Reloading room and equipment upgrade - first step

I'm beginning the process of setting up a reloading room and the first step, I decided, was to set up base plates for all the equipment to increase the foot print of the equipment and provide a rigid base for mounting.

I managed to source some scrap 304 stainless plate (about 15mm thick) from father in laws stash (with permission of course). A few niggles with the steel caused by work hardening in a few areas on the surface from galling and previous use (was a boiler valve plate). So burnt a couple drill bits hitting these spots, had to use a carbide burr to remove the surface work hardened areas in the hole locations.
Threaded holes to mount the plates to mount the plates and mounting holes with countersinks to provide for flush mounting later.

Should make for a solid foundation for the new bench and work stations once I've got that sorted.
Unfortunately they can't stay in the shed on my completely over built (but entirely rock solid) workbench as I do quite a bit of woodworking and metal working and the dust is terrible on everything.

I'll keep a bit of a progress report going as this (probably quite long-term) project progresses.

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Damn, that’s great. Beats my ply reinforced base on an old school desk.

Hardcore. Nice work.

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Originally Posted by Ingrid 51

Damn, that’s great. Beats my ply reinforced base on an old school desk.

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Thats two of us using an old school desk. Much easier to put in the back of your vehicle to take it to the range though.
Regards Grandpamac.

Hell that's flash! Leave it there and put a dust cover over it unless you need the bench space

Very nice. Love the bench.

The old-skool guys using old-school, school desks...

That's certainly overkill on the bases though. 304SS is a prick for work hardening, it's not a metal to play nice with when drilling. Nice sharp drill, centre punched with a three-corner ground centre punch (not the usual coned center punch, the type with a triangular tip as it has less risk of work hardening the surface), slow RPM but heaps of downfeed or push to cut nice deep chips and get under the work hardening on each turn... Lots of lube too.

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Originally Posted by Marty Henry

Hell that's flash! Leave it there and put a dust cover over it unless you need the bench space

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Yea not enough room in the workshop for that carry on. Have a spare room inside so it's getting dedicated to reloading and hunting/shooting guff.

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Originally Posted by No.3

That's certainly overkill on the bases though.

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Not sure I believe in the concept of overkill...

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Originally Posted by No.3

304SS is a prick for work hardening, it's not a metal to play nice with when drilling. Nice sharp drill, centre punched with a three-corner ground centre punch (not the usual coned center punch, the type with a triangular tip as it has less risk of work hardening the surface), slow RPM but heaps of downfeed or push to cut nice deep chips and get under the work hardening on each turn... Lots of lube too.

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Yup didn't find the normal centre punch caused any issues but slow speeds and lots of tool pressure and lube helped the process. I was impressed my countersink bit made it through relatively unharmed - a bit of chatter but not that bad. Made an absolute mess with the oil everywhere!

Nice work

Workbench wise, I ended up buying Rack it benches from bunnings.
The biggest advantage for me was I could assemble the bench in the room. I could not move a assembled bench into the room as access was too tight.
I built it the size I wanted, I brought a couple of standard 18mm sheets of particle board for the top and glued them together.




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Originally Posted by Ingrid 51

Damn, that’s great. Beats my ply reinforced base on an old school desk.

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An old school desk is my current set up (not one fo the good old ones unfortunately, crappy pine thing). But that's about to change!

Very cool!

Your workbench is epic also, did you build it?

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Originally Posted by gqhoon

Very cool!

Your workbench is epic also, did you build it?

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Yup, the boxes on top are the ball bearing drawers slides for another one too (another pending project which has been sitting there for a year or so).
Slowly sorting out the organisation of the drawers too. Slow progress on that idea though. Spanner drawer is cool though.
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How did you "engrave" the sizes for each spanner?
The spanner slots are made from oregon?

I think a bench like that would lend itself nicely, to rebated parallel rails for your mounts. Like what the guy on ultimate reloaded does.
Sorry I think I just created another 6 months work:thumbsup: your welcome.

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Originally Posted by 6x47

How did you "engrave" the sizes for each spanner?
The spanner slots are made from oregon?

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Number punch then draw in using fine tipped permanent marker. Works very well. Wood is some scrap redwood from landscaping sleepers milled down. Didn'twant to waste my nice wood. It's really soft so lends itself well to applications like this were a bit of give helps things not bounce around when opening drawers.

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Originally Posted by johnd

I think a bench like that would lend itself nicely, to rebated parallel rails for your mounts. Like what the guy on ultimate reloaded does.
Sorry I think I just created another 6 months work:thumbsup: your welcome.

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The blue rail things on top of this bench are exactly this. Not for reloading equipment but work hold down options on bench top to be set in the top. The good thing about this bench is the top entirely replaceable.

The reloading bench will be different style with each piece of equipment at a bespoke station. Possibly with the option to move the powder measure between presses. Although the lee press will mostly be decapping and black powder cartridges, the messy stuff and won't need it.

I've been building my office/reloading room lately also. We recently been building pur new 12mx7m garage, and my office / reloading room is at the end and is sectioned off 3x7m

Side project one - and also a way to show the numbering technique I use. @6x47

Hex key and wrench storage/organisation for the Dillon Square Deal B press, pictures tell the story:
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Way tidier than whacking on metal number/letter stamps :)

I too use rare earth magnets to hold stuff or hold stuff open.
The turning tools on this rack are all held in place by magnets.

https://i.vgy.me/K0CGRk.jpg

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Originally Posted by Larskramer

I've been building my office/reloading room ... office / reloading room is at the end and is sectioned off 3x7m

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Every man needs a 42" LCD screen on the back of his loading bench :thumbsup:

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Originally Posted by 6x47

Every man needs a 42" LCD screen on the back of his loading bench :thumbsup:

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Hahaha wait until you see the computer setup.

my brother has his press mounted on plank that has anther piece at right angles underneath...and it goes into vice on bench when needed.... a couple of the woodworking ones that are level with bench would work perfectly,and you could do it easily with the metal plates you have now made up...make up some wooden t shaped bits for underneath and screw them in place with the nifty contersunk holes you have made.... would double for secure storage if you made a shelf the t shaped bit slotted into....food for thought maybe.

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Originally Posted by Micky Duck

my brother has his press mounted on plank that has anther piece at right angles underneath...and it goes into vice on bench when needed....

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Exactly what I do with my 4" metal vice. Saves a separate bench. I only do small/casual metal stuff, anything serious means a visit to my gunsmith/engineer mate :)

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Originally Posted by Makros

Yup, the boxes on top are the ball bearing drawers slides for another one too (another pending project which has been sitting there for a year or so).
Slowly sorting out the organisation of the drawers too. Slow progress on that idea though. Spanner drawer is cool though.
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Should start another thread called bench porn!!
Would be keen to look at building a sexy beast like this when time/funds allow.
Always good to see what ideas are out there and how people use theirs.

I've just finished a simple mobile work bench with 6x2 legs 4x2 frame and rails with 2x 17mm construction ply tops and 4 x lockable 250kg castors, useful for projects around the section, woodwork & the homebrew setup.

If you can get it, the best stuff I've found for bench tops is either 10 or 12mm steel plate or, the 36mm hardwood plywood used for shipping container floors. That stuff is awesome, but not cheap! I've got three benches with the container ply, and one with a full size sheet of 10mm plate. One of the benches is more a bar leaner, oiled and edged with pine on a steel frame so it looks really smart.

Started building a couple of the benches going into the reloading room aver the last couple weeks. Last weekend was dimensioning all the timber and starting to laminate the pieces all together.
This weekend started the serious business.
Plan is 4 benches/desks at about 1100mm long. Would be just two desks but the hallway and door to the room is too tight for longer desks.

Decided to use floating tenons which for the main framing.
My floating tenon jig in action.
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Always keep track of the side which the jig referenced off of. Always matching this face with the joining piece means it's not critical that your pocket is dead centred.
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Then the legs. Note: The reference face on both ends on the parts done in above photos are all on the same side of the wood. Therefore half of the legs need to have the reference face on the opposite side so it can go together properly with matching reference facings.
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Elected to do dowel joint for lower brace of legs.
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Most of the joinery done.
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Then I didn't have any floating tenons cut so cut a few and shaped them on the router table I knocked together 8 or 9 years ago which I keep meaning to make a better one but it just works!
I do need to buy an extra router though so I don't have to change over all the time. The Ryobi routers are bloody excellent. This one has done a lot of work over many years and shows no signs of letting up. I will buy another!
The width of the floating tenon is left a bit short for an ability to adjust them. Little to no strength is lost in doing this. Made a whole stack for stock for other projects while everything was set up. Also I didn't use the knotty bit in the photo for actual joining that was a test piece that then got turfed into the firewood pile.
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A bit of a sand on the internal faces while they're easy to get to and into the clamps.
One F-clamp there to true up a face which a twist in the wood was fighting against.
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The other was having a tendency to rack/bow up out of the sash clamp so was pulled back down with some clamps. Also tagged teams to F-clamps to even out the clamping pressing on one side which was proving troublesome.
Ideally you'd have sash clamps top and bottom but I only have four and glue set is a couple of days in winter so I wanted to have two bench ends in the clamps at a time. Winter does take the stress out of glue ups though, plenty of working time.
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Good thing about the two joining methods is as long as your cuts and edges are square pulling them up tight forces everything into alignment. Checked square on both sets and was happy with the result. All the dowels lined up too which is nice!
I've cut and laminated enough wood for two desks and will finish these two before doing the other two just because it's better for how much room I have in the shed to not have so many parts floating around.

The old woodworker's maxim- "you can never have too many clamps". Same applies somewhat to routers- I keep D-handle one as a dedicated part of my dovetail jig, have another 1/2" plunge one for general use then its big variable-speed brother for serious stuff including surface planing.

Your extractor sure has personality :)

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Originally Posted by 6x47

The old woodworker's maxim- "you can never have too many clamps". Same applies somewhat to routers- I keep D-handle one as a dedicated part of my dovetail jig, have another 1/2" plunge one for general use then its big variable-speed brother for serious stuff including surface planing.

Your extractor sure has personality :)

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Haha it sure does. That's José haha...

I have 14 F-clamps and still run out sometimes.

Problem is getting good Sash clamps is difficult these ones are bloody horrible. I might go to pipe clamps and get rid of these retched things.

Pipe clamps have their uses but never match decent T-section sash cramps. I scored some good ones quite a few years back when an old cabinetmaker next door had to sell up. Also scored a Tanner buzzer, Myford lathe and a heap of assorted items.

That timber you're using Makros- look a bit like Tassie oak?

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Originally Posted by 6x47

That timber you're using Makros- look a bit like Tassie oak?

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NZ Northern Rata. Was all milled after being brought down onto paddocks during the Matata floods yonks ago.