Loading bench pics

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

And when building/designing the bench, don't forget the most important part, the underbench receiver tube system!

Keep em coming!

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[LAH]

New bench installed within the domain of AIR CONDITIONING!

Very COOL

[John Guedry]

Very nice and you just had to mention the A/C.

[white eagle]

The Eagles Nest
,

[CiDirkona]

Very nice and you just had to mention the A/C.

Thanks, and I'm stoked about it. I can't give the swmbo enough love for it. I ALMOST gave her a corner to paint in, and then logic/experience got the better of me... for now.

Very COOL

Zing!

And when building/designing the bench, don't forget the most important part, the underbench receiver tube system!

Keep em coming!

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

Yeah, yeah -- rub it in. If I could weld up a system like you have, I would! I am, on a similar note, constructing some underbench spent primer collection tube systems. Some SmartWater (for the bottle shape) bottles and bicycle waterbottle cages should make for quite a compact system. As for the under-bench tube receiver, she... um...wait, nevermind...

[Dannix]

Not fancy but it seems to work
The midway stand, I bought 20 years ago when I used to move a lot. It made it easy to move it around a house.

A lot of neat looking kit you got there jmsj, besides your reloading setup.

[PatMarlin]

I like the bricks White Eagle. That's something you don't see as much these days.

Neat setups. Someday, I'm going to build me a good sized gun room.

[CiDirkona]

Added a primer collection system with some used water bottles, 99 cent ebay bike water bottle holders and some 1/2" vinyl pipe.

[Creekrider]

New modular bench I just built

[geargnasher]

This bench of mine is also going to serve as my work bench.
The price of the plywood verse's the price of 2x2-3 or 4's is what I'm looking at.
Woodworker, any reccomendation to the size of rod?
I was thinking 5/16 or 3/8 but I'm not positive about it yet.

Woodworker here, too. If you're using white pine or "whitewood" 2x4s, glue with Titebond III.

Lay as many boards as will fit across four or five pipe clamps that are longer than the bench is deep. Paint it on the boards with a disposable bristle brush, flip them up on edge, gather them together and flush the ends, add clamps across the top, then suck the boards together at the same time, keeping even tension on all the clamps to prevent bowing the top.

If using yellow pine, you'll need to rough-sand the surface oxidation off of it first or even poly glue won't stick.

No nails or screws necessary at all, this will last two hundred years of flexing, moisture cycling, and impact with no broken or rusty fasteners. There is a reason that butcher-block tops are dowelled together with WOOD, not steel all-thread. If you use all-thread, half the time it will be too tight, the rest of the time too loose as the spongy pine moisture cycles. It will do that, I don't care what finish you put on it.

Now, most dimensional 2x4s have the sharp corners planed off, so you'll be left with little grooves the length of your top. Best solution is to plane the surface flat, but if you find a shop with a 30" planer willing to use it on pine let me know. Same for sanding it on a widebelt or drum sander, pine will clog the paper instantly leaving bad lines and burned spots. If you put plywood on top, it will break loose or bow the top as it moisture cycles differently than the 2x4s will. I'd stick with two layers of plywood, get a sheet of 3/4 cabinet grade (trust me on that, the yellow pine plywood will warp like the dickens), rip it down the middle and glue it together with Titebond or Liquid Nails and put enough drywall screws in it to suck it together tight. Glue won't hold unless the gap is eliminated. Then build a frame with 2x6s with 4x4 legs. You can put all that together with lag screws, carriage bolts, or 3" deck screws, your choice.

Gear

[JesterGrin_1]

To make the top flat I use a Router.

[Beekeeper]

OK Dannix i'll bite,
I understand the horse tack and the traps but what are the grappling hooks used for.
I am (I hope) sure you are not getting ready to board annother ship.

Jim

[jmsj]

Beekeeper,
The "grappling hooks" are for either hooking something heavy or for snagging on brush in rocky terrain where you are not able to drive a stake in deep enough to hold the trap. Those traps actually belonged to my "Unk". He used to trap quite a bit many years ago up around Greenville ME. I have used them in the past, but have found that neck snares work better for me. jmsj

[geargnasher]

To make the top flat I use a Router.

Yousa glutton for punishment! It does work though, marching a clamped steel guide down a tabletop one inch at a time, yikes.

Here's what rock maple and a 52" widebelt can do. The corner of the countertop under the breadbox isn't mitered, the ends of the boards are overlapped in an alternating fashion making a ziz-zag pattern and the entire countertop was passed through the sanding machine. Now that wifey has her kitchen I can proceed with some of MY projects......

Gear

[cptkeybrd]

Gotta show this to the wifey, she needs a better understanding of the Art of Reloading.......

[GLShooter]

My little hidey hole.





Greg

[Kevin Rohrer]

GLSshooter: I see you have a Star setting beside your Dillon. Which do you like better? Which is more trouble-free?

[beanflip]

I got to get me one of those reloading red lava lamps !!!!!!

[GLShooter]

GLSshooter: I see you have a Star setting beside your Dillon. Which do you like better? Which is more trouble-free?

Actually the Star is virtually trouble free compared to the any of the five Dillons I have. It is a dedicated press (9X21) and the flexibility is pretty non-existent. The tool head has been altered to hold a Hornady sizer so that was a big deal to make it usable. I added an adjustable powder bar to it as the regular powder bar set up for a Star is way to constraining. It had a Hulme case feeder set up so I retrofitted the Dillon feeder to it when I got it. The press will last my lifetime and maybe anyone else that gets it after I die.

Dollar for dollar the Star is great but a 550 is probably a smarter buy as you can load pistol and rifle with it and swapping out is a piece of cake. Of course there are no warranties on the Star like the Dillon. LOL

I've loaded thousands of rounds of 9X21 on the Star and it loaded thousands of 38 Special, 44 Mag and 45 before I got it from my 'smith. It is neat to run as it just cranks 'em out and they all look just the same. Primer feed is positive, powder throw is consistent with AA #7 and cleaning it takes about 30 minutes with complete disassembly.

Greg

[GLShooter]

I got to get me one of those reloading red lava lamps !!!!!!

The lamp is an essential if you were born as long ago as I was. It lends a nostalgic type ambiance to the loading process. It is only turned on when loading ammunition of a certain nature like 44 Specials and 45 ACP as befits the "older"generation.

The Garfield phone is a nod to my daughter. I gave it to her when she turned 12 and when she graduated from college she gave it back. Nothing like talking right into a cat butt to put things in perspective.

Greg