Custom Reloading Bench

ripitup911 said:
All my cupboards will be most likely be made out of maple veneer plywood with a 1 1/2" custom Concrete countertop or I may use phenolic resin or butcher block for my top I am still undecided there. It will utilize the port hole garbage idea brought up earlier aswell as have undercabinet lighting and lighting inside the cabinets if needed. I will also have alot of plug ins at back of top aswell as some mounted in the front of the cabinets. I will also have a water fill for my SS tumbler and ultra sonic cleaners aswell as a small drain (hopefully if I can rig it up). That is my plan right now and Once I design it on computer I will post pictures of it during it's progress
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Maple should look nice and keep the room brighter.
 
You can do lots with concrete and you probably have some neat ideas about it. I like butcher block though (Especially if the wood has lots of contrast) it has a softer, warmer, quieter feel to it.
 
Only negative thing with concrete top is if you drop a die, rotor or other parts, it can put a ding or possibly damage them whereas a wood counter would not.
 
ripitup911 said:
Please give me a reason I own a decorative Concrete company and I'm having trouble seeing how it wouldn't be a perfect top other then difficult to mount to
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I can give you lots of reasons... damaging dies and brass, difficulty in mounting equipment, difficulty in customizing the surface area, it will be noisy (you will see how often you are banging and tapping on your reloading bench counter) and while you might be able to hit it with a sledgehammer concrete has a weakness in the torque department... you will be mounting your presses on the edge of the counter and making endless and repeated torquing motions to a surface that has had its integrity Compromised by the holes you drilled to mount the press... I would bet a lot of money that it will fail in short order... even if you back it with an extended steel plate washer to distribute the pressure.
 
hoytcanon said:
I can give you lots of reasons... damaging dies and brass, difficulty in mounting equipment, difficulty in customizing the surface area, it will be noisy (you will see how often you are banging and tapping on your reloading bench counter) and while you might be able to hit it with a sledgehammer concrete has a weakness in the torque department... you will be mounting your presses on the edge of the counter and making endless and repeated torquing motions to a surface that has had its integrity Compromised by the holes you drilled to mount the press... I would bet a lot of money that it will fail in short order... even if you back it with an extended steel plate washer to distribute the pressure.
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Definitely can relate to the noise and damaging parts. the tops I make are different then traditional Concrete tops they are overlays and would not suffer from any torque issues that You mention. Also my tops are coated with a epoxy resin which probably would not damage parts or be that much noisier then wood easy of mounting would be a challenge and for that reason your right wood is probably the best. What do You guys think about inbedding T Slots for mounting and moving presses or is it a waste of time and just a dirt collector
 
I used to use a Blueco jigging table and hold downs/stand offs, these had holes machined in them at certain intervals and were really really good for placement of whatever. However for a reloading bench you may not want holes or slots at least all over, as screws, extra powder, or whatever will be dropping down them. It would be handy for not wrecking your nice wood top with the wrong mounting spots used. You should maybe mock up your stations with a plain plywood top to get locations sorted for a few reloading sessions. Dang you BTW, now I need a better reloading bench............
 
This was the reloading desk I had before came in the house. This is after emptying it and I had almost all my guns on it to move my safe now I get my dream one.
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You will want leg room under your cabinets if you sit while reloading, so recessed shelves under your presses may be a good idea. Wherever you plan to have a cleaning/maintenance station, you may want to eliminate or at least reduce your uppers to give more clearance above your guns while working on them, mounting scopes... You may want to make the carcasses out of 3/4" ply as well as all shelving, melamine won't stand up well in a reloading room. I would avoid any wood finished tops as well, some of the cleaners, especially copper cleaners, are killers on any lacquers or varathanes. I would do some type of laminate for durability, tidiness and ease of clean up. I would also do 3 layers of 3/4" ply for the tops all the way around and trim it out with some maple or whatever, chamfer edges and it will create a nice clean look and be functional.

The following are some pics of my reloading room when I first set it up, some things have changed since, just some food for thought. There are things I would do again like the T track with mounting plates for presses and case prep center and things I would do differently like the depth of the bench(24" instead of 36"), laminate top, better storage under the bench...



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