Been an expensive week. Truck repairs, and then got really tired of the state of things at home.
Decided it was time to build a reloading bench and also a generic work bench out in the 'living' room.
Decided to go with stuff that looks like:
Didn't buy a kit, just piecing it together. Piecing it together also means it can be taken apart for when I eventually move again.
Depths appear to be 17", 24", and 30". I'm using a 30" version for my electronics workbench (oscilloscope, soldering iron, etc) - but remembering back to when I used to use a folding table with some OSB thrown on top as my reloading bench -- I really didn't have a lot of use for depth-of-table.
17" seemed like it would be too narrow to provide a good "pulling the ram handle down" counter weight / balance kind of thing - so going with 24".
It'll be 6' long, just to match the area I'm stuffing it into - and yes, 6' is
way too big for normal reloading stuff. I'll make use of the space, though
.
The reloading bench "for now":
* Two 24" x 72" end pieces
* Four 6' spans
* 3 of the particle board shelf inserts
* Two 4x8 sheets of 1/2" CDX 4 ply plywood ($16 each, don't care about finish)
* Four 3' metal rack hanger things with slot holes to put shelving braces in
* Eight shelving braces for 2 shelves (prolly over kill?)
* Two 6' 1x8's medium quality (shelving)
* One 4' 2x6 (cut it in half to make 2 feet for the rack ends)
* gallon of least offensive paint in the '$5 returns' area
Using a 4'x6' bit of plywood as the backing of the work bench. It'll also be what shelving is hung from. I am a bit "hm" about 1/2" for the shelving / backing, but it should be fine. The backing is gonna be bolted to the rack ends and prolly to the span beams too.
A 2' x 6' section of the plywood will get bolted (and maybe glued, I dunno) on top of the particle board to provide an abusable work surface. Have two of these, so if need to double up, can. Might also cover it with 1/4" melamine I've got lying around, dunno.
Probably need to eye ball the presses that I've got and see if they'll play nice with the work bench (hole positions). If not, I'll prolly use some 3/4" plywood to make a base that the press bolts to, then a have that bolt to the table top in more convenient places.
Will have to do something about lighting. Dunno if there are any power outlets near where I'm putting the bench.
The other work bench will be similar, but 4' wide and totally just "generic work bench". 24" deep is a bit on the narrow side, but it'll fit nicely where it's going.
edit: was using the word "I"
way too much.
