Reloading Bench Build

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Im thinking this is gonna be pretty secure between 3 walls and im gonna run 2x4s behind the cabinets to so more to screw too. Itll be 5 separate cabinets, so support walls every 2-3 feet. The top will be 2 layers so i can screw the first layer to the cabinets and 2x4s then glue the 2nd layer on top and run screws from under the bottom layer to the top layer. That and a lot of weight will be stored in the cabinets themselves
 
PhillySoldier said:
PhillySoldier said:
She put in 5 electrical sockets as well as ran lines w switches to where each of the rows of shelves will be mounted.
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shes already retiled my bathroom and shower, carpeted and painted a few rooms, cleans my house and cuts my lawn each weekend while im at the range. Im a widower and just sort of whatever about it all
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egd said:
WOW!!!
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Never underestimate the opposite sex.

In my 20s, I was rock climbing, dirt bike riding, four wheeling, hiking/rough camping, shooting pistol matches and maintaining 3 rental houses I bought. When a mutual friend set me up with my future wife, she said "You guys are perfect for each other". Our first date was riding quads at Oceano dunes and I learned she grew up riding dirt bikes, four wheeling, shooting and rough camping. Literally it was love at first ride and we have been together 23 years.

Several years after we got married, I got an out-of-town assignment before I could change the starter in our 4x4 Suburban (I do most of work on our vehicles). Imagine my surprise when I came home to a smiling wife who told me she installed the new starter. I immediately asked, "You didn't forget the heat shield?" And she said, "Of course not." (Her mechanically inclined brother is a framer who helped her but he said she insisted on doing all the work herself). :eek: And of course, she can swing a hammer and helped me remodel and re-roof several houses during our marriage (we split 50/50 proceeds from our house flips over the decades riding the 7-9 year cycles).

It sure is nice to have a wife who can actually "help" you and have similar interests. When my friends' wives frown on shooting and buying guns, my wife asks me to reload more so we could go shooting. When their wives asked my wife if she was OK with me spending a lot of money on shooting, she asked them "Do you really know where your husbands are when they say they are "golfing"? Do you check the bottom of golf shoes to see if they are dirty? I know exactly where my husband is when he is reloading and shooting because I am shooting with him." ;)

After over $110,000 spent on shooting and reloading expenses, wife never questions my spending on guns/shooting supplies as our agreement is she gets to spend twice what I spend on my hobbies (And I absolutely support her tasty hobby of raising chickens currently numbering around 100 and her C5 Z06/2016 Ram diesel 4x4 she "had to have"). Interestingly, she is "happily" helping me restore 18' Starcraft outboard and 21' Starcraft with Berkeley jet drive and is looking forward to fishing/crabbing with me. :p

If you are still single looking for a wife, choose very wisely. Marrying someone who is "truly compatible" with you and sincere about shooting/reloading will benefit both of your lives immensely.
 
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One piece of advice that I wish someone had given me was to measure shelf heights to accommodate my stuff.

For example: I store a lot of my ammo in MTM ammo boxes. My bottom shelf is just barely too short to accommodate stacking boxes 2 high. :fire: Another 1" and I would have had it. Dumb planning.

I store clean brass in coffee cans. My storage shelf is just too short to store 3 high.

Think about what you store, and design shelf heights to fit your stuff rather than try and make your stuff fit an even dimension that looks good on paper or makes the wood easy to cut.
 
some nice benches here guys. the old boiling alley burned down by me i ask if i can get some of the lanes the said no but they make a very good bench top. most are nice old growth maple.
 
Doublehelix said:
One piece of advice that I wish someone had given me was to measure shelf heights to accommodate my stuff.

For example: I store a lot of my ammo in MTM ammo boxes. My bottom shelf is just barely too short to accommodate stacking boxes 2 high. :fire: Another 1" and I would have had it. Dumb planning.

I store clean brass in coffee cans. My storage shelf is just too short to store 3 high.

Think about what you store, and design shelf heights to fit your stuff rather than try and make your stuff fit an even dimension that looks good on paper or makes the wood easy to cut.
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How much space do you have between shelves then? I understand what you were saying but since I dont really know exactly what and how Im gonna stack things yet I didnt have any specific measurement requirements to go buy. Now that the wiring is done for the shelves Im kinda locked in unless I move things higher but they are already kinda high. Im planning the two rows of shelves going across the 10 1/2' wall. I placed the first row at 30" off the counter top (5 1/2' from floor) which is pretty high but I wanted the light above the press as well as still leaving a bit of bare wall under the shelf to hang some smaller items like bins or a magnetic strip etc. I placed the 2nd row at 43" off the counter top (6.5' from floor) which will give me about 12" of free space between shelves.
 
Single Station

This is probably a better question for down the line but I was just thinking bout it; currently for a single station press I have the RCBS Partner Press. I occasionally use it just for small stuff like pulling bullets, depriming sideways primers, testing a seating depth on new projectile etc. Should I mount this to the new bench or getting something else thats nicer?
 
Doublehelix said:
One piece of advice that I wish someone had given me was to measure shelf heights to accommodate my stuff
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Even better. Figure out the thickness of the shelf material, double it, and add that between each shelf. Nothing gets tight, and if things aren’t perfect then you still have room. I knew I needed 3-1/4” and I was using leftover 1/2” plywood and 1/2” pallet slats. I spaced my shelf marks out at 4-1/4inches. I also built a cubby for die boxes to stand on edge. I forget that dimension, but there’s about 1/2” above that as well.
 
WestKentucky said:
Even better. Figure out the thickness of the shelf material, double it, and add that between each shelf.
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Im planning on using 3/4" oak plywood for the shelves. You think it needs to be thinking than that? For spacing the first shelf will be 30" off the counter top; the second will be 43" from the counter top. Leaves me a good foot between shelves
 
PhillySoldier said:
Im planning on using 3/4" oak plywood for the shelves. You think it needs to be thinking than that? For spacing the first shelf will be 30" off the counter top; the second will be 43" from the counter top. Leaves me a good foot between shelves
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It's amazing how much a little weight can bend a shelf over time (even oak)... be sure to have enough supports under those shelves!
 
drband said:
It's amazing how much a little weight can bend a shelf over time (even oak)... be sure to have enough supports under those shelves!
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Im kinda worried about that. I was planning on brackets on ever stud along the wall so that would be every 16". Not sure if I'll need ones between studs. I figured I can always add more brackets if needed
 
PhillySoldier said:
Im kinda worried about that. I was planning on brackets on ever stud along the wall so that would be every 16". Not sure if I'll need ones between studs. I figured I can always add more brackets if needed
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Build it right the first time rather than going back later to repair. Use slats the full length of your shelf along the sides and preferably across the back too. If you are running low on material you can bridge every other stud, but the best way to do it is to essentially have a horseshoe supporting your shelf. If you angle the shelf towards the back ever so slightly that will account for some twist/sag from front to back. For long spans, put a vertical support on the front of the shelves too.
 
Philly Soldier wrote:
No clue what im doing w the electrical...
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Check with your local community college or county extension service. A lot of them offer classes that can bring you up to speed in a few weeks.

I have a degree in mechanical engineering with a minor in electrical engineering, so doing the load calculations, locating the circuits and drawing up the specifications for an electrical installation is no problem. But, apart from a garage I wired when I was 17 (and which has not burned down yet), I had no practical experience in actually running the wire, roughing in the boxes, and doing the finish work. A six week class through the community college took care of all that.
 
I did not take any classes, but I did work with an electrician one summer when I was a teen. When it came time to wire a garage, I bought a DIY book, read up on it, flagged all the applicable parts, and did it myself. It passed inspection without any problems. That was 25 years ago. More recently, I wired my new prefab shed that is my reloading room, and had to brush up on the changes to the code. It passed inspection. That was 6 years ago. Most recently (past year) I wired a new sun-room on our house. I consulted with the contractors electrician (paid him for his time) and wired that myself. Again, the code had changed (arc-fault breaker requirements). That passed also. It is certainly doable, but at the very least I would consult with an licensed electrician. Having someone inspect the work (either formally or informally) is recommended.

One thing I tried to plan for was how I was going to load the circuits. In my old garage, I wired more outlets than I needed (really pissed off the sheet rock guy - LOL) and I alternated every outlet on a different circuit, on different legs of the 240 supply. This way I could plug a tool into one outlet and a shop vac in an adjacent outlet and know they were on different circuits.
 
WestKentucky said:
Build it right the first time rather than going back later to repair. Use slats the full length of your shelf along the sides and preferably across the back too. If you are running low on material you can bridge every other stud, but the best way to do it is to essentially have a horseshoe supporting your shelf. If you angle the shelf towards the back ever so slightly that will account for some twist/sag from front to back. For long spans, put a vertical support on the front of the shelves too.
Click to expand...

Not entirely sure what you mean by the first part.
 
Toprudder said:
I did not take any classes, but I did work with an electrician one summer when I was a teen. When it came time to wire a garage, I bought a DIY book, read up on it, flagged all the applicable parts, and did it myself. It passed inspection without any problems. That was 25 years ago. More recently, I wired my new prefab shed that is my reloading room, and had to brush up on the changes to the code. It passed inspection. That was 6 years ago. Most recently (past year) I wired a new sun-room on our house. I consulted with the contractors electrician (paid him for his time) and wired that myself. Again, the code had changed (arc-fault breaker requirements). That passed also. It is certainly doable, but at the very least I would consult with an licensed electrician. Having someone inspect the work (either formally or informally) is recommended.

One thing I tried to plan for was how I was going to load the circuits. In my old garage, I wired more outlets than I needed (really pissed off the sheet rock guy - LOL) and I alternated every outlet on a different circuit, on different legs of the 240 supply. This way I could plug a tool into one outlet and a shop vac in an adjacent outlet and know they were on different circuits.
Click to expand...

Electrical is done as i said. I grew up doing plumbing and worked full time since i was 16 at it till i went in the army at 21. Ill admit she knows electrical more than me but i would've did it. Im just not as comfortable about it, plus im lazy :) Either way though we were more fighting about how do do it. She wanted to punch lots of holes where i just wanted to take out all the lower sheet rock and replace afterwards
 
I got most of the reloading area done. Put in the cabinets, counter top and shelves. Just need to stain or coat everything. Unfortunately I gotta finish spackling/painting the rest of the garage first before I can get back to the bench. Now to play move the pile of crap from one side to the other till I get everything painted.
 
I spent the entirety of the long weekend getting the rest of the garage finished, staining the new bench and shelves and getting my dillon presses re-mounted. I ordered some railing and wall mounting hardware as well as decided I had a big bare spot on the bench so I ordered another 650 press. After I receive and get everything installed, I'll post up some pics.
 
PhillySoldier said:
I spent the entirety of the long weekend getting the rest of the garage finished, staining the new bench and shelves and getting my dillon presses re-mounted. I ordered some railing and wall mounting hardware as well as decided I had a big bare spot on the bench so I ordered another 650 press. After I receive and get everything installed, I'll post up some pics.
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You have, in my opinion, superior problem solving skills. :)
 
Looks like Im delayed at least another week. I received everything from dillon (new press, case and bullet feeders and primer filler) however im still waiting on my orders from inline fab (including the press mount). I just got a notification that it shipped (dont think it actually did) and is expected next weekend

I tried to get a little reloading and shooting in over the weekend. OMG I cant believe how messed up everything was on my existing 650. Just about every single darn thing needed re-adjusting. Everything from the bullet feeder to each of the dies. I got everything thing fixed except I still have to re-align the indexing - getting a lot of flipped primers now. Weather sucked for shooting but I went out both Sat & Sun morning and shot in the rain. It was nice though in that I had the range pretty much to myself all weekend.
 
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