Compact Reloading Bench Project

[rbeau30]

Well, I do not have a whole lot of room to put a bench, plus I rent, so I don't want to drill some holes in the workbench in my garage.

I found several examples of what I did, I just thought perhaps the info here might help someone out.

I got a Workmate 225 for $49.99 from homedepot.com.

I used 3/8" bolts/nuts/washers throughout the project, along with 2" wood screws.
I also got that really crappy (warped as heck) wood board 25" wide by 1" thick by 6 foot long. It is the stuff where they glue a bunch of 1x4x6 ft together side by side to get a real wide piece of lumber. Not one of these were straight.

I doubled up the table top with the board to create a thick top to mount my press onto. The table top boards were so warped I had to put some gorilla glue and bolt them down at each board to get the sandwich to be real straight.

The sides were screwed from the bottom and from the sides to get a solid/straight box.

Looks like it is going to work for my uses, however the collapsing function does not work well as the top is very heavy now.

[ray1970]

It looks really nice.

Does it seem pretty stable when you use the press?

[rbeau30]

It looks really nice.

Does it seem pretty stable when you use the press?

Absolutely! I sat on the top (165lbs), no problem at all. I haven't actually used the press, but I tried to get it to tip over by putting some off center pressure on it while working the press ram. It is very stable. I will take a side pic of it soon, but the way the workmate is constructed, the front part of the table top (where the press is mounted) is actually set back towards the center of gravity of the bench which makes it seemingly very stable. And along with the wide stance at the bottom, I think it is very very stable.

[kwando]

great idea... I have a partial basement and its basically for storage, so when i do get into reloading i will have to get creative with my bench as well.

[anomad]

I've used one of those with a lee turret and an rcbs single stage. Worked just fine.

[Danimal]

That is kinda what I did too. I needed something that could fit in the closet in my man cave so that I could use the rest of the space for other man-cave activities. So this is what I came up with. I have it loaded down pretty heavily and it does great.

[Danimal]

Sorry the pics are sideways, I rotated them but they un-rotated themselves? Either way you get the idea. I can sit on any side depending on what I am doing.

[hghclsswhitetrsh]

Awesome! Nice pics op, and daminal!

[ray1970]

Sorry the pics are sideways, I rotated them but they un-rotated themselves? Either way you get the idea. I can sit on any side depending on what I am doing.

I was wondering how you got those bullets to stay in those bins without falling out.

[rbeau30]

Awww man! I wish I could put some casters on this now :-( and just be able to wheel it around. Maybe I can further customize it.

I like how you have some tools affixed to the side, I'll have tou remember that when I get into this more hard core.