I'm surprised that nobody has built a compound lever press, even if just to save space. A home version of the one below could fit into a neat 16" x 16" corner somewhere when not in use, and only slightly larger when you're using it and hanging weights on it (estimated leverage calculations follow):
A press that a friend and I discovered while googling around at work... (lunch time of course!)The cheese press above has a long lever arm (top) with a pulley on the end, and it drives a short lever arm (bottom) which actually presses the cheese. I made some estimated measurements off this image and calculated an effort to force ratio of 55:1 (below). That means an 8" mold for a very firm cheese that requires 40 psi would only need 36-1/2 lbs to exert the required 2010.6 lbs on the wheel of cheese (below). Not bad, eh? Nice and compact cheese press that has huge upside potential for how firmly it can press with only a light weight. Of course, if you really do use it for such large loads, you do need to use appropriate materials that ensure adequate strength.
Estimated lever arm measurements:
Upper (large) arm:
------------------------
Force arm (Af) is 6.2 units
Resistance arm (Ar) is 0.9 units
Force ratio is 6.88:1
Lower (small) arm:
--------------------------
Force arm (Af) is 2.4 units
Resistance arm (Ar) is 0.6 units
Force ratio is 4:1
Pulley:
-----------
Simple pulley with one fixed end. Fixed and moving ends each carry half the load.
Force ratio is 2:1
=> Total force ratio is 55:1, e.g. 6.88 x 4 x 2 = 55.x
8" hoop at 40 psi:
-------------------------
A = pi times r^2 = 3.14 * 4^2 = 50.265 in^2
Required force = 50.265 in^2 x 40 lbs/in^2 = 2010.6 lbs (!!)
Required weight on the press = 2010.6 / 55 = 36.6 lbs (!!)
Not bad, eh? At some point, I'm going to design one of these for my own use, but for now, I will make and use a simple press that you just stack weights on top of... but when my needs exceed what that press can do, then I'm going to make the compound-lever press (similar to the one above)
Brian