Curd Cutter - Making With Wire

[wharris]

That's a good question.  I have actually thought of making a horizontal knife, as my knife is only a vertical one..
But if you look, there are actually a couple horizontal wires that make some horizontal cuts. 
After the vertical cut, I then gently stir it all a bit, and then run the knife through again. 

In the end,  All the curd is cut, and its uniform enough for me right now.

Mark,  That is a great Idea.  I actually may restring this thing with your idea......

[MarkShelton]

I have another thought...
If you made one that was square, you would only have to make a cutter with wires going one direction. Then, you could drill holes in the top and side to mount a handle. That way, you could cut the curd in one direction, then move the handle and the wires would be oriented to cut the curd in the opposite plane.

I think it would only work if the pot it was used in is shallow and wide, instead of deep and tall, and I haven't considered if the eyebolt attachment of the wires would have to be modified.

It's a thought...

[BigCheese]

I have another thought...
If you made one that was square, you would only have to make a cutter with wires going one direction. Then, you could drill holes in the top and side to mount a handle. That way, you could cut the curd in one direction, then move the handle and the wires would be oriented to cut the curd in the opposite plane.

It's a thought...

A damn good one! Even for a deep pot it might work if the dimensions were such that the depth was like 3 times the radius, for example. It would require a steady hand no doubt. Well I am far too commited (in terms of time, money, and mental energy) to the setup I am already doing, but if I were starting from scratch I would definitely think a lot about this idea. As for me, I drop my frames off to the fabricator tomorrow! Finally.

[wharris]

Interesting, But that would not work for me as my pot is deeper than it is wide. 
I could not use a square cutter..

[humble_servant7]

This was a little further down in the thread:

Actually, I ran t he wire from one eyebolt down, then back up to the next eyebolt.  So i never had to terminate them.

Ah-- so in other words, he just drilled holes at the bottom of his frame and strung his wire through there and up to the next eye-bolt. Is that correct?

It looks like there is something else at the bottom holding the wire though...

I can't make it out, but it looks as if something's there.

As well as the wire in the middle.

[wharris]

Nope,  Wires run from an eye-bolt, down through a hole, and back up up to the next eye-bolt.  Thats it.

Yes there is a single horizontal wire.

[MarkShelton]

Wayne, it might work for a tall pot if you have a longer handle on the cutter. I'm imagining something like a flyswatter. It would take multiple passes at different levels in the pot, though.

[BigCheese]

Hooray! The welding is done. Now I just need to string the wire but I couldn't resist posting pictures now. The round fits just snugly in my pot and will be stung in only one direction. Then I will turn it 90 and cut it the other diection. The rectangular frame will make horizontal cuts. The small rectangle that comes out on the side is the handle to spin the cutter. I can't wait to get this going!

[Amatolman]

Wow Nitai That looks amazing!

[humble_servant7]

Nope,  Wires run from an eye-bolt, down through a hole, and back up up to the next eye-bolt.  Thats it.

Yes there is a single horizontal wire.

Okay-- so let me get this straight. for every two eye-bolts, you  have one wire in between them being held in place by the two eyebolts? And the pattern continued until you reached the very end of your knife.

Okay. gotcha.

Now-- since there is only ONE wire being held by ONE eyebolt (i think it's a smaller eyebolt) in the middle WHAT is holding the other end of it in place?

sorry for the questions, just trying to understand this all.

[humble_servant7]

Hooray! The welding is done. Now I just need to string the wire but I couldn't resist posting pictures now. The round fits just snugly in my pot and will be stung in only one direction. Then I will turn it 90 and cut it the other diection. The rectangular frame will make horizontal cuts. The small rectangle that comes out on the side is the handle to spin the cutter. I can't wait to get this going!

great designs. Did you silver solder your frame pieces together?

[BigCheese]

No, in the end I found a local machine shop with a very nice woman enthusiastic to weld them in exchange for dairy, which we have oh so much of right now (about 45 gallons per week after distribution to shareholders). So the entire thing is professionally welded and very sturdy. I dont think the horizontal cutter will even need a middle support, as the wires will not be super duper tight. Cant wait to get into this!

[wharris]

I am very very impressed.  Nice work.

[DeejayDebi]

Has anyone tried making one knive but with diagonal wires. The curds would be cut like diamonds but all you'd have to do it turn it around for the second cut.

[BigCheese]

that sounds like it could work quite well. At first I thought it would be problematic in a round pot but then I realized you just do one circle with one side of the cutter as the center point, pull it out and do a circle with the other side as the center.