New reloading bench

[David-K]

Nice!

[CGT80]

I saw those white shelves and that sort of salmon color in Randall's photo and I was like "hey that sure looks familiar." Then I saw who it was. I am glad you finally got around to setting up your loading room. Your design looks great. I'll bet you could work at that bench while sitting, without too much trouble. One of my benches isn't good for sitting at and another is so-so, while the latest one was designed around a chair.

I don't mean to steal the attention from Randall, but I thought others might get ideas from seeing what I have used for work benches.

My work bench is a single layer of 3/4" mdf with a layer of 1/4" hardboard glued to the top. My dad actually made it to use as a bench for building cabinets on top of, but I ripped it into two pieces to use as bench tops for our sharpening business. For reloading, I would probably double up the thickness.

The top has a piece of aluminum angle bolted to the bottom. I think my dad counter sunk bolts from the top of the mdf and then used the hardboard to cover the heads. The angle goes on from the bottom and has nuts and washers to hold it onto the "studs." The aluminum is 1/8" or so higher than the surface of the bench. This creates a tough edge trim for the bench, but also keeps items from rolling off the bench.

I repair hair clippers and animal dryers on this bench and routinely have small parts spread out on it. It works great and is very sturdy. If I had built it new, I would have clear coated the top. It was already discolored when I started to use it, so I sanded the top and left it as is.

The two base cabinets are oak faced and were bought at home depot. I stained them and shot about 5 coats of a post catalyzed lacquer on them. The lacquer is very tough. I built a 2x4 frame between the cabinets, for the top to sit on. The back of the frame (and cabinets) is screwed into the studs of the wall.

I added a receptacle to the front of the bench so that I can plug clippers in (for testing) without reaching across the bench. I have my air blow gun on the right cabinet, for cleaning hair and dust our of parts. I used vinyl cove base all the way around the garage and on the bottom of the cabinets to make it look finished. The sides of the cabinets (mdf) and wall under the bench are painted in smoke gray to compliment the epoxy I put on the floor.

The sink/computer area has a base that I built in place. It is made from 1/2" 9 ply birch plywood. It has an electric water heater behind the front panel. The floor was very uneven in that area and I didn't really need cupboard doors, so I made a simple base and screwed a sheet of material onto the front to finish it off. I can remove 4-6 drywall screws to get to the plumbing. The Formica tops are pretty nice to work with and look good for something so cheap. They would need some reinforcement if a press was mounted to them.






My loading bench, that I use in the house, was custom made for the previous owner of my 550 press. It is built of 3/4" oak plywood. It is fairly sturdy, but it doesn't sit against a wall, so I screwed the bottom of it to the floor to keep it from rocking on the carpet.

[CGT80]

Here is a photo of the first loading bench I built. I was 14 years old when built this one. I used 2x4's for the frame. The joints were dado cut and screwed and glued. The bottom was built with fence boards. I installed a 4' fence at my grandmother's house and had 2' cuts left over from cutting each 6' fence board. The top is plywood with Formica glued to it, and aluminum edge band.

The portion under the 1935 Hollywood press is an old pancake griddle. My dad showed me how to cut the lip off the front with a torch. My uncle sandblasted the top for me, and my grandfather sprayed the top with automotive paint. This press was mounted to a particle board bench, but resizing 243 and 30-06 brass took enough force that it eventually broke out the top.

This bench has held up very well and wasn't expensive to make. It has receptacles on each end and in the middle to make it easy to plug in tumblers, lead pots, lube sizers, etc., into

[MulePacker]

Just bought a Dillon 550. They say theres a two month waiting time blah. I guess that will give me time to convert away from my existing bench:

[egpost916]

Nice setups! Need to get started on mines.

[Calplinker]

Mulepacker,

My 4 year old daughter will pay top dollar for that bench! She's on a princess kick at the moment. .

OP, very nice bench!!!!!

[MulePacker]

lol its a little wobbly for reloading, Im sure it'll hold a nice tea party though. my daughters asking price is 4 stuffed animals.

[sdkevin]

lol its a little wobbly for reloading, Im sure it'll hold a nice tea party though. my daughters asking price is 4 stuffed animals.
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I'll swap out two animals for a Dora Valentines day set, good??

Apologies, I couldn't resist.

[510Kal]

That's one sweet looking bench!

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