New Loading Bench

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Tim Stapp
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New Loading Bench

Post by Tim Stapp »

Let me preface this with the fact that I do professional photography as a side job. File sizes need to have as much information as possible. It's beyond me to downsize even cell phone pix to post to the web :D. More information is better, as my mentor says

Having said that, I can't seem to downsize my cell phone pix (the bane of a wedding photographer :D )

Here's my question:

Just built a new loading bench. Length is 8 ft (96 inches. depth of 24 inches. Shelf below is 16 inches deep to allow foot room when standing. Height is 42 inches. There are three 2x4's at the front edge in a torsion beam type configuration for press stability. The left end and the entire back of the bench are secured to the studs, so stability of the bench is there. The lower shelf is 16 inches deep to allow foot room when standing and the potential use of a stool for the occasional extended periods of loading. The shelves above and to the right are 11 inches deep.

My question/concern is this; How much space to allow between presses? My intent is to put the Lee LM to the left side of the bench with the Lee Value Turret Press (LVT) to it's right. The LM will eventually have a bullet feeder mounted. I'm hoping to have some type of O-frame press mounted to the right of the LVT.

I'd like to keep the right end of the bench open enough to maintain an area for cleaning of firearms.

When I can figure out (OKAY, bring myself) to downsizing the photo to acceptable size, I'll post a photo of the bench.
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mr surveyor
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Re: New Loading Bench

Post by mr surveyor »

try "FastStone Photo Resizer" .... do a web search - good stuff



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Macd
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Re: New Loading Bench

Post by Macd »

It took me awhile to locate my two presses, a single stage and a turret. My bench is at standard workbench height of 36 inches and I raised the presses up 3 inches using a shelf. The shelf also let me locate a tray under the turret press to catch spent primers. My suggestion is to clamp or otherwise temporarily place the presses and also your loading blocks, powder measure, powder scale, etc just like you were doing a reloading session and try it out. It took several trial locations until I was happy. Lighting is an important consideration that is often ignored. I went with an articulated wall mount lamp with a soft low glare bulb. My other bench has a lighted, magnifying wall mount fixture which I use to examine cases and for other workshop chores like hauling out those pesky metal slivers that can drive you nuts trying to find.
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