Need some ideas from the reloading pros.

If you have the budget, have a shop make up a steel frame for you that can be moved, I have all my benches on 4" polyurethane casters from Lee Valley. That way you can move the bench around to clean underneath it. Also, again if you budget, have a 1/8" or 1/4" plate laid on top, then put your maple down on it. It will last you forever and will support from your RCBS up to a Honda Civic.

I have 5 benches that are setup like this but either have 1/4" or 1/2" plate tops depending on what machines run on them. Then I have rubber horse stall matting on the bench to absorb some noise.
 
My only suggestion would be to look down the road a bit. The Rock Chucker is a great press, but it will get old reloading 9mm on a single stage press fairly quickly. It probably won't be long before you are looking at a progressive press or maybe at least a turret press to handle the 9mm. That means that you will have to either find room for a second press in addition to your Rock Chucker, or you will have to incorporate a way to easily swap out your presses. There are a number of ways to do this, and at least one company (Inline Fabrication) that builds swap out kits.

I have a Forster Single Stage and a Dillon 550B with only enough room for one press to be mounted at a time. I mounted each press onto a 12"x12"x3/4" piece of plywood as a base. I then anchor this base to my bench with four 5/8" bolts. It is pretty crude, but it is effective.
 
DILLIGAF said:
Hey Ive never posted in this section of the forum before, But after shooting for over 10+ years its time for me to get into reloading.

I ordered a ROCK CHUCKER SUPREME MASTER RELOADING KIT to get me started. and currently need help on the design of a reloading bench. I found this bench during my search and I really like it. I will draw it up tommorow in auto-cad but wanted to know if they are some things I should add ? Keep in mind that my salvaged maple butcher block is only 5' long so that will be the size of my bench. ;)

will only reload 556 , 308 and 9mm

cheers

5ea1e720dc08bedd723391dd0ba811ec--woodworking-bench-woodworking-projects.jpg
Click to expand...

One thing to keep in mind is that the way you make ammo on day one will be different than the way you are making it a year from now, which will be different than 5 years from. Design your bench so that it can be modular and allow for the relocation of your equipment as you move tools, upgrade tools, or add more tools to the system.

When I first started all i had was a press. Then I added the uniflow measure, and then replaced the beam with an electronic scale. Now I have the case neck trimmer and rcbs case prep centre, but if I had the money would probably look for a model that does both. I prefer to load single stage, dislike the idea of turret presses, and wanted to reload faster than a single stage, but without losing the control over process inherent to going progressive. Solution? I have 3 single stage presses, each one with a dedicated function. depriming, sizing, seating.

My work bench is covered in holes that are tombstones marking the previous location of something that I eventually had to move. I also use my bench for amatuer gun smithing, so it would be nice to quickly clear everything off or move it out of the way if thats something that you want to look at as well. Fortunatley my bench is 10ft long, so its divided into reloading half and smithing half.
 
kamlooky said:
Hayya Dilli................ I wonder how a slight grove of some sort on the top outer edge would look?
To keep powder, primers and them rolling springs from hitting the floor.
Kinda like the meat bawl sawng.

My uncle was a refined cabinet maker.
The clean cuts and tight joints keep me in awwww.
You have that gifted talent.

Keep them photos coming.
Click to expand...

My suggestion would be along the lines of "looky's idea only I was thinking of a thin "edging" of some sort of material that will keep thingies from rolling off the bench...doesn't have to be thick enough that it will bight into your arm when leaning on the bench top, just thick enough to stop a rolling brass or primer.
 
That's going to be a nice project. Adding presses and other bench mounted doodads to the collection of tools will need a space too. I built a shelf on a near wall to store two other presses and a powder measure as well as a small bench vise so I could use the bench without the other stuff in the way.
 
Well pretty slow day, Spent the morning getting supplies and I started to build my tenon jig. And I couldn't find my upcut Spiral Bit :-( So ill have to go buy one tommorow.

You guys provided me with so much info and ideas im trying to figure out witch one to use.

Ill head to lee valley tommorow and pick up some T-Track and those heavy duty casters.

21618403_10155765417538552_1746573210_o.jpg
 
DILLIGAF said:
Well pretty slow day, Spent the morning getting supplies and I started to build my tenon jig. And I couldn't find my upcut Spiral Bit :-( So ill have to go buy one tommorow.

You guys provided me with so much info and ideas im trying to figure out witch one to use.

Ill head to lee valley tommorow and pick up some T-Track and those heavy duty casters.
Click to expand...

Don't be furgitt'in the brewm................:cool:
 
im going to be building a bench this weekend that kind of like the first one.

Itll be 4x4 legs, 2x4 frame with a 1" plywood top. ill cut some notches on the insides of the legs so i can slide another sheet of plywood in for a bottom shelf.

nothing fancy, just something a table saw, chop saw and drill can do. i also want to be able to take it apart to get it in the basement easier.
 
Make your bench as tall as you can to make it comfortable to use when standing

tall Drafting/ bar stool make it ok for sitting

Or you can cut the legs

No toe or knee bangers
 
Was able to work a bit on it today.

So 1/2 shelf on the bottom. Rabbited the top 4x4's to accept a 3/4" plywood sheet. Will chamfer everything tommorow.

21728610_10155774307388552_2415561806381197985_o.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom