CheeseForum.org ยป Forum
GENERAL CHEESE MAKING BOARDS (Specific Cheese Making in Boards above) => EQUIPMENT - Forming Cheese => Topic started by: smolt1 on February 10, 2017, 03:56:55 AM
-
I have stopped production of the sturdypress. I want to thank all the folks on this forum for their support over the last seven years. I have put together a set of plans. It is a work in progress which means it needs more work and input from DIYers, but complete enough to make a press.I have changed the plans slightly to make it possible to build without a full shop so more beginning cheese makers can partake in the "rite of passage " of making their own press. I will stick around to put my 2 cents in on any new and exotic designs (Andy), but I have to say, getting old sucks. :)
You can download the pdf from sturdypress.com
Bob
-
Sorry to hear you are stopping production Bob. I guess the one you sent me this week was in the last production run. It went together easily and work great btw! Thank you for your years of service and another big thank you for being gracious enough to make the plans available! Have a cheese!
-
Then I was lucky to get one of the presses you made. I have 2 of your masterpieces and I second Duntov on how great it is working. Thank you so much for the presses and your generosity.
-
And so ends an era. The best press on the market is no more. Years from now those still using one will talk of it's perfection and young cheesemakers will search the markets for used ones to purchase so that they can say "I have an original SturdyPress." Sorry to hear you're going out of business Bob but let me personally thank you from all of your customers, and those you simply gave the plans to, for achieving excellence and bringing it to the market. As a Master Toolmaker, that designs machines for a living, I have to say that you sir, are a true Master Craftsman and have placed something in the world that has set the standard for all that follow to live up to. I am delighted to know you and wish you the best in whatever is to follow in your life. Thank you!
-
Thank you for the kind words
Duntov, yes you got the last one.
AnnDee, I learned from you that shipping to far off places is not that hard, just costly.
Al, WOW, I just try to think of the whole thing as described by a phrase attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson.... " build a better mouse trap ".
Bob
-
Well you certainly did that my friend. Time will prove my words to be true. Hope you and I are around to see it. ;)
-
Bob, what distinguishes your design above so many others (certainly including my own!!) is the mark of superb engineering - not complexity, but elegant simplicity that just works. Thanks for making your plans available to all.
-
Thank you Andy. My goal with the small changes in these plans is to make the building of the press even easier by using off the shelf lumber ( no planer required )where most cross cuts can be made at the lumber yard. Changing the plunger from square to round (wood dowel or PVC water pipe ). That eliminates the table saw.Some little tricks for drilling a vertical hole ( no drill press ). Of course this means a lot of "elbow grease " and sand paper to get from rustic to crafted, but either way the cheese being presses still feels the same PSI.
Bob
-
Bob, what distinguishes your design above so many others (certainly including my own!!) is the mark of superb engineering - not complexity, but elegant simplicity that just works. Thanks for making your plans available to all.
Andy, I love the design of your compound press and that it is so compact. My decision to go with the Sturdy Press is many fold. Although I can build a balanced, blueprinted and blown 800 hp LS engine, I don't have the proper tools for woodworking. The Sturdy Press is simple, effective, very affordable and available when I needed. If you should go into production of your design and a fair price, I would jump on it. ;)
-
Bob, what distinguishes your design above so many others (certainly including my own!!) is the mark of superb engineering - not complexity, but elegant simplicity that just works. Thanks for making your plans available to all.
Andy, I love the design of your compound press and that it is so compact. My decision to go with the Sturdy Press is many fold. Although I can build a balanced, blueprinted and blown 800 hp LS engine, I don't have the proper tools for woodworking. The Sturdy Press is simple, effective, very affordable and available when I needed. If you should go into production of your design and a fair price, I would jump on it. ;)
Thanks, John. Compared to the highly functional, elegant simplicity of Bob's design, my own design is awfully complex, especially in the original version. It is very effective, but not simple, and it is affordable only if you happen to 1) have materials on hand, and 2) like making things, and 3) count the time involved as fun rather than as work. :)
I did draw up a slightly simpler design, just using wood (dispensing with the acme screw mechanism) - Mal made one based on the plans I published, and gave at least one report on using it. Maybe when I retire, I'll work on further simplifying the design, and start offering it for sale ... but meanwhile, I suppose I'd better get back to work on my "real job."
-
I have been looking for plans to build a cheese press. This one looks like it will work well and not be too hard to build. Just wondering, how much did an original Sturdy press cost?
-
Hi everyone - I just queried Bob on his website as it's not clear to me he's actually done, still, based on his strikethrough of the opening paragraph on his opening post. Had one, crazy for it, might have sold it when I got out of cheese many years ago, don't know. But man, a thing of elegance.
Anyone know? Is he still no longer producing?
-
Hey plantdude and Paul
I can't see well enough to make them any more ( getting old sucks ), so am concentrating on my vegetable garden and new chickens.
The young man who is making them ( and does a beautiful job ) has all the work he can handle making custom cabinets and so the presses fall by the wayside sometimes.
I forward all emails to him and he gets to them when he can.
Not a great business model, but my garden looks great.
Cheers, Bob
-
Cheers Bob, and totally understand the...um, sweetness of growing age. Either too much weed from frivolous youth is catching up with me, or age will have its day: I have a memory like cheesecloth. Coarse. :o
Edit: Oh, and dropping words. That would be "catching up with me," not "catching me," and entirely different thing. ;D
-
Hi
Just a thought....
If you're interested in building your own, I was able to find a simple dutch press plans just googling online. The one I found is here https://www.lumberjocks.com/projects/128809 (https://www.lumberjocks.com/projects/128809)
Simple press to build. No instructions, but the guy was nice enough to send me his complete sketch-up plans. This is the one I built using his plans. Made mine a knock-down by using bolts/wing nuts for the vertical section.
Hope this helps!
-
Mina, the simple dutch press is a classic - it would describe the first press I made. But I still say that nothing I have ever seen comes close to Bob's SturdyPress design for elegant simplicity plus range of mechanical advantage. It's just hard to beat his design!
-
Hi Andy
I never really took a close look at the SturdyPress. At the time I was looking for plans, it just appeared to be a more bulky version. I really didn't know how much this hobby was going to take hold and needed something that I can knock down and store.
I now see what the 2 pins really do! There is a definite logic to this madness! It is impressive!
I just might have a new wood working project for this summer. I see he has the plans on the website so I just might give this a go.
Just wondering if anyone has used his plans to make their own?
-
Yes, lots have used his plans. I would be among them if I hadn't already created my own frankenpress. :)