Reloading bench bench-top material

[gunarea]

Hello All
Having been a committed competitive shooter since 1963, a dedicated reloading (gun room) area has always been part of my life. The first baby marked a need for it to be detached and separate from our home. In the year 1979, an opportunity came to me and I seized it. A six foot long by four foot wide sheet of one inch thick, cold rolled steel plate became available to me. The price was well beyond that of any possible wood built reloading bench, but a bargain of a steel plate price. I split the plate longwise with an oxy/actl torch at work.

Attachment 213001

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Attachment 213005

What is shown is the press and accessory portion. Simply drill and thread for whatever press. Time has trimmed me down to two Lyman Spartan, two MEC in different gauges, RCBS bench primer and my Lyman case trimmer. There are some holes from stuff that left for one reason or another. 4"X4" lumber is used for bench support. The original paint job is now thirty eight years old and doing well.

Attachment 213002

This piece is the casting, sizing and lubing section. My fifty plus year old Lyman 450 needed a heavy insulator in between the heater plate and the steel bench to break the heat sink effect. The other side of the coin is that hot projectiles rolled off the multi layer towels, cool very quickly on the bare steel.

I understand most folks do not have access to nor ability to facilitate a very heavy chunk of steel, but some may. It is tits for all reloading and casting activities. Mine are freestanding, yet stable enough for full length sizing of 30-06. The shooting angels get credit for me having such great benches. Yeah, they are separate items in my will. Go get you one and try to be humble when showing it off to friends.
Roy

[littlef]

Mine is pressboard, then I went to the hardware store and bought a few of those stick-on vinyl floor tiles. Keeps solvents from absorbing into the wood, and makes for quick clean up.

[mew]

I have used plywood, pressboard, 2 by whatever's and then (once again info from an old salt) got advice that said if you take a stable base of any of the before mentioned stuff and cover it in formica you are good for more years than you can count. Another suggestion is to go with a white or light color. Things like small screws and granules of powder on the bench stand out. Very easy to keep clean, pretty tough, and it doesn't look bad. Spill oils, solvents, and even glues on it and it will clean up with no issues.

[Road_Clam]

Another vote for bolting your presses to a steel sub-plate for adding rigidity. Makes a BIG difference vs simply bolting the press to a wood bench. I also fabricated a 14" tall riser for my 650 so I stand up straight and comfortable while loading. I tried sitting while loading and that didn't work for me. Very few people understand how important ergonomics are with handloading. I gave myself tendinitis in my right elbow from too much reloading. I now load ambi , alternating using my right and left arms.

[kmw1954]

I also fabricated a 14" tall riser for my 650 so I stand up straight and comfortable while loading. I tried sitting while loading and that didn't work for me. Very few people understand how important ergonomics are with handloading.

Being a mechanic for most of my life in many different fields I understand all too well the importance of ergonomics. In the shop we had many benches of differing heights to aide in that. Out in the field was a whole other story and we had to make due with what we had..

Myself I need to sit at the bench because of problems with my legs and standing in one position for extended periods. With that I built my bench to accommodate that need. I know and understand some folks would feel very uncomfortable at my bench but after all it is my bench.

Yours looks well organized!

[Three44s]

Currently I am loading off of an island in my man cave.

I built it in our farm shop.

My brother does a lot of rock crushing and road work for the US Army on one of it’s bases and one of the jobs involved a salvage operation. There they tore down a bunch of DOM steam pipe along with the supports.

There were stand pipes supporting the steam pipes .... seven inches in diameter and a wall thickness of 5/8” with a T rail welded onto each one.

The rail is 12” wide, half inch thick with the flange of 3/8” by 4” by 4 feet in length.

I built the outer perimeter of my island with this T rail. The outer perimeter was built with the 12” wide surface facing up and the 4” flange pointed down. For legs I used two sizes of the DOM steam tube one slid inside the other adjustable with set screws and set collars made from the same tubing on all four corners making a table adjustable for height. The legs are around 1 1/2” and 2” in diameter and give the island quite a range of height adjustment. I believe I am presently adjusted to about 34” with it.

The top is not very sexy. I simply used two layers of unfinished 3/4” OSB. It is not even screwed down yet. I mount all my Presses with C-clamps with the presses bolted onto wooden blocks of sufficient size and thickness.

I have used this table for about 9 or 10 years and my only regret is that I made wider and longer than I should have.

I have been contemplating building a conventional bench or a smaller island. I figure 3”x3”x3/8” angle iron for a frame/perimeter with a wooden top ought to hit the spot!

The current table will get sent to our farm shop and get a steel diamond deck and become a good welding/layout space.

The reason I want to downsize the work area is because I cover up every flat space within a hundred miles of me given the opportunity!

For my new bench or island I have contemplated building in a T track or a pair as has been suggested. I also think about building a wrap around bracket that hooks onto the angle iron and then draws down onto top surface by way of an embedded T track or my earlier thought of using an appropriately dimensioned rail such as unistrut.

Three44s

[DCM]

Currently using a painted 2X12 but the plan is to laminate a piece of aluminum flashing to the top and solidly grounding it.
We had a nasty cold very dry snap here recently and static buildup was terrible so I am working on eliminating that in the future.

[OeldeWolf]

I ran into a piece of 3/4" thick steel plate, when another shop went out of business. I trimmed it to 2 feet by 4 feet, and mounted it to a heavy frame. I have it painted with engine enamel, but am going to repaint it. Having my fiancée turn out to be a conniving, vengeful, waste of flesh has set me back some, but I am still planning on putting a proper workbench with drawers under it, and hutch above it.

[Bubba w/a 45/70]

Nothing fancy here, just 2 layers of 3/4" plywood, unfinshed, and screwed down to 2x4 frame that has 2x4 braces every 8 inches. This whole framework was bolted into the cement wall that part of my reloading room consists of. For legs I laminated 2x4s together and these are attached to the front of the bench.

Solid, nothing more.

[jeffs4wheeler]

The first bench I had was formica. It was easy to clean.

[Livin_cincy]

I purchased a white desk top from Ikea. The white reflects light so it makes things bright.

[anothernewb]

I have a plain white smooth formica top. I think it's perfect. reflects light too. use a MR clean eraser when the graphite gets it a little gray.

[bob.dakeelstripe]

I used 1 1/8 ply wood for underlayment then 3/4 red oak flooring on top stained and covered with total boat 3to1 Crystal clear epoxy.

Flush mounted an inline fabrication quick mount

Bolted the 1 1/2 pipe legs to floor.

Still one more coat epoxy needed

If the sky falls I'm ducking under this.


Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[HangFireW8]

For all my work benches, I use recycled commercial fire rated doors and cover them with tempered masonite. They are strong, look good and and easy to recover with new masonite if they ever start to look bad.

I use hardboard for some of my benches, which is just non-brand-name masonite. It seems to come in two grades, one with a finished side and one with more porous sides. It sure looks nice, when you first put it on.

Both will readily absorb water and swell.

So what I recommend, if you go the hardboard route, is to seal the hardboard with Spar Varnish or Poly, including the edges and at least several inches onto the back side, in case of wicking.

I'm not sure if genuine Masonite suffers from the same issue, maybe not.

[DocSavage]

Had help from a friend in building my bench 1x12 frame with 4x4s for legs. Frame is lag bolted to a wall. Frame was bolted together with 3/8" carriage bolts. Top is 2 layers of cabinet grade 3/4" plywood screwed into the frame with 3" deck screws.
Bench is 10 feet long 28 inches wide. Have a Dillon strong mount bolted to top with a RockDoc base plate bolt to it so I can easily switch presses as needed. The only goof is I made the bench 4 " too high but frankly you could Flamenco dance on the bench as it's going nowhere. Yeah I over built just a little.

[WD Mas]

New bench Wife found 11' x 48" x 3" bowling alley.Split down the middle I now have one 10' bench and one 8' bench.

[abunaitoo]

My outside loading bench is something I made to weld and do auto work on.
Now it's for sizing, forming, casting, and some welding.
It's 1" metal road plate. 3' x 4'.
Heavy. Hard to move.
Have drilled and taped holes for mounting different presses and lube sizer.
No flex at all.

[RogerDat]

I used OSB 3/8 inch x 2 layers. Presses are mounted to plywood bases. The bases have common four hole pattern that holds them to the bench. I use counter sunk machine screws with wing nuts under the bench. I only have room for two presses but have three. And if I ever get a shotgun reloading press it will go on same pattern base. There is also an extra block of wood under the edge of the top directly under the press just to stiffen out any flex.

The OSB I already had, it was even in the basement needing to move out. If I decide to resurface I would probably run ready made counter top over it or just buy some HD particle board and make own counter top. Considering ready made Formica counter is pretty cheap I would probably go that route if I could find a flat piece with no back splash. I want my shelves to go to the back edge



I too have a problem with standing in one place for long periods so that tall bar stool in the foreground puts me at a good height.

[Smk SHoe]

Had help from a friend in building my bench 1x12 frame with 4x4s for legs. Frame is lag bolted to a wall. Frame was bolted together with 3/8" carriage bolts. Top is 2 layers of cabinet grade 3/4" plywood screwed into the frame with 3" deck screws.
Bench is 10 feet long 28 inches wide. Have a Dillon strong mount bolted to top with a RockDoc base plate bolt to it so I can easily switch presses as needed. The only goof is I made the bench 4 " too high but frankly you could Flamenco dance on the bench as it's going nowhere. Yeah I over built just a little.

YOU did not over build, just under challenged it so far.

[Honestly Evil]

I just swapped out my two Home Depot 6' work benches for two 8' stainless steel tables. Anything wood even with coating doesnt allow to wipe away the lead particles and I have two young boys so just being over cautious.