Reloading Bench -- If you could do it all over again?

[BenW]

After many years of my reloading bench being relegated to the corner of a garage, toolshed, or what have you, I'm finally taking the opportunity to build my dream reloading room. I thought I would throw these questions out to you all:

If you could change the design of your bench, what would you change? What do you think is a really snazzy addition to your bench that you would recommend to others?

Just for background, this is the way the current setup is looking:

I've built a shed, standard woodframe construction, soon to be insulated and drywalled. I'm building a bench that's 12' by 36". Bench will be "bar stool height" as I like to semi-sit on a high stool while I work. Seven feet will be dedicated to reloading, five feet will be used as a gun cleaning, putzing around area. I'm using 3/4" plywood over a 2" x 4" frame. I'll be running 2" x 10" flat along the outer edge of the bench as extra support for the presses. The whole shebang will be hilty bolted to the floor and lug bolted into the wall.

My main press area will have my Dillon 650 permanently mounted on its strong mount. Two feet away, I'm bolting a 1/8" steel plate to the bench. The plate will be drilled to line up with the mounting holes on my turret press and shotshell reloader ( I only use these presses a half dozen or so times year for the cartridges/shells I don't shoot as much). I can then keep one extra press mounted and one stored to save space. I'll be running 4 receptacle electric to each end of the bench.

I'll have one shelf running the length of the bench for storing powders, manuals, and open boxes of components. Unopened supplies will be stored in cabinets below the bench. One small shelf will be mounted in the middle of the bench between the two press areas to keep my scales within reach and closer to eye level. Tumbler will sit near the "cleaning area" of the bench. I'll be running the tumbler inside, but I always sift media outside. I'm putting fluorescent lighting on the ceiling and mounting a long, flexible arm incandescent light to the bench to shine right on the presses.

So any glaring things that I've missed before I start banging things together? Bright ideas to add?

Thanks for any help!

[Jeeper]

I put a lot of thought into my last setup. Since I was putting it in my house I decided to make some cabinets around it. I also wanted a lot of storage. I actually ended up with more storage than I needed. Some of the best ideas that I had were using those plastic shoe boxes for brass. This allows a ton of different calibers in a small area. I also used those plastic bins for all my bullets. I labeled them and this allows for great oganization. You can get the racks to hold them from Grainger. Here are some pictures.

This is with the doors closed


Here is the bench open


Here is the closet with the shoe boxes. I hat 30 of them I think. You can see that they use the space very efficiently.


I had my tumblers on the other side and my media seperator on a slide out shelf for ease of use.



Here is a close up of the bench


Here is one more shot.


The only thing I would have done different would be to have a better smaller shelf for all my toolheads. My last bench had a long shelf that fit them 1 deep and this worked very well.

This bench has now been torn down since I am moving in about 4 weeks. I am going to build something a little simpler next time. (Yeah right!!!)

[C.R.Sam]

Jeeper's setup is a work of art. It saddened me to learn a while back that he was tearing it out. Bet the new one isn't any less.

BenW.....your plan sounds good to me. Specially the bolts tying the top to the floor. I would use heaver dimension framing and double the top plywood......but that's me.

Sam

[Jeeper]

One other thing that I would HIGHLY HIGHLY suggest is using melamine for the bench surface. It is resilient to basically everything. It is great to clean your guns on also. I used it on all my shelves and it worked great. If you are reinforcing the areas where the press bolts down anyway then you don’t need the strength in the top surface. Make sure to put a silicon or some other sealer on the edges if you are planning on having liquids on it since the middle of melamine is basically particle board. You can clean it very easily and it always looks good. I do a lot of woodworking and melamine is the only thing besides butcher block I will EVER use for a benchtop.

[SW 586]

Aw, jeepers creepers, Jeeper. There you go posting those pictures again. Now I gotta go wipe the drool off my lap. You gotta stop doing that!

[Jeeper]

I am having separation anxiety from my bench so I need to look at it every now and then

[BenW]

Man oh man Jeeper! That is one awesome setup! Here I was thinking I was gonna have a fancy setup and it looks like I'm still building on the wrong side of the tracks.

What is Melamine (maybe it has a different regional name in my neck of the woods)? I was actually thinking about putting another "clean" surface over the plywood, but was concerned that it wouldn't hold up to pressure and start cracking around the presses.

[Jeeper]

Melamine is just particle board that has a laminate coating over it. It is a lot like a formic counter top. You can get it at Home Depot or Lowes. It is used a lot to make those small premade cabinets. You shouldn’t have a problem finding it. Most of it is white. It comes in sheets like plywood. I always have used ¾ inch. They also usually sell it in precut widths like 15, 18, 24". I wouldn’t worry about having it crack if you support the area around your presses. Make a good solid frame and you should be fine. My presses were bolted through the Melamine and then into 2x6’s on their sides. I never had any problems and seriously doubt I ever would have. I would really suggest looking at this option since it will stand up to the solvents or other cleaners you might use. It is really tough stuff. In addition it always stays clean and is very smooth so you don’t need to finish it. If you use plywood you would need to sand it and apply a finish.

[Bogie]

If you're into long guns, make sure that you have enough room to hang the muzzle off the table (and preferably over a trash can) so that when you clean it, the crap drops in the bucket.

My weekend project for this weekend is the fabrication of a loading bench for the Benchrest Battlecruiser.

[NoSweat]

Well I just finished my "Ultimate Reloading Bench" I built it from 3/4" Hardwood Plywood. It is 72" long, 29" deep, and 31" high, so I can sit down and load.

The top is one layer of 1/2 ply, and one layer of 3/4 ply. Inset into the front is an aluminum plate, 1/2 thick,9" wide and 72" long. The remainder of the top I laminated with formica. It has three drawers, one 19" deep to hold my Dillon heads and primers, and one 19" deep to hold my powder. It also has a 3" "desk" type drawer at the seating position. My Niel Jones powder measure is mounted to the top with threaded brass inserts, and can be easily removed if more room is needed. There are shelves above the two large drawers, and below the small drawer. Each drawer is 24" wide and 24" deep on full extension, 100# rated ball bearing drawer slides. The bench is bolted to the foundation for rigidity.

The bins are available from Lowes

I will tap the holes in the aluminum plate at the seating position for my Posness Warren progressive shotshell loader, rcbs primer seater, Dillon primer pocket swege, and forester case trimmer. These won't typically be mounted, as just the two dillons ( one for small primers and one for large primers), and the rockchucker are generally mounted.

I built the shelves above from the same materials, and all my loading manuals and accessories are at my fingertips. My plan is to build two more benches of the same size 72x 29x 37 high, so I will have 18 feet of work space. They will have tops of two layers of 3/4 inch ply, with the same Almond colored Formica laminated to the tops. They will have cabinets on the left and right, and drawers in the middle. One bench will have a vise.

here's some pics, I hope you like it. For those who couldn't see the pics ( like myself) I loaded them on a different server.

[Bill Adair]

NoSweat,

Great looking bench!

You fellows make me green with envy!

My reloading bench is thirty inches wide, and inside a walk in closet!

Bill

[HerbG]

I'm impressed! You guys have shared some great ideas.......keep up the good work.

[NoSweat]

Following up on Jeeper's comment about Melamine. I fully agree that you should use something that is oil resistant and easy to clean. Both Melamine and Formica fit this requirement.
I will be doing most of the smithing and cleaning of pistols at the seating position of my bench, and I tend to use LOTS of WD 40 to get the gunk off. It wipes up easily with no damage to the formica top.

The second bench will be used for rifle cleaning and work, and will have the same top material.

I'm just learning some of the woodworking techniques, and I envy the quality of Jeeper's work. I don't have a table saw, and I am cutting the pywood in the garage, using clamp-on straightedges and a circular saw. It's measure twice, and cut once

The reason the benches are 29" deep and each only 6 foot long, is that I will want to take them with me when I move, and they will fit thru a standard door. I hate to think of moving all the bullets again, there are about 10,000 lead and jacketed bullets and four cases of 22's stashed in that bench now.

[Jeeper]

No sweat

I really like your bench. I was going to make big drawers in mine like you did but never got around to it. I will definately use them on my next bench. You are right that formica is just as good as melamine. They are basically the same thing except that melamine is coated on both sides which is irrelevant for a bench. You did a nice job. I need to buy a few more presses to catch up to you though.

[Gary H]

I went for the quick, inexpensive and solid solution. Purchased the heaviest duty Gorilla Racks at Home Depot and placed them back to back. This bench is mounted to the wall and totally stable. Setup can hold ten billion pounds of equipment..give, or take. ..or was that tons?

Here are the pictures:

[Brian Williams]

I picked up an old cabinet and counter top that was being takedg from a doctors office, the thing is double thickness plywood and completely covered in formica.

[zot]

all your setups are great! Gary H I LIKE that bench! my setup is old and no airconditioning or dehumidifiers, sucks , primers and powder go poop fast here in south Iowa,you all did alot of thought on these reloading rooms.someday I'll be there!

[Sisco]

I had to do with space available. For now it's a 4' wide area in the laundry room between the freezer and the wall! All I do here is reload, cleaning guns takes place in the garage.
I used a 48" vanity base salvaged from a bathroom remodel, put a formica counter top on it. The press is held with wingnuts and bolts, I can swap over to a single stage quickly if needed. At one time I just clamped the press to the bench using C clamps but when a loose one fell off and onto my foot I found a better way.
Built the overhead cabinet out of particle board, still need more storage space. One of these days the kids will move out and I'm taking over an entire bedroom!

[Sisco]

Not sure what happened to the photos, let's try this:

[caz223]

You guys have AWESOME setups.
I sometimes wonder how I manage to get any work done with as little tooling as I have, but I manage to get by.
I prolly only have about $2000.00 or so invested in a reloading bench + tooling, etc.
It would have been less, but I used steelcase laminate for countertops.

[BenW]

Well, looks like laminated surfaces show up on the majority of benches here -- guess one's going on mine too. What kinda goop are you guys using to mount your laminates to the bench?

Just finished the new reloading room this weekend. Next weekend or the following I'm building the bench and moving in.

The bench pics showing up have been awesome. You guys are giving me a bad case of keeping up with the Jones'.

[Jeeper]

It looks like a lot of them are prelaminated. I used melamine which is this way. I saw a few countertops which are also prelaminated. I might go this route next time since they have a backsplash part. You can see this in the picture from "SK". It also has a nice rounded front. Home Depot sells these rather cheap sometimes. As far as formica glues go I have never really seen a difference between most of them. Just get a good roller to put it down. Personally I think melamine or another prelaminated piece is the way to go

[BenW]

So for the people using the countertops -- how are you mounting them? Are you bolting / gluing to a sheet of plywood underneath (essentially the top of a pre-existing bench), or attaching directly to a 2x4 or similar frame?

[Jeeper]

I attached my press through the countertop directly to the frame. As long as the press is secure your countertop really doesn’t do much. I made a frame of 2x4’s and 2x6’s for the bench. Both presses are bolted directly to this frame. This way the countertop doesn’t get any of the load from the press. If you don’t do it this way you could break the countertop.

[Waitone]

Melamine and Formica tend to chip under heavy use. I put a 3/4" plywood top (the type of plywood with one pretty side). I then coated it with 4 coats of polyurethane stain (Pecan is pretty). Nothing dirties that top.