press design

Does anyone have a good design for slat plates, the ones that go between the main pressing board and the drain of a hydraulic press? My pressing board is about 24"x12", so the slat plates would have to be about the same size. Ideally, I'd like to use hard wood and keep them as thin as possible. This because the travel on my jack is limited and more space between the cheeses means less pomace per press. Thanks for your help.

The slatted boards are called racks I think. You don't need to use slatted racks, I just use pieces of plywood sealed with polyurethane paint. There are a variety of materials you can use. Some people cut channels into the boards with a router, I don't see any point in this, the juice is squeezed out the side anyway.

Greg

I've got a much smaller ratchet press but I've always just used 1"x1/2" pieces of maple or cherry in the bottom of the press. It seems that in the past when I haven't used them, my pomace produces less juice or takes longer to press.

Racks, that's right.

I'm glad to hear that it works without slats. In my theorizing in my head, they didn't seem all that necessary to me, but many photos I've seen show that the racks are built like drain boards. My press is made of maple, so I'm going to try to find some maple boards to use, which shouldn't be that hard. Thanks for the help.

I find the channels created by the racks do help.