Building a Dutch Press

[FarmerJd]

Actual leverage = weight on the end of the arm X Cosine of the angle of arm. (the angle I am referring to is the angle the arm makes with the horizontal)


If the angle is zero then the weight is the leverage. Until you get a considerable angle, this is practically negligible, but an angle of 45 would produce a 30% decrease in leverage.


Where would we be without physics?

[OlJarhead]

OK I'm finally going to put the press to work.  I'm borrowing a 25lbs dumbbell which I'll wire to the end of the press at the spot which will give me 157.75lbs from the 25lbs weight.  This is a calculated 9.92 PSI on a 4.5" diameter mold.  My smaller mold (4") will sit on top of the lower mold balancing on top of a 3" plunger which a piece of oak board to separate the two cheeses.  With luck this will give me the desired pressure to make cheddar.

I'll post a picture of this CRUDE press shortly and then in action.

Wish us luck!