Author Topic: My Dutch cheese press...hooyah!  (Read 42979 times)

Alex

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Re: My Dutch cheese press...hooyah!
« Reply #30 on: May 30, 2010, 05:18:46 PM »
Amnon,

Most of my semihard and hard cheeses are made from 10 liters of milk in a 6" hoop. After the light and medium pressing, the curds height drops about 1-2 cm, that's all.
A problem may rise when pressing taller cheeses, and more than one, one on top of the other/s (as seen on Debi's picture). In this case a bigger height drop will need a longer travel of the plunger.

FarmerJd

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Re: My Dutch cheese press...hooyah!
« Reply #31 on: May 31, 2010, 09:56:13 PM »
Amnon, that really is a great idea. It looks like your diagram has a possible connection for the piston on both levers. As far as the travel needed, My cheeses are normally 24 gal and I have a 10 inch hoop that is 14 inches high. I fill this hoop at least 10 - 14 inches deep each time and my final cheese is about 6-8 inches high. I have to have about 8 inches of travel therefore. I usually have to move the pin connecting the piston to the arm once during a pressing. But when I tried the double lever, I only had about 1/2 inch of travel so it would still be a challenge to make this work without a threaded piston since the holes on the piston have to be in just the right spot.


Debi, the problem with wood on a double levered system is that the arms have to be so thick and wide to handle the load that they wind up getting in the way of each other and reducing the distance they can swing. Not impossible but challenging. I believe the pic you posted gives a MA of about 20-25 where Wayne's is about 70-75, and Amnon's about 13 and Mine was about 32. (estimates based on eyeballing the pics but in the ballpark) Your pic is unique in the way the levers attach. It gives a lot of extra room for movement/travel by allowing the contact point between the levers to travel/slide up the length of the long arm. Notice that the top arm rests on top of a pin on the bottom arm and is not pinned to it. The bottom arm is also resting on a pin on the piston much like boofer's except it is on both sides. It may seem insignificant, but it allows the arm contact point to move as the cheese shrinks. As the cheese shrinks the arm drops, the connection point moves and the pressure increases slightly. I think that is an important tip to consider. Probably the best system is a wood frame with a metal mechanisim somewhat like this one except with a higher MA.
I still like sailor's ceiling pulley idea, though.  :)

wharris

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Re: My Dutch cheese press...hooyah!
« Reply #32 on: June 01, 2010, 12:39:27 AM »
I realize that in my design, the plunger arm will not move far at all.  In fact, I plan to have lots of holes on the plunger arm. This will allow me to re-adjust the arm as the whey expresses.  In my minds eye, I envision going through about 5-10 cycles where i set the arm, let it compresse, then i have to re-adjust plunger arm, then wait.....  over an over till the cheese stops compressing...

FarmerJd

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Re: My Dutch cheese press...hooyah!
« Reply #33 on: June 02, 2010, 07:49:32 PM »
Wayne the problem I faced was that the travel on the plunger was so small that it did not leave me enough play to switch holes. You would have to have holes very close together which means having a metal plunger. I hope that makes sense. 

Alex

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Re: My Dutch cheese press...hooyah!
« Reply #34 on: June 03, 2010, 03:10:57 AM »
I never had to change the plunger's position during pressing. The height's adjustment is mainly needed considering the hoop's size/height.

coffee joe

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Re: My Dutch cheese press...hooyah!
« Reply #35 on: June 26, 2010, 10:18:18 PM »
JDfarmer's looks like alot of weight on that poor cheese!

If your plunger is 5" from the fixed point and the weight is 30" from the plunger you get a factor of 6X your weight. By adding the pulley it is possible to double or triple that amount.
I found it was less to clean by adding "ARM" (distance from plunger to weight) than dealing with a block and tackle set up (as in JD's) 



http://www.answers.com/topic/lever

coffee joe

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Re: My Dutch cheese press...hooyah!
« Reply #36 on: June 26, 2010, 10:21:58 PM »
Boofer,

A 1"X4" piece of oak will hold allot more weight than your tube, otherwise a really nice job on your press.

Offline Boofer

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Re: My Dutch cheese press...hooyah!
« Reply #37 on: June 27, 2010, 01:40:28 AM »
Boofer,

A 1"X4" piece of oak will hold allot more weight than your tube, otherwise a really nice job on your press.

Thanks for that advice.

I am quite happy with the performance of my press. It does what I expected. The most I can measure with a scale is 350+ lbs using a 5 lb and a 10 lb weight coupled with the double pulleys. I can also drop back and only use two pulleys for less pressure. That flexibility will serve me well for any cheeses I anticipate making in the future. If at some time I were to move into larger moulds, I can move to my 25 lb weight which will again provide the pressing service I need.

Sailor mentioned that for a lot of cheeses the psi I can deliver would be too great. I would agree. In fact the most recent cheese I made last week was a 7.375 inch wheel of Esrom. The most that I used to press it was 15 lbs and I didn't even use the press. I pressed it in the warm pot and gained a tighter knit thanks to Sailor's suggestion.

It's a flexible capability thing. Sometimes the press is needed...sometimes not. My recent Jarlsbergs got pressed at 182 lbs/4.3 psi (I determined accurately later.) and they still retain a lot of whey.

I tweaked my worksheet and feel that it finally gives me a good idea what the hardware is doing. The folks here have helped me a lot with their expert guidance.

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

Nonius

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Re: My Dutch cheese press...hooyah!
« Reply #38 on: August 29, 2010, 05:56:10 AM »
Hi

Some time passed between the first idea of a 2 lever system and it's realisation, but in image you can see what my son build, based on the drawings earlier in this thread. He needed a 100 Kg press for his bookbinding hobby, while I was interested in a 20-50 Kg Cheese press.

The press can be used with 1 lever (x3) or both (x~10), and we hang the weight via an axis so there is another x2 factor (if needed): In the picture we're pressing our first Gouda (with cumin seeds  :D ) at 50Kg (4 psi) with only 2-3 Kg of sand

The issue of positioning the plunger with limited travel and limited number of holes is solved by saving little wooden blocks of different height to fill the gap bteween plunger and mould lid.

The 2 vertical beams of the frame are made of pine 68mm x 32 mm, while levers are made of 2x 46x18 mm beams: it holds the forces without cracks !

The bottom plate can be removed (loosening bolts underneath) for better storage.
The whole structure is ~80 cm height and can take moulds till 40 cm diameter/height

The 2 Kg cheese came out nicely and is ageing till at least end of September (8 weeks)
Greetings Amnon
« Last Edit: August 29, 2010, 09:55:38 AM by Nonius »

coffee joe

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Re: My Dutch cheese press...hooyah!
« Reply #39 on: August 29, 2010, 10:22:25 AM »
Very nice!

Spoons

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Re: My Dutch cheese press...hooyah!
« Reply #40 on: September 16, 2010, 03:30:38 AM »
Boofer,

I looked at your worksheet and MAY have figured out why your tested weight looses out to the calculated weight at an exponential rate:

The length of your lever arm may be 48", but you only need to calculate from the point where the weights are attached to where the pivot is installed.

Offline Boofer

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Re: My Dutch cheese press...hooyah!
« Reply #41 on: September 16, 2010, 07:58:08 AM »
Boofer,

I looked at your worksheet and MAY have figured out why your tested weight looses out to the calculated weight at an exponential rate:

The length of your lever arm may be 48", but you only need to calculate from the point where the weights are attached to where the pivot is installed.
Am I not? I may be losing a half inch on either end, but that seems negligible. How do you get exponential loss from my data? The 2-pulley side measured loss, but the 4-pulley side measured gain. I found that it is, at best, an inexact measuring system. It gives me a decent "in-the-ballpark" reading. I can see that there is friction loss in the rope-on-pulley component. I could improve that if I substituted stranded wire in place of the rope, but I probably won't do that. I am satisfied that it delivers reasonable psi to my cheeses.

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

KosherBaker

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Re: My Dutch cheese press...hooyah!
« Reply #42 on: September 16, 2010, 10:49:46 PM »
Boofer great looking press. Very impressive fit and finish.

Great discussion overall, I'm getting lots of formulas that will be very useful for me later. Who knew back in school Math and Physics would actually prove to not only be beneficial but actually crucial to anyone in their everyday life.  :) Thanks guys for all the formulas.

Amnon that's a great looking press, you and your son have put together. If you get a chance to take some more pictures of it from different angles I think it could be very beneficial to others who plan on building something similar, or even the same.

Spoons

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Re: My Dutch cheese press...hooyah!
« Reply #43 on: September 17, 2010, 11:51:19 AM »
Boofer,

I looked at your worksheet and MAY have figured out why your tested weight looses out to the calculated weight at an exponential rate:

The length of your lever arm may be 48", but you only need to calculate from the point where the weights are attached to where the pivot is installed.
Am I not? I may be losing a half inch on either end, but that seems negligible. How do you get exponential loss from my data? The 2-pulley side measured loss, but the 4-pulley side measured gain. I found that it is, at best, an inexact measuring system. It gives me a decent "in-the-ballpark" reading. I can see that there is friction loss in the rope-on-pulley component. I could improve that if I substituted stranded wire in place of the rope, but I probably won't do that. I am satisfied that it delivers reasonable psi to my cheeses.

-Boofer-

I wasn't criticizing. I'm just a tad perfectionist at times, Just trying to help out with the spreadsheet.  ;D Loosing to friction with the rope makes a lot of sense as well. I haven't thought of that.

BTW, nice work on the press! very effective!

Offline Boofer

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Re: My Dutch cheese press...hooyah!
« Reply #44 on: September 17, 2010, 02:12:03 PM »
Spoons - I didn't take your observations as criticism. I was genuinely curious how you determined the exponential aspect. Anyone on this forum can attest to my continued need for corrective criticism. I look at it as guidance to put me on the more correct path, unless of course it is hurtful criticism.  :(  >:(

Guys, thanks for your encouragement.

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