reply #36 on: January 20, 2010, 05:44:57 PM »
Alex & Phishy - Would either of you care to share details about your press? In particular, type and size of lumber components. I'm concerned about the tensile strength of the lever arm and other stressed components.

I think I need a little sanity check on my calculations. 1700 pounds?!  :o  Is that really possible? That would come close to creating a cosmic black hole in my kitchen.  ???

If these numbers are anywhere near accurate, the press would need to be crafted in steel or cast iron. Seriously, I realize I don't need this much pressure to adequately squeeze my cheese. It's extrapolated to this degree as a curiosity only.

-Boofer-

Boofer, I'm not sure I understood your worksheet. Do you mean to apply 1700 lbs on a 6" in mould? Do you mean 60 psi? I didn't understand how do you get the 20:1 advantage as well. But if that's true, you have to apply a weight of only 85 lbs that should be about 40 kg. I've posted some of my press' dimensions in former posts on this thread. I also stated that the max. weight ever used by me was 10 kg. I have to say that it will carry even 20 kg, just a feeling because i haven't check mechanical properties of pine wood and didn't make any strength calculations. You can increase the strength of this structure just by using beech or oak wood. I am not sure I was helpfull this time. :-[

FarmerJd

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Re: Dutch Style Cheese Press, home made.
« Reply #37 on: January 20, 2010, 08:41:02 PM »
Thanks for asking about the house. Actually the smell is gone. It kind of eased out around the first of the year. Of course it is buried beneath four coats of kiltz and paint and all new hardwood floors.  On real humid days I sometimes get a little whiff but not much. We finally started milking this morning. Cheesemaking will resume in a couple of weeks.

My press has a 4 to 1 advantage. I put 300- 350 lbs on the arm which translates to about 1200 lbs on the cheese or 15 psi on a 10 inch wheel. I really wish I could increase that so I am looking at other options but for now I am turning out great cheeses so I am not in a rush. I am finding that aging properly has been my real problem all these years. I finally set up a cave this fall and every single cheese has turned out great even though they were all faulty in some way when I made them. Patience really is the cheesemakers most important virtue.

hbx

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Re: Dutch Style Cheese Press, home made.
« Reply #38 on: February 07, 2010, 05:37:38 AM »
Nice work on the presses guys (!)... and thanks for posting pictures.  You are encouraging me to try and build one of these--as soon as I find the time.

Rizzo

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Re: Dutch Style Cheese Press, home made.
« Reply #39 on: April 18, 2014, 09:42:56 PM »
Hi
did the pix and drwings of these presses ever get posted? I want to build one similar..thanks

GregRobson

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Re: Dutch Style Cheese Press, home made.
« Reply #40 on: November 15, 2015, 11:40:55 PM »
This is my incarnation of the backyard Dutch Cheese Press inspired by "Alex-The Cheesepenter" and "Phischy". I used Pine and Oak, because that was available cheaply at the local hardware store. Here are some pictures.

Some notes:
Screw holes were drilled and then filled with a dowel and sanded over
All joints were screwed and glued
The press is covered with a couple of layers of a mix of beeswax and food safe mineral oil
The lever multiply factor is about 3 to 4 times depending on where you pivot the arm or hang the weight. If you make the lever arm longer, you'll get a higher factor.
When pressing the cheese, place a food safe plastic chopping board between the uprights, under the plunger arm

Have pressed cheeses with weights up to 7kg (thats abt 15 lbs I guess), with a resultant plunger pressure of 28kg (60 lbs ?) as measured on a kitchen scale. Its quite stable at these weights and possibly a lot higher.
I'm sure there are other ways of doing this, this is my way

Pictures and a sketchup plan are attached. You can use Sketchup to measure the plan or change it. If you do, please post the results here with pictures

Rgds
Greg
« Last Edit: November 16, 2015, 12:01:01 AM by GregRobson »

CheesieB

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Re: Dutch Style Cheese Press, home made.
« Reply #41 on: November 16, 2015, 01:43:28 PM »
This is my home made Dutch style cheese press. It's made out of native Oak (Ireland).
I got the SS tray made by a local engineering company. The grand total cost was €350
It's extra high to allow for stacked 1kg Kadova moulds.
I counter sunk all screw heads and covered them with liquid wood before sanding and lacquering