I thought some of you may be interested to know that I have taken the NRMA reloading bench plans posted on the web years ago and modified it for us metric folks.
As a background, I am just taking up shooting and reloading and as such needed a sturdy bench. Being completely DIY illiterate the thought of building my own bench scared the jeepers out of me.
So I trawled the web and eventually found benches that looked like they could do what I wanted them to do..but the cost scared the life out of me.
$2000 for a solid bench was a tad high, so I set about changing the imperial settings on the PDF I had as well as deleting or "colouring in" the bits of the design I didnt really want.
After converting 2x4 and 4x4(
) and other imperial settings into metric, I set out to purchase the wood.
Bunnings have everything you need..it blew me away. Simply choose your wood (I chose hardwood for the frame and Pine for the bits I could see) take it along with your cutting requirements and the staff cut it free of charge. Brilliant
Problem was that I am totally useless with woodworking and tools and got some of the conversions wrong so my first attempt didnt really work out. The length cuts were cut too short!
I remeasured, went back to Bunnings, they recut new wood (again free) and I am happy to say it was bang on.
So with buying all the power tools required and the actual wood to build the bench, I spent no more than $500. Considering the powertools cost $300 combined, I actually only spent $200ish on wood.
I am now the proud owner of a SOLID reloading workbench that will last forever, it is rock solid.
And it wasnt too difficult..although I may have used many expletives building it..I feel like I have really accomplished something.
Let me know if you fancy seeing the conversion tables and the tools I bought to build it...if you want a good bench this is the one.
Wayne
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