loading bench set-ups

[Hannibal]

I've been looking thru the loading bench set-ups sticky. LOTS of ideas to be found there. I was wondering if anyone has or had a loading room set up with the bench like an island in a kitchen? If so, do/did you love/hate it? Any problems/ pluses? And most importantly, would you set one up that way again?

[Moonman]

I saw a photo of an ISLAND SET UP, he had a press on each
side of the island.

[Guardian]

I have benches against a wall and in the middle of the floor. I like both, but it depends on your uses. You lose the ability to store stuff at the back of the bench against the wall with the island setup, but shelves beneath the bench are easier to access on the island. I rarely work off the back side of the island bench because motorcycles are on that side, but I work off the ends all the time. I don't want to be without either bench style, but if I had to choose I'd keep the ones against the wall and figure out some sort of quick change press mount.

[Bored1]

A friend of mine has an island right in the middle of his loading room. Has powder measures and scale on the top shelf, and then multiple sizers on the bench top all the way around. Works EXTREMELY well!!! I hope to be able to copy a bit of it once we find our own house. Currently renting and not sure they would appreciate me bolting an island into the rafters of the basement !

[dragon813gt]

When I get around to building a loading room in the basement of my garage I plan to build a 4'x8' work bench in the middle of it. It will be accessible from all sides. Plan to use it for gun cleaning and other tasks that don't require presses. If space is tight I can see how it could be a hinderance.

[hornetman]

My principal bench is 4' x 8' with a tier of shelves in the middle of the bench that are 12 inches wide by 5 feet long. This gives me 18 inches of working space for tools all around the bench with lots of storage for dies, scales etc. on the top shelves and bulk storage in shelves under the bench. I would not have it any other way; however, it sure isn't portable.

[CGT80]

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Mine is setup a bit like an island. The previous owner had it custom built, but it was against a wall, behind the bench. There is a matching shelving unit that hung on the wall, but it is now on the floor of my bedroom and has ammo and components on it.

The bench is 8' long and 2' deep. I love the drawers and the open space hold powder, casefeeder plates, and the 15 toolheads for the dillon 550. The dillon swaging press is on the corner and the rcbs bench primer is on the back side. I work mostly from the front and find the space between the presses to be just right. If I have help, they stand on the back side.

I have other equipment in a small utility room next to the garage. The room is small, so I have a bench that I made, which sits against the wall. The island idea is good, if you have the floor space.

[LUBEDUDE]

While I don't have one, I like the idea of an island bench as long as it doesn't shake, rattle and roll.

[Hannibal]

Thanks for all the input. I think I'm gonna go ahead with the island bench and watch my dimensions so I can put it on a wall if it doesn't work out. I think a 2'x8' bench built of 2x4s with a top built of 2x4s turned on edge and covered with hardboard should be pleanty sturdy. Then I'll anchor the legs to the floor with 1 1/2" angle iron and concrete screws. Outta work.

[mdi]

I think an island type bench would work great, as long as there is lots of room around the bench on all sides...

[Hannibal]

I'm hoping so. If I set it up right, no matter where you are you should be able to turn around and get what you need from a shelf/cabinet behind you. I plan to hang a wire rack from the ceiling to hold paper towels, aerosol cans and the like from. Sounds good. Guess the only way I'll know if it works I'd to build it and see.

[CGT80]

Post some pics of your reloading space and your project as you go, if you are willing to share. It is cool to see what each person comes up with. I spent 17+ years doing many trades in the construction industry so I have seen a lot of buildings and work spaces and have worked on many. Even though I am glad I don't do that for a living any more, my creative and DIY/pro hands on side gets an itch now and then to build something cool and nice. I would love to remodel the loading room that sits next to my garage, but the structure and water drainage is a major problem and is not worth putting money and work into, just to be destroyed. That garage and room need to be torn down and rebuilt.

[Moonman]

CGT80,

Well it's time to start, get a SLEDGE or a Bobcat/Dozer?

A JOURNEY STARTS WITH THE FIRST STEP.

[Hannibal]

I'll be glad to. Starting out with a 8'x12' separate room in the corner of the garage. Where it goes from there is yet to be seen. Finishing up the walls and hanging the door this week-end.

[Hannibal]

CGT80, if I had what you have in the house, I think I wouldn't be worried about a shed outside. That's NICE.

[CGT80]

CGT80, if I had what you have in the house, I think I wouldn't be worried about a shed outside. That's NICE.

I was going to repair the room outside, so I started to move the gear I needed to keep shooting, into the house. That outside room was a breeze way that was enclosed by my great grandfather. It sits between the single car garage and the house. Half the space has a raised floor and was made into a closet for the bedroom that is on that corner of the house. The remaining space is a utility room that my parents used for reloading and storage. The pics of my presses in the living room is actually a mother in law suite on my parents house. My grandmother used to live with us, in this 800 sq ft. condo. The main living room and kitchen are right after my small kitchen. I am single and work with my parents in the family business, so it works well for me. I couldn't have afforded a place of my own, even when pay was decent in the construction business.

My parents own the house and neither of us has money to spend on tearing down that garage to rebuild from the ground up. The single car garage and loading room are mine. My dad has a two car metal shed in the back, and we use the 2.5 car garage, in the back, as our workshop for our business. I have just let the front garage area stay as it. That utility room is where I have my Hollywood turret press, tumblers, casting setup, gun cleaning, etc. All the nasty stuff stays outside along with most of the brass. I do trim brass in the house, but the trimmer I built will contain the brass.

Here is part of our workshop that my family helped me remodel:

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This corner has my personal work bench and the bar area is setup for Pandora radio on the computer and for doing research on the internet. I put a heatpump/ac unit in, insulation, tons of lights, compressed air in all the walls with copper pipe, and a 4" dust collector is piped to our clean out station in the shop, with the vacuum setup in the metal shed next door.

This is the reloading bench that I built when I was 14 years old. The top, under the press, is a cast iron griddle that weighs around 100 pounds. My casting pot is on the right. The room doesn't have much insulation, the floor floods, and everything is dirty. The plywood has termites in it and is a problem I should take care of to try to prevent them from going nuts in the rest of the house. I do have a window AC unit and a small heater to keep it comfortable if I really want to work out there.
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The only drawback to having the reloading bench in the house, is the spent primers on the floor from the dillon 550. I installed track lights, which really helped, and the bench is screwed to the wood floor on the right side. The left is heavy due to the drawers. It is constructed out of 3/4" oak plywood and is hard to move with all of the drawers out of it and the top cleared. My computer desk is across from the loading bench, so I can quickly look up info on the forums/internet when I have questions.

This is the top shelving unit that used to hang on a wall over the loading bench. It works well on the floor as well. The cats like to sleep on the comforter on top.
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Don't mind the slab of travertine behind the shelving unit. That will be the top for my new computer desk, when I get it built. The travertine was left in an industrial warehouse along with 10 trailer loads of other stone slabs and remnants, when the tenant was evicted. I had to trash a lot of it, but some went into our kitchen and I have a few small pieces for furniture projects. My desk will be made of hammered tubing and finished in a brown Japanese patina. I built an 11.5' wide gate for a friend of my brother, with the same material and finish. I have to do a 4' matching walk through gate and then the scraps will be used on my desk (along with other material I bought for it). I would post a picture of the gate, but it is a bit off topic and may slow down the site for some. Anyway, I left construction, but it doesn't seem to have let go of me. Things like loading rooms, and benches are a fun way to use that creativity.

[Hannibal]

All I can say is, you may be able to glean some design ideas from my set-up, but your skill level and materials supply is WAY beyond my reach. Thank-you for sharing though. Again, VERY nice.

[CGT80]

Thanks for the compliments. Good ideas don't necessarily require a lot of skill or material to be valuable. The neat thing is that we can share ideas and how we utilize what we have. Maybe others will see elements of what I have done, or what you are going to do, and be able to use them as well. Watching threads like this, is like a real DIY reality show :mrgreen: and it doesn't have commercials. It is fun and easy to watch someone else do all the work and see what will come of it.

Good luck with the project.


A detail I didn't mention about my workshop bench is that it has a lip on the front. My dad made the top as a 4x8 foot sheet and I cut it down to make two benches. It is probably 3/4" Plywood or MDF with 1/8" or 1/4" hardboard on top. The front lip is aluminum angle. The angle is just slightly taller on the inside measurement than the thickness of the sheet goods. I have a lip that is 1/8-3/16" to keep parts from rolling off the bench. I can rest my hands on it and work on equipment with no problem as well. I just can't sweep the dust off as easily. It is sealed to the wall with caulk along the back edge. The small benches, in my garage, have 3" tall strips of plywood on the back, which are screwed to the top, so parts can't roll off the back of the bench. The second part might not be useful for an island, but the angle aluminum might. It also protects the edge of the sheet and makes it look nice. The 2x4 bench that has the hollywood press, just has thin aluminum angle nailed to the top edge. I cut it with tin snips. Screws are better, as the nails eventually worked loose.

[Hannibal]

I was going to put something on the edges to help prevent 'roll-offs'. Aluminum angle is something I hadn't considered. Thanks for the tip!

[hornetman]

I used oak quarter -round on my bench top (two pieces of 3/4 inch 4x8 plywood screwed and glued together). Cheap and easy to put on-works fine. I used this only on the areas where my shotshell presses are.