My future reloading/woodworking bench...
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So now that we have moved into a house that will allow me to bring my parents to live with us so we can care for them in their old age. And as the apartment we built in the basement for them comes to completion, I decided to tackle the design of my workbench. This workbench design is meant to serve multiple purposes from woodworking to reloading. I am pretty much done with the design, so let me share the pix and then I'll explain how I am going to use it.
Right now I am using one of those Harbor Freight workbenches but it really sucks, so I am getting rid of that one and building this one. I wanted a workbench that I can do woodworking and hold all the tools for that plus reloading and hold all my tools for that as well. So from left to right on the workbench:
- Left board is one that swings up and locks with spots for t-track. This will serve as the left support for wood when using my miter saw. The t-track will serve to extend the miter saw fence and it's the same idea to the right of the space where the saws will sit.
- To the right of that flip up wing, is the main area for my saws. There's 3 spots, 1 towards the top, one below that, and one at the very bottom. The one at the top is for the miter saw. The miter saw will be mounted on a piece of 3/4" plywood and will just slide on the top support. When the miter saw is in use, the top of the wood support will be flush with the flip up wing and the rest of the workbench. The next support down from that is for the table saw. When the table saw is in use, the top of the table saw sits flush with the rest of the workbench. The table saw will be facing the left side of the workbench so that the right side of the bench acts as the outfeed table. The bottom most support is to hold whichever saw is not being used.
- To the right, the of the saws area, are the tool caddies. You can see them better in the image below. These are to hold/store tools like measuring tape, speed squares, drills, bits, etc. They will have long strips of magnets running the depth of the caddy so I can just "attach" things and they will stay in place. The top will hold the tools that are used most often, the one on the bottom will hold the tools that are not used that often.
- To the right of the caddies is a set of drawers for other tools storage like circular saw, jig saw, clamps, etc. I am planning on creating foam inserts for every tool so everything is organized and neat. The t-track being used in the woodworking part of the bench is the blue Rockler t-track, nothing fancy, just standard duty, 1/4" thick t-track.
The area where the saws will be used, with those supports, will also make it flexible enough so I can create a space for a router and jig saw table that I can use as a band saw. I will also be creating a mini table/fixture to turn my planer into a jointer and that will also go in the area for the saws. So the design allows for flexibility of other fixtures/jigs for other tools in the future.
The remaining space to the right of the workbench is for reloading. The t-track sections used for this are the heavy duty 3/8" thick t-track. If you notice the top of the workbench is made up of 2 pieces of 3/4" plywood glued and screwed together, and although not visible in the images, there are pieces of 2x2 studs running on the bottom of the t-track sections for enhanced rigidity when using the reloading press. The t-track will be used for things like the reloading press, power dispenser, case trimmers, etc. I will simply build 3/4" plywood pieces that will mount to the t-track for the different tools I need to use. The open cabinet below the top of the bench serves as a holding place things that need to be used and put away temporarily, like case lube, bullet pullers, case trays, rags, etc. This will also be the storage place for some items like the powder dispenser and such. The long drawers below the open space are for the reloading supplies, powder, primers, bullets, etc. The larger drawer at the very bottom is for all my ammo cans. The workbench is about 7 3/4 feet long by about 2 feet deep by 3 feet high. With the flip up wing on the left, it will be just shy of 11 feet long.
I posted this on it's own post, I probably won't have time to work on it until the summer, but when I have it built, I will post it on the workbench thread. I am really excited to get this project built. My wife wants me to redo the pantry and she wants full extension pull outs for everything on the pantry and she also wants me to re-design her closet. I am trying to convince her that I need the workbench first so I can tackle all her other projects :-)
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I highly suggest you add a base/toe kick to that cabinet. A 2x4 frame would be fine. Considering it will be in a basement, I'd also would spring for pressure treated lumber for the base to control any moisture you may have bleeding up threw the floor.
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I'll never undertake a reloading bench project without Inline Fabrication mounts. I highly suggest you look into it.
http://www.primalrights.com/library/reviews/inline-fabrication
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And a good dust collection system for the saws and planer.
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@norcal_in_az said:
I highly suggest you add a base/toe kick to that cabinet. A 2x4 frame would be fine. Considering it will be in a basement, I'd also would spring for pressure treated lumber for the base to control any moisture you may have bleeding up threw the floor.
Actually this is going to be in the garage and it will be on casters so I can move it around when/where I need. I am planning to add some sort of sealant to all the 3/4" plywood.
@orkan said:
I'll never undertake a reloading bench project without Inline Fabrication mounts. I highly suggest you look into it.
http://www.primalrights.com/library/reviews/inline-fabrication
Thanks for the suggestion Greg, I'll take a look.
@bigfoot said:
And a good dust collection system for the saws and planer.
Absolutely. The dust collection will be part of the workbench, however, I am going to design that into the back panel of the bench after the rest is built once I see how the saws will fit and where the dust ports will end up.
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@orkan Greg, I just looked at your article on those places and I really like the setup. I'll consider going that route instead of the t-track route.
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I went the t-track route several years ago when I built my current bench. It’s worked pretty well, I don’t like how everything seems to find its way in the track and it’s hard to clean out. My main reason behind the t-track was being able to move things around without any restrictions, but in reality once I set it up nothing has move. My next bench will have the plate system in it
