Ammunition & Hand Loading > Cartridge and Shotshell reloading

Reloading bench - trying monkey rack...

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unfy:
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 :D.

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.

on the fritz:
Some nice LED strip lighting would be bright enough and take up almost no space.  Get the right ones and you could run it off a 9 volt battery.

Mali:
This KickStarter project might work well for your lighting needs.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/powerpractical/luminoodle-versatile-usb-lighting-solution

Runs off 5V USB so it can be powered using a USB battery pack or a USB hub.

unfy:
Luminode ... would be kinda interesting to look at.  Just to tear apart, at least.  If it's 5v on the LED wires... seems horribly inefficient (but dunno which is worse, losses of a boost converter or the losses of 5-10 feet of wire at a measly 5v).  Also - a wait to december is a bit oof :(.

Buuutttt... as a travel light, seems awesome.

Lighting was gonna be LED for sure.  Self done strip lighting, or a just some under the cabinet style LED bars or something.  I did find a wall outlet near the area the bench will be, so that's not a concern (yay!).  The electronics workbench - well ... 1/4" melamine fits nicely inside of the rack ends and acts as a decent interior wall.  I've not decided if to do the same thing with the reloading bench or not.  If I don't, the support cross sections of the end rack might be a decent place to hide some light strips.  Etc etc etc etc.

I've got the feet on the rack ends, spans in place, and the wood backing hung (but not screwed into the spans yet).  Gonna cut down the hanging strip that these hook on to:



The strip is 80" long... I need 72"-ish heh.  Was cutting it at home with a hacksaw, but that's kinda loud (who woulda thunk a 7 foot think steel plate would be such an amplifier j/k).

For the moment, I'll be holding off on deciding what to do with the bench top.  Don't have to get the presses mounted ASAP.... and for now the particle board and 1/2 plywood is fine without bolting / gluing.

Decided to wait until the weekend to paint stuff (ok, honestly got tired of spending money last week and put the $10 in roller supplies off).


Oh, and the cats are pissed I've rearranged the bedroom (and took away one of their sleeping spots).

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