Have made only “farmhouse cheddar” (uses no real cheddaring but presses at 10 lbs for 10 minutes, then 20 lbs for 10 minutes, followed by 50 lbs for 12 hours) and mine came out well-knitted. I don’t use freeze dried cultures but use home made kefir as my starter. (have made cheese using a gallon of kefir - rather than inoculating the milk with a quarter cup of kefir).
But all that said, Ricki Carroll’s recipe (using 2 gallons of milk) calls for 10 lbs of pressure for 15 minutes, followed by 40 lbs for 12 hours , followed by 50 lbs for 24 hours but she also asks that before you add weights you slice the curds into 3 inch slices and allow them to sit under their own weight in a covered pot under water at 100 F turning every 15 minutes over 2 hours (presumably this is the cheddaring)

Her recipes are for a 4” mold.  You’d need much more weight for larger molds.  It was her recipe that I started with

I use freeze dried culture, but about half as much as most recipes call for.  1/8 tsp for a 4 gallon batch.  I also add an extra pint of pure heavy cream.  Still too dry.

OK, I made the cheddar yesterday, and just now took it out of the press.  I took your suggestion and decreased the initial pressing weights.  I also did something else that was quite different.  I opted for the stirred curd recipe again, but I also wanted to at least simulate the cheddaring process.  So, after the cook, and the stirring period, I drained most of the whey and then pressed under whey - 15 lbs for 25 minutes.  I then removed the curd mass to a cutting board and cut into 1” cubes.  This was salted and firmly pressed into my 8” mold.  The initial press was at .4 psi (20 lbs actual weight), for 30 minutes.  Then .8 psi for an hour.  Then 1.6 psi for 2 hours, and finally 2.0 psi for 18 hours.  When it came out of the press the wheel was not hard as it usually is.  Instead it was nicely knit with very few small mechanical holes, but a slight sponginess that gives me hope that this may have gotten me on the right track.  I’ll find out in a couple of months.

Sounds good. Good luck. I hope you have success. Just made a batch of paneer the other day and before I added the lemon juice I added 1/4 C of kefir (home made).. It tastes quite delicious: good enough to snack on without any additional cooking