presently building a non hydraulic screw operated press anyone else thinking outside the box ?

welder here trying to build a simple mechanical press using large fine thread machine bolt as the ram

You could, but could also just buy a manual clamp like a bench clamp. Some people use them with a hair iron.

you could also look up something like "antique cheese press" for some levered ideas that are pretty quick to assemble

yes its almost finished it produces very conttroled amounts of pressure

Since you like building stuff, I have an idea of something to try. If you could make two plates that have a heavy spring which applies continuous force, then you put the whole thing in a microwave, the kind that don't spark when metal is in it, and turn it on until you see the plates move together, indicating that squishing has taken place. The beauty of this is that the metal plates don't require heating. In fact, they wouldn't even have to be metal. Could be anything that can take squishing temperature. Just the spring would be metal.

BobCajun said:

then you put the whole thing in a microwave, the kind that don't spark when metal is in it,

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I think those are normally called "ovens" and they don't use microwaves.
/sarcasm=0
But seriously, what kind of microwave oven are you talking about?

There are ones, like I have, that you can put a metal spoon in there and nothing happens. Not hard to find really. Like if I have a bowl of something I just leave the spoon in it. No sparks. It makes more sense to only heat the plant material rather than big ol plates.