Casting bench recommendations?

[Sweetpea]

I guess this goes here.

Since it will be a while (years) until I can build a full-on shop, I have decided to add a dedicated casting bench into my garage.

I can go 12' in length, but I am thinking only going 16-18 inches deep.

I believe if I went 24", I would have a lot of space go unused, and space like that tends to collect junk...

What say you guys?

Is that enough depth? I plan in the future to add a ProMelt, or a larger Lyman pot, (the MAG 25 if they ever get it out).

Maybe some of you could add pictures of your setup?

Any help is appreciated.

Brandon

[shadowcaster]

Boy 12 feet long IMO is a lot. I would make your casting bench somewhere in the 4 to six foot range and use the leftover space for other things (storing ingots, brass cleaning station, tumbler and media) Take some measurements and lay out some of your equipment to figure out which depth will work best for you. You may also want to consider having enough room for some shelves or a vent hood above. Just my 2 cents. :-)

Here is a pic of my smelting/casting bench. It is 2 feet deep and 5 feet long, is made from cinder blocks and the 2x6's to form a shelf. It has a thin steel plate on top of the plywood for easy clean up of any spills. I have since added a second lee pro 4-20. I use an adjustable height stool with casters so that if I need to back up quickly or move side to side, I can. It is very stable, and if I decide to move my setup it comes apart easily with no fuss.

69221

Shad

[hermans]

Wow Shad, that is pretty neat! Good setup, and simple to construct as well, the use of cinder blocks is brilliant:cool:

[David2011]

The bench is covered with a 25"x48" garage floor oil drip pan- cheap at Wally World. All I do there is cast. Sizing and other operations are on another bench. The oil drip pan is galavanized steel so lead won't stick. The drip pan has a lip to keep boolits and sprue off of the floor. It's plenty big for casting. I usually cast 20-22 pounds at a time. Personally I would be reluctant to build a bench as shallow as 16"-18". Make a mock-up and put your stuff on it. Go through your normal casting motions and see if it's deep enough and there's a place for everything and then decide. OTOH, with a 12' length you should be able to build an ammo assembly line from ingot to boolit to sizer to loaded round. I just sheetrocked my new loading and casting room and there's nothing in it at the moment so no photos for now. I get to start taping and floating tonight.

David

[Fathersalt]

I copied this build and I couldnt be happier. Ive had 600lbs of linotype on the top of this table and experienced almost no deflection.
Enough room to debone an entire side of beef. I love the casters also, so I can move it around for when its time to give the casting shed a good deep sweeping/cleaning.

http://www.oneprojectcloser.com/how-to-build-heavy-duty-workbench/

[Jim]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?198138-Casting-shed-refit!