I took some good advice from this forum and modified my lever cheese press with pulleys. While the original design uses stops on the lever to position a 10 or 20 lb weight for up to 60 lbs pressure for my 4” diameter mould, the pulleys multiply the pressure of the same hanging weghts to provide up to 185 lbs pressure; plenty for my 8” diameter mould. The whole press is made from a few pieces of spruce 2x4 and 1x4, a small piece of 3/8” plywood, two door hinges, two double pulleys, a few eyebolts, screws and some rope. It’s crude but…hey it works.

Very nice, great work !

Beauty is not the thing - functionality IS.  And it looks like you achieve the aim - to get pressure on your curd.

I’ve had to modify mine as well.  I had difficulty at higher pressures with the curd seeping under the mold and raising it up.  I don’t use a cheesecloth on the final mold, and that’s why it happens.  The reason for no cheesecloth is that I got tired of the curd being impregnated into the mesh of the cloth, which is really difficult to clean out.  Anyway I’ve had to put stops on top of the mold to keep it in place. 

Also, I’m wondering if you have any trouble with your mold “walking” to the side since your stop has no guide to hold it in the vertical?

One more suggestion:  Put borders on three sides of your floor and you can place a bowl under the edge of the fourth side to collect the whey.  This way your mold would not be resting in a pool of whey.

So, now the really important question:  how are your cheeses turning out in the new press?

I suggest getting a proper mould with follower, it will slide out. Their not expensive and save headaches.

I use a 4” dia and an 8” dia mould, both with bottoms rather than hoops, so I don’t have the problem with curd squeezing out underneath. I did have some issue with my small mould sliding under pressure, but I placed a mat under the mould and that cured the problem. This press is a first design so I have to contend with a pan to catch the whey, but I’ve never seen it as a problem since the cheese is under compression. I also empty the whey after the first short duration press and there’s very little whey after the second and final press.

great work