Reloading Bench Build Thread

[Doublehelix]

You can check at Lowe's or Menards for any scratched kitchen counter tops. Sometimes they'll give them away to get rid of them.

I actually did that, and the problem is that they are not deep enough. The kitchen counter tops I found at both Lowe's and Menard's are way to shallow.

 

[Doublehelix]

Back at it, this time working on the top shelving. I decided to pretty much match the plans as written with a few modifications, but I will not be adding any doors. I also decided to go with standard 1x12" boards rather than use 3/4" plywood, it is much easier to work with IMHO.

Once again, it always starts with a pile of wood! Here we go... Working on the outer frame. The frame will be 72" wide x 24" high x 12" deep as per the standard plans. Once again, glue for each joint along with the wood screws.









Looks like a coffin!




Next up, the vertical shelf supports. I ended up using my router to round the edges that will face forward, and then sanded the crud out of the wood. I am not really patient enough to be a carpenter I have decided!






After sanding, I started with the staining...





I also used my router to round the front edges of the shelf frame, then sanded, then stained it as well:






Next up, I need to add a couple of layers of polyurethane on top of all of the surfaces. It takes a couple of days for that, so nothing really exciting to take pictures of during these next steps. I'll post more in a day or two once the polyurethane steps are completed.

 

[amboy49]

I built one of these reloading benches using the same plans about 30 years ago. The bench is absolutely solid and results in no movement whatsoever. The only complaint I've had over the years is that the cabinet that sits on the bench sits quite distant from the front of the bench. I'm 6'1" and its a little bit of a stretch for me to reach the front of the cabinet. I have to use a step to reach all the way into the back.

Otherwise, this is a really solid bench. Certainly couldn't be described as "portable" - but as mentioned, if you also bolt it to the wall studs this thing will feel like its part of the house framing and WILL NOT MOVE OR FLEX.

 

[Doublehelix]

I built one of these reloading benches using the same plans about 30 years ago. The bench is absolutely solid and results in no movement whatsoever. The only complaint I've had over the years is that the cabinet that sits on the bench sits quite distant from the front of the bench. I'm 6'1" and its a little bit of a stretch for me to reach the front of the cabinet. I have to use a step to reach all the way into the back.

Otherwise, this is a really solid bench. Certainly couldn't be described as "portable" - but as mentioned, if you also bolt it to the wall studs this thing will feel like its part of the house framing and WILL NOT MOVE OR FLEX.

Thanks for your comments. I am only 5'10", so I had better plan for a stool as well. Did you keep the legs at the standard height? I whacked off 5" from the leg height due to my shorter stature.

I do plan on bolting to the wall studs, so I am glad to hear how steady yours is. It is certainly NOT portable, I agree, and it weighs a ton!

 

[bobjones223]

Back at it again. Over the last few days, I added a couple of more coats of polyurethane to the top, lower shelf and to the side and rear panels. Now time for some more assembly:

STEP SEVEN: With bench still upside-down, hold end panelsagainst legs so they are flush against the 2x6 endpieces. The edge of the end panel determinesthe bottom edge of the lower shelf frame. Markthe legs, then drill 3/8" holes for bolts in the legsand lower shelf frame.

STEP EIGHT: Before bolting the lower frame to the legs, attachthe plywood shelf to the frame with 1 3/4" screws,then bolt the frame to the legs. Check to make sureall pieces are properly assembled, then tighten allbolts. Turn bench right-side up and attach theplywood top, end panels and back panel with 1 3/4"wood screws. Your bench is now complete!

Here is the lower shelf attached to the frame. Screws every 8":




Next, the lower shelf is bolted to the legs:




After tightening up the bolts, the bench gets turned right-side-up, and I set the bench top on the top of the completed frame, but did not screw it down yet:






Before I attach the bench top, the two side panels or the back panel, I am going to disassemble the bench so I can move it into the basement and into my new reloading room. I gotta say, it is not pretty, but it is built like a brick ____house! It is solid as a rock, and that is without the side or rear panels which should add some more stability, plus I will attach it to the wall studs once it is in place.

PROBLEM: One of my boys is still using the room as a bedroom. His older brother just moved out to take his first "real job" in Iowa, so as soon as he finds an apartment and comes and gets all of his stuff, the younger brother will move into the larger room, and I will move my reloading stuff into the smaller room. I have no idea when that will happen. The older boy is staying with a friend until he get his own place, and he has been there 2 weeks now, and is still looking. He almost had a setup for a room mate, which would have been ideal, but that fell through at the last minute, so he is back to apartment hunting.

The bench may stay in that condition for another week or two (ugh!) until the room becomes available. Frustrating, but this is life.

In the mean time, I will probably start working on the upper cabinets/shelves.

I'll post more when I have more to post.

Something else I will throw out there for you and any other future bench builders is if you have a buddy in the construction/remodel business ask them is the have any old solid core wood doors "hanging" around that they want to get rid of. I know a lot of them keep them just for the purpose of work benches and I have made all of my benches out of them reloading and garage. They are SOLID to use as a work bench and can be had cheap if not FREE depending on who you know...just my two cents.

 

[Carey]

I really appreciate this post. I'm getting ready to build one and this is a huge help. Thank you for the step buy step build.

 

[gmcttr]

...ask them is the have any old solid core wood doors "hanging" around that they want to get rid of....

25 years in commercial construction and all of my work benches have solid core wood door tops. I put 1/4" tempered hardboard on them as a replaceable surface but have never needed to change one out in ~40 years.

 

[Doublehelix]

Back at it again, working to finish the shelves. I added 4 coats of polyurethane to the shelf frame and the upright shelf supports. Now it is time to resume the assembly.

I started by assembling the center supports/shelves. Rather than use the standard 1x12 wood that I used for the framing, I decided to buy some laminated boards for the actual shelves.






Remember the old adage, "measure twice, cut once"??? Ugh! I measured correctly, but I set one of the support shelves on the wrong side of the line! After the shelf was inserted, I stepped back and realized that one side was about 3/4" lower than the other side! Unbelievable! So I had to drill another set of holes to raise one end of the shelf to the proper height. I filled the holes with some wood putty, and will add some stain to them later. Can you say "dumb ass"?







Once the center support sections were assembled correctly (!), I inserted them into the center of the shelf frame, and used glue and wood screws to secure them in place.









Next up, I installed the pilaster strips for the outer shelves. These are a pain in the butt! I needed 16 strips that were approximately 22" long, so I bought 8 of the 4-foot strips, and then cut them with my tin snips. Old, rusty, dull tin snips (did I mention they were dull?). I tried sharpening them with my file, but it was still a pain in the butt. After cutting, I needed to bend them back into shape with some needle nose pliers, and file the rough edges with a file. It was way more work to get all of these done than I expected.

Here are 14 our of 16 strips after cutting, bending and filing:




The strips need to be perfectly aligned so that the shelves are level, so I used my laser level to make sure I got them as close as I could:














Next up, I added the back. The plans call for 1/4" plywood, but instead I used 1/4" pegboard in case I want to remove a shelf and hang some things from the back instead.




Then finally, I added one shelf to each section. I may go ahead and buy another shelf board and cut 4 more in case I decide to double up on the side shelves.






Things seem pretty sturdy and solid. It ain't pretty, but I am not out to win any beauty contests!

Next up, figuring out what to do with the desktop surface. I have some ideas, but I need to investigate some things first. I saw some 1/4" white laminate sheets at Menard's that I could glue and screw to the MDF benchtop, but the problem is that they are only available in 4x4 sheets, which means I would have to have a seam in the middle of my bench where I joined the two pieces. I am going to check again to make sure I did not miss any 4x8 sheets, and then also look at Lowe's to see if they have anything like that as well.

More to come...

 

[Broom_jm]

That's looking great, James! When the space is available in the house, you'll have a rock-solid bench to start reloading on.

This is what mine looks like:

Jason

 

[Doublehelix]

That's looking great, James! When the space is available in the house, you'll have a rock-solid bench to start reloading on.

This is what mine looks like:



Jason

Looks great Jason! Sort of like mine, solid as a rock, but not what I would call a "fine piece of furniture", which of course is the plan. I like that you have doors on your cupboards, and I wish I could do that with mine, but because they sit right on the bench, the doors would sweep everything off of the bench every time I opened them! Not a good thing! The plans call for sliding doors, but I thought they looked funky and decided against them. I might have to add some standard cabinets like yours somewhere in the vicinity if there is room. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Doublehelix]

So I went back to Menard's and looked around more closely, and found some 4x8 sheets of white Melamine (thanks for the tip Ryan). I decided to layer it on top of the MDF bench top that I have now, which should give a bit extra strength.

First I put a ton of Gorilla construction glue down on the MDF:




Smeared, and then added some more...




Then I put some more on the bottom side of the Melamine:




I missed a few steps with the pictures (I got busy and forgot to capture the details), but I placed the Melamine on top of the MDF, and slid it back and forth in all directions to really smear the glue, and then rolled on it pretty hard with a rubber paint roller.

Next up, I added a ton of weight (extra MDF, which weighs a ton), the top shelf assembly (also weighs a ton), and then a couple of big buckets of water. The sheets of MDF help distribute the weight evenly across the surface. Then finally, I clamped the edges with as many clamps as I could find, and will let it sit for 24 hours or so. Eventually, there will be wood screws holding the assembly together as I screw it to the bench frame.






This pretty much completes all I will be able to do until I can get the bench in location and finish the assembly. I will probably post a picture or two of the bench semi-assembled with the Melamine top in place, but other than that, there will not be much more to post for a couple of weeks.

Thanks!

 

[1911ly]

It's a late suggestion but on a lot of my work benches I use 1ft adhesive tile squares for a wear surface. It wears well. And it's soft enough that things I work on don't get dinged up and when I wear a tile out I just get the heat gun out and peal it up and stick another one down to replace the area that is damaged. I find the tile on close out when they get down to a odd box or too. i have paid as little as 3 bucks. I just bought 3 boxes a couple days ago for $10 a box.

I also sometimes use outside corner molding on the top edges to keep stuff from rolling off on to the floor.

Awesome job on your bench. I have been just using a 2x12 and a couple clamps to clamp it to where I want to work but now I am thinking about doing a dedicated bench since I have been reading your thread. Thinking about sticking it in a closet that seems to just be a catch all anyway.

Thanks for the inspiration! I am liking what I am seeing. Keep up the awesome work.

 

[Doublehelix]

It's a late suggestion but on a lot of my work benches I use 1ft adhesive tile squares for a wear surface.

That is a great suggestion. No issues with the all of the seams?

I also sometimes use outside corner molding on the top edges to keep stuff from rolling off on to the floor.

I was just thinking about that same thing. I wasn't sure if it would interfere with the press mounting however.

Thanks for the inspiration! I am liking what I am seeing. Keep up the awesome work.

Thanks for your kind words.

 

[1911ly]

You will have to notch around the press base I am sure. But I think it's doable if you want to try it. I have used the thin clear see threw corner stuff on the front edge to be easier on my elbows. It is adhesive but a few screws along the front edge seems to be necessary to make it stay in place for a long time. The lip is enough to stop most things from rolling off. YMMV, it's cheap to try.

The seams have never been a issue. I lay them pretty tight together and I use a small piece of 2x4 and a mallet (tap) to seat the tiles really well to the table top. I use a 3ft metal rule to start the tile edge against something straight. Once the first row is down it's easy to stay square and tight. If you have an area that doesn't like to say down a little heat from a heat gun soften things up and tap down. Laying the tile down in the cold might be an issue. I have a bench that has had the squares on it for about 15 years. I have change the ones in the high wear areas 3-4 times maybe. Just 2-3 squares. I think the top is 30 inch by 6ft I have done everything on the bench. It has served me really well. i prefer light color tiles. it is easier to see screws and small parts.

Windex cleans things up great. Some chemicals can damage the tiles but gun solvents don't seem to bother it. Carb cleaners are another story :-(.

I have also used Lexan for the wear area and I lay white poster board under it so things show up on the top (electronics repair benches). But's a slick surface, and it scratches easy. But then it's a work surface! that is probably not a good surface for a reloading bench.

 

[Doublehelix]

It is time for the great unveiling! I took off all of the weight from the benchtop to see how the Melamine gluing to the MDF worked out.

And the answer is... It worked out GREAT! That Gorilla Construction Glue is pretty amazing stuff.




Here you can see the edge where the Melamine and the MDF are sandwiched together:






And here is the top placed on the bench frame with the shelves set on top. These pieces are not permanently attached yet, just setting in place. I had a bit of extra Melamine that I set on the bottom shelf, but it is not big enough to cover it completely. I have not decided if I am going to cover the bottom shelf with Melamine or not. It is just sitting there for now so I can look at it for a few days and make up my mind.








Here, you can see the front edge. Looks pretty ugly. Actually, the whole bench is not what I could call a "work of art", but that edge is especially bad. I will probably cover it with some Melamine strips to give it a more finished look. Then I have to decide if I am going to put any edge trim on to keep stuff from rolling off the edge of the bench as 1911ly suggested.





I have a few more touch up items to complete (trim, etc.), but for all intents and purposes, I am done with the bench. I have the side panels and the rear panel to install, but that won't happen until it gets moved into the basement, but those pieces are ready to go. Then of course I will also need to permanently attach the bench top and upper shelf assembly. I am also probably going to put some rubber cushions under each leg so as to make it less prone to slide on the floor of the room I am putting it in.

When that is all finished, I will finally get to mount the press... Sheesh! Someday...

 

[1911ly]

Looks good! You could hide that front edge with a 1x3. You could even raise the the edge to just above the top surface for your anti roll off edge. Rasp it flat where the press mounts. Just a thought.

 

[Doublehelix]

Looks good! You could hide that front edge with a 1x3. You could even raise the the edge to just above the top surface for your anti roll off edge. Rasp it flat where the press mounts. Just a thought.

Thanks for the idea. I actually got some 1" edge trim pieces and bottle of (regular) Gorilla Glue, and attached the edges:




After cutting and applying the glue, I used some blue painter's tape to hold the strips in place:






After it was said and done, I should have done some 45 degree miter cuts for the corners, but for some reason, I was not thinking clearly. Stupid mistake that would have made a nice difference, and would have been so easy to do. My brain was in my butt I guess... It turned out "OK", and will obviously suffice for a workbench.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

Fantastic!

 

[Doublehelix]

Fantastic!

Thank you kindly sir!

 

[1911ly]

Looks great! You are going to get a lot of use out of that bench.