Harry Barker Posted January 1, 2003 Share Posted January 1, 2003 Hi there, I am converting a spare bedroom to reloading room and would like to know if anyone has converted a room and if so did they make a custom bench and cabinets or bought off the shelf? I am looking for either plans or a place to buy off the shelf. Thank you for any information you can provide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wknewbie Posted January 1, 2003 Share Posted January 1, 2003 you lucky *** Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricW Posted January 2, 2003 Share Posted January 2, 2003 My "loading bench" is a heavy duty office table (not the folding type). It has a 1 1/4" thick plywood top with formica over it and has two nice drawers in front. It is super super heavy (approx 100 lbs) and cost all of $50 at a garage sale. The height isn't perfect for a reloader, but new legs are easy enough to make. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Schwab Posted January 2, 2003 Share Posted January 2, 2003 Harry, I think is the kind of info you're looking for: http://www.loadyourown.com/ubb/Forum7/HTML/000012.html Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shred Posted January 2, 2003 Share Posted January 2, 2003 Benches need to be: A) sturdy and the right height for you. Everything else is negotiable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Dunn Posted January 3, 2003 Share Posted January 3, 2003 I use a Craftsman workbench and like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loves2Shoot Posted January 3, 2003 Share Posted January 3, 2003 Shred is very correct on both counts, the right height is important if you plan on doing much loading. Depending of your press height and the way it mounts you might have to have a short (if you want to sit) or tall (if you prefer to stand) bench or you will have to end up making a custom chair, so your arms don't fall off after loading a couple thousand rounds up. A couple buddies of mine and I just use 1 3/4" plywood for the top and 4x4's for the legs (I have mine bolted to the wall also) and the work fine. I am a K.I.S.S. (keep it simple stupid) kind of guy when it comes to my gun stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gm iprod Posted January 6, 2003 Share Posted January 6, 2003 I have a workspace that I converted to a reloading room. 5.2metres x 2.4metres. Benches on 3 walls. Height 900mm (3ft). Constructed of 50mm Triboard. Which is 38mm of Heavy Duty Flooring grade particle board sandwiched by two layers of high density fibre board. 4 times stronger than Constrution ply of the same thickness. At work I have a large portable (as such) reloading bench that is made from 36mm triboard, we use it to display Dillon reloaders. I can set up a 650, a 550 and a Square Deal on this puppy. Free standing and usable. Legs are from same material and a shelf is slotted into the legs at half height, making a H shape. Top is the screwed to legs and a back baord attached. Whole leg assembly unscrews for moving. No nails required just screws (BIG ONES). If you want plans email me and I will send photo's and plans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youfoundthekingbaby Posted January 13, 2003 Share Posted January 13, 2003 Harry, I guess it would depend on what kind of look you want. If you dont mind something a bit on the ugly side I am just finishing up a new reloading bench, It is heavy duty in materials and construction, but it is not especially pretty due to the fact that I did not want to break the bank on materials. The table is 8' long 3' deep and 3' tall. The basic construction I used was 4x4 PT legs with 2x6 lower apron and 2x4 upper apron attached to the legs with mortise and tennon joints, this yeilds a very sturdy base completly resistent to anything but the most extreem racking forces. That portion of the table is 6' long. I also made a 2' cabinet out of 3/4" AC plywood that holds 4 drawers made of 1/2" cabinet grade plywood with the fronts joined to the sides with half blind dovetails. They are of varying depth from 3" to 9 1/2" mounted with 130lb rated full extension ball bearing drawer slides. The top is three layers, the base being 2x4's and a 2x10 half lapped togeather. -----------------------2x4--------------------- | | | | | | | | ============2x10============ You get the idea. That has a 3/4" peice of plywood screwed to it, topped by a 1/4 sheet of tempered hardboard for a smooth top. Then the top is edged in pine to hide the edges of the 3 layers. The top overhangs the base by 6" to give some room for my knees if I want to sit on a stool while reloading. I am going to add shelves soon, but I have not drawn up the plans for them yet. If that sounds like something your interested in, let me know and Ill draw the plans up in a postable format. Sam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IPSC CHIK1 Posted January 14, 2003 Share Posted January 14, 2003 YFTK Baby. please do draw up the plans. your bench sound fabulous!!!!!!!! DVC SharonAnne L2387 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youfoundthekingbaby Posted January 14, 2003 Share Posted January 14, 2003 CHK1, Will do, Ill get them from the napkin to the computer this week. :> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan550 Posted January 18, 2003 Share Posted January 18, 2003 You should be able to find a bench kit at one of the home-improvement stores and do some modifications to suit your tastes. I just added a 3/4" plywood sheet to the top, for weight & stability, to one of those and it's constructed mainly of 2x6 lumber. Inexpensive too, and if looks are important, you can drape an old curtain or other appropriate piece of fabric around the bottom portion to hide the shelf underneath. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IPSC CHIK1 Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 dot the trigger??????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan550 Posted January 26, 2003 Share Posted January 26, 2003 Not quite the right translation, IPSC CHIK1! That's the mantra that goes through my mind while shooting. That way I remember that if the dot ain't there, stay off that trigger...:-) When I remember to do it that way instead of "trigger-dot" it works sooooo much better! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snokid Posted January 26, 2003 Share Posted January 26, 2003 The one thing that I can add is to make sure that the bench is sturdy... If you watch either Brian's or Dillion's video on reloading(don't remeber which one it's on right now) they show a bench which is made of concrete. That might be a bit of over kill, but not by much in my opinion. I had a lee loadmaster bolted to my bench and I was able to load ok on it, but when a friend took it home, he bolted it to a not quite so sturdy of a bench. He could not get the thing to work right, he spent a couple of weeks swearing at it, then he packed it up and drove over to my house, I bolted it back down and proceded to load 1000 rounds through it mostly problem free. Well he swore some more and went back home to build a better bench.... I just moved my 650, here is how I made the bench... 1 1/2" oak top screwed down to a 2x4" frame work which is bolted to three walls. my simple test I do is to shake the press by grabbing on to it and see if I can get the bench to move, if it moves it's not sturdy enough. sno (Edited by snokid at 4:43 am on Jan. 26, 2003) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DogmaDog Posted January 28, 2003 Share Posted January 28, 2003 Wow...pretty sturdy. I just got my 550, and I built a small bench for it to work in my apartment. I started with a steel "power tool stand" from Home Despot. All the legs angle outward, (it's trapezoidal) so it has a large base, with only a 9" x 18" top with 96 holes in it so you can mount virtually any power tool directly to it, except, of course, a Dillon; the holes don't quite line up. I made an 18" x 24" top for the table with 2 thicknesses of 3/4" sanded birch plywood glued and screwed together, and then I bolted that to the top of the bench with a 3rd piece of plywood underneath the steel table top. There's a shelf about half way down, beneath the table top, and I put my boxes of bullets there to add a bit of stability. The whole thing can be moved by one person, so it's portable, sorta. I did have to add some shims under one leg to make the thing level, but it's a pretty sturdy, small bench that was affordable, and easy to put together. Lata, DD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Tax Cowboy Posted November 27, 2003 Share Posted November 27, 2003 I described my reloading bench that I built last February in the 650 thread. Started out great, but now with 4 quick change kits, a scale and all my other equipment on it, it's pretty crowded! Make it big enough, but make it sturdy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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