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Reloading Benches


Jerome Poiret

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I went ahead and bought both benches.

This one:

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Is built like a tank. The 4 legs are solid pine 4X4's. Then the sides and front and back are mortised and tenoned into the legs. Then the tenons are pegged to the legs also.

The drawers are well built too. I am impressed.

The original top must have gone somewhere else. :mellow: It was a door when I got there. I will probably just glue up some pine 2X4's edge to edge and then route a gutter around the edges with a bullnose bit. That's what I did with my original bench. It was stout enough to be freestanding and the gutter kept stuff from rolling off the top.

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Here is my bench, almost done. 650 on the left and Rockchucker on the right. The 650 and rockchucker station each have dedicated switche power. Vise will go near the Rockchucker, shop air is the coiled blue hose.

post-6388-008736300 1289945110_thumb.jpg

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This is my current setup..

I just received the 650 last Saturday and got it set up yesterday and promptly loaded about 100 rounds. The bench was built about 20 years ago right after I moved in. The SDB was borrowed from a friend while mine was on order. It is a good friend who will loan you a Dillon press! It is amazing how fast you can fill up a storage area..

The next one is where I plan to mount it permanently. It is a 15 x 17 FROG that my son just moved out of. I have to paint and build some cabinets first and was anxious to get the 650 up and running and test out the 42" high workbench in my garage so I could see if that is the height I want.

post-27056-095900200 1290051275_thumb.jp

post-27056-089666300 1290051291_thumb.jp

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@ MARAKAVELI, yessir! I picked up both benches. the other bench came with a vise made by Columbia. I think that will come in handy too.

the apothecary like bench will be my 3rd reloading bench. my 650 is currently sitting on an old dresser. the problem with the old dresser was that when the big drawers were filled with bullets, there was too much drag on them when trying to open them. I even tried waxing them.

my first reloading bench is going to be my casting bench. I've been using it since 1995. it's bee through at least 4 different moves.

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Not bad Chills, thats the only problem with older furniture/work benches they sometimes show their age. Not bad thoe, Im buying a house and when I seen the 2 1/2 car garage and I noticed there was a long work bench already setup and I knew it wa the house fore me makes me wonna invest on a 650 maybe hook up a Tv but Old Man Winter is uh comin and im sure you know how it gets in the Chi around this time! berrrrrrrrr.......

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  • 2 weeks later...

Nice mods to the old NRMA design... I'm getting ready to build a second shelf row to go on both of mine too... second row will go all the way to w/in 1" of the ceiling. Haven't decided wheter to use swing doors, lift doors, or slides for the new row... I like that you've added the piano hinge swing doors on the bottom to close things up... I'm not sure I have that option though... I'm absolutely green with envy over your thicker solid wood top with slotted fixture bracket system...

Great job!

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Damn, looks like you beat me for the 1000th post !

Anyway, as the OP of this thread, I'll get the 1000th reply :P with a soon-to-be finished new room:

That may be the COOLEST clock I've ever seen!!!

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Damn, looks like you beat me for the 1000th post !

Anyway, as the OP of this thread, I'll get the 1000th reply :P with a soon-to-be finished new room:

That may be the COOLEST clock I've ever seen!!!

Had to find it for myself and it is sweet. My guess 1/8 luan, and he got a clock kit from local craft store. But none the less, very inventive.

Might look good with 2alphas??

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  • 3 weeks later...

Here we have the natural progression...

Very nice set up, I especially like your bin arrangement. Where did you get your bin system? I am interested in setting up the same for my reloading area in my garage. I have a good sturdy bench, not as large as yours but I only have one 550 B press for now. I now need to neatly organize everything...

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Diggin' the pipe insulation on the front edges of the bullet trays... Nice tweak.... cheap and effective. Will have to go grab me a stick from Lowes/HD on the next trip.

Here we have the natural progression...

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I'm gonna re-build my bench. My current bench is made simply of 2" x 6" pressure treated pine, very small (about 3' long 18" wide, anchored to the floor, hey, it's what I had laying around when I bought my press!). I just got done putting down 1,000 square feet of hickory hardwood flooring at my vacation home, and I have 75 square feet left over, so I'm gonna plane the back side of it down (to get the grooves out so it will lay flat), get me 2 pieces of 3/4" oak plywood, and make me a bench by laminating the 2 pieces of plywood together, then attaching the hickory to the top. Should be around 2" thick, 8' long, and 30" wide when I get done. Kind of over kill for just a 550, but why not? I'll post pics when I FINALLY get it done.

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Here we have the natural progression...

Very nice set up, I especially like your bin arrangement. Where did you get your bin system? I am interested in setting up the same for my reloading area in my garage. I have a good sturdy bench, not as large as yours but I only have one 550 B press for now. I now need to neatly organize everything...

The bin rack and bins themselves came from McMaster Carr.

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Diggin' the pipe insulation on the front edges of the bullet trays... Nice tweak.... cheap and effective. Will have to go grab me a stick from Lowes/HD on the next trip.

Here we have the natural progression...

Among other inexpensive tweaks I very much recommend the rod or pipe under the press. I take 5/16" aluminum rod and drill and tap both ends. The upper end screws onto the press bolt, the bottom is anchored to the floor.

Together with the aluminum plate under the press this arrangement solidifies the bench quite a bit, making it virtually rock-steady on down stroke.

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