Ye Olde Reloading Bench Picture Thread

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Netpackrat
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Ye Olde Reloading Bench Picture Thread

Post by Netpackrat »

I can has sticky plz?

Been in the new house for almost a year, and I am finally just about finished with the reloading bench. I still have some trim work to do, but other than that it is done. The mounting bases from Inline Fabrication have quick change tops so all of my presses and other reloading gear can be swapped between them, and then hung on the wall when not in use. They are mounted on heavy duty aluminum T slot track sunk into the bench top, so the bases can be moved along the bench or new ones added without drilling any holes in the bench. I got sick of running extension cords to the bench in the old house, so I kind of went for overkill with my outlet setup. Right now the only things plugged into them are the LED lighting on the presses.

Image

The bench is based on the EAA Chapter 1000 worktables that I use as workbenches, but with the legs and bottom shelf set further back for legroom while seated. The legs are anchored to the concrete floor, and the back of the bench is screwed to the wall studs. The bench top is 5/8" baltic birch plywood with a couple coats of clear polyurethane. Only reason I used that was it was the only 5/8" thick plywood I could find locally, to match the thickness of the t-slot tracks screwed to the 3/4" exterior plywood below. I had initially planned on just painting the top, but I couldn't bring myself to put house paint over that nice plywood (the gray paint is leftover from my old house). The trim is poplar painted gloss black... I initially attempted to stain it and then use the clear poly over that, but I couldn't get that to work worth a shit, so I sanded it back down and used the paint. Will probably never try to stain a piece of wood again.
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randy
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Re: Ye Olde Reloading Bench Picture Thread

Post by randy »

Netpackrat wrote:I can has sticky plz?n.
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FelixEstrella
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Re: Ye Olde Reloading Bench Picture Thread

Post by FelixEstrella »

Wow! So tidy.
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Netpackrat
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Re: Ye Olde Reloading Bench Picture Thread

Post by Netpackrat »

FelixEstrella wrote:Wow! So tidy.
I haven't done any loading on it yet... :lol:
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randy
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Re: Ye Olde Reloading Bench Picture Thread

Post by randy »

Here's mine from over 10 years ago . Haven't reloaded in years and while everything is still there, it's acquired a collection of unrelated computer equipment that needs to be sorted and disposed of "any day now". The actual work surface is a door that came out of the third floor of a building at Kelly AFB I'm sure First Shirt is familiar with. My NCOIC said one day "They're dumping the old doors into a dumpster. Contractor says I can get one if I want. you help me carry two out to my truck and I'll build you a bench too". I was always told I should listen to my NCOs...
Bench0407.JPG
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Netpackrat
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Re: Ye Olde Reloading Bench Picture Thread

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randy wrote:My NCOIC said one day "They're dumping the old doors into a dumpster. Contractor says I can get one if I want. you help me carry two out to my truck and I'll build you a bench too".
Those gray hardware cabinets on the bottom shelf of my bench, I literally pulled out of the dumpster at work. The stockroom changed how they were handling fasteners, and those became surplus to needs. The stock clerk on duty was told to see if anybody wanted them, and if not then dumpster them. Lazy fuck just took them straight to the dumpster, and we didn't find out until after the fact. Another mechanic and I saved the ones that were not too badly effed up; I ended up with 7 or 8 of them. They are pretty expensive new if you ever have to buy them.

Detail shot of one end of the new bench:

Image

Inline Fabrication makes their ultramounts in 3 different heights, unfortunately they all have different bolt spacing at the feet. I didn't want to have more than 2 tracks on each bench, or different spacing for the different sections, so in order to use their shortest mount, I made a couple of adapters out of 1" 6061 bar stock.

The large plastic handle nuts are what came with the t-slot tracks. I have a bunch of them which I unfortunately can't use because of interference with the sides of the ultramounts; I had to use regular wing nuts everywhere else, which are still fast and easy to use.

Spent a few minutes decapping 300 Blackout cases last night to get them ready for wet tumbling. An XL650 is probably in my future for the case feeder if no other reason. The single stage was fine until I decided I wanted to reload for semi-auto rifles.
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Netpackrat
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Re: Ye Olde Reloading Bench Picture Thread

Post by Netpackrat »

Video showing the quick change mounting system. No affiliation other than satisfied customer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4F93tWTC7Q
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HTRN
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Re: Ye Olde Reloading Bench Picture Thread

Post by HTRN »

Netpackrat wrote:They are pretty expensive new if you ever have to buy them.
I dont know wh makes your particular one, but amazon sells something that looks basically identical for roughly 40 bucks a drawer, plus the rack, so figure on 200 bucks a unit. I personally have one from msc, and they tend to be both rugged, asn fucking heavy.

Pesonally, i prefer something like this from horror freight, or if you have money falling out of your ass, Sortimo, or the even pricier Raaco boxxser at something like 16 times the price. Having entire walls of vidmar toolcabinets filled with screws at work, i can point to 3 big advantages - price, portability (bringing the whole box of screws over to what your working on), and finally visibility - you can see whats inside without having to open anything.
Last edited by HTRN on Sun Feb 25, 2018 11:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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SoupOrMan
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Re: Ye Olde Reloading Bench Picture Thread

Post by SoupOrMan »

Here's mine so far. I really need to add storage cabinets for dies, powder, brass and bullets. Right now, each coffee can holds either cleaned, sized & deprimed brass of one caliber or another or is used to hold brass being sorted for cleaning. The metal can is used for cracked, dented or old brass which has gone past its service life. I've got my Lee press lag bolted to the bench and on the other end the small vise I found in my grandfather's old workshop when we were cleaning up my grandparents' house to sell it. The machine stand on the left is what I used for my press prior to building the bench. Now it's the right height for a seat while reloading. The hanging LED light I have above it gives pretty close to daylight brightness. I had to turn it off to take the picture to show the bottom half of the bench. The dry boxes underneath are my range gear box and my chronograph box.
buildabangworkshop.jpg
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Netpackrat
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Re: Ye Olde Reloading Bench Picture Thread

Post by Netpackrat »

HTRN wrote:Having entire walls of vidmar toolcabinets filled with screws at work, i can point to 3 big advantages - price, portability (bringing the whole box of screws over to what your working on), and finally visibility - you can see whats inside without having to open anything.
The ones that got dumpstered were on a big cart out in the hangar that could indeed be wheeled around as needed. They took all that away from us. Now if I need one screw, I have to go to the stockroom and give them the part number.
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