Today in the shop "lets talk bench cookie stuff"

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reible
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Today in the shop "lets talk bench cookie stuff"

Post by reible »

This is not as such a review of the Rockler Bench Cookie stuff. It is more of a review of what they have and what can it do, that includes using it a bit differently then some people have though of using it.

So lets get started with a few details about bench cookie's. You can read about them at rockler online if you wish but save that until you finish this thread and decide if you are interested or not.

When these first came out I liked the idea and made my own out of hockey pucks, that post is here:

https://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/gene ... t4540.html

They are still used and still work just fine but things have advanced and the rockler ones have a few features which sold me on get a few. The cookie has a top side and a bottom side. The bottom side has a threaded insert which makes a world of difference in usefulness.
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The threaded insert now allows a number of attachment possibilities. I got the t-track risers first since I had their t-track table system. I then went with the sawhorse clips, they allow you to clip them to 1-1/2" material. Along the way I got both the finishing cones and finishing bridges. Later I added the risers. We will look at all of this stuff before the thread is finished.

Let's start with the risers. This is collection of them that I have, the shortest one is the 1 or 3 cookie height one, yes the unit of measurement is cookie height. The middle one in the picture is the t-track version, by contrast it is measured in inches, 2". Then there is the 2 or 3 cookie height one.
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Starting with the t-track version, like I did, you can see that it has t-bolt and then a plastic barrel. A word of caution here, these cookies and hardware are for 5/16" hardware. If you have t-track that is not made for 5/16" hardware it isn't going to fit as is. Rockler t-track will take either 1/4" or 5/16". You will also notice that I have a 5/16" bolt, I keep a set for different applications.
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Now lets look at what this allows us to do. For one thing you can attach a cookie to each end of the risers, this allows you to have a cookie just setting on the bench or raised up. One cookie high allows you to do some edge routing with out the bearing touching the bench, but if you wanted to use say a jig saw will it would need to be higher. You might also want to make sure the cookie stays where you put it as you move work pieces on and off. The rubber pads do a great job of this but sometimes you want or need to have a more robust setting, we will get back to this. Here is a picture showing the risers in use.
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Now lets look at the intended reason for what these parts look like. They are designed to fit in dog holes, in particular 3/4" dog holes. By way of showing the parts as they might fit in a table with dog holes here are a couple shots, first with them upside down showing the hardware and then insert in to bench dog holes.
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Now remember that I mentioned this was for 3/4" dog holes? Well how about when your table is full of 20mm holes? We will start that conversation in the next post.

Ed
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reible
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Re: Today in the shop "lets talk bench cookie stuff"

Post by reible »

I've been making my tops with 20mm holes and I have a good deal of 20mm parts that fit that standard, so do I need to make a 3/4" top or can I somehow make this work with the 20mm standard I'm working to now?

20mm holes are slightly larger then 3/4" holes so thing that are designed to fit 3/4" will indeed slip into 20mm holes. In fact for some applications that works fine. And to be honest that is how I use it a lot of the time. However sometimes it is just not as stable as I'd like.

Let's look at a few of my solutions for this. PVC pipe cut to length, and some stop collars gets you a long way. We will also add some other hardware but lets start with a picture of some of it.
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Again lets start like I did. As it turns out the t-bolt is large enough that it will not pass through the 20mm hole. How does that help us? Looking at the t-track riser it need some way of allowing the cookie to tighten and stabilize the assembly. By using a stop collar and setting it up like this we have a chance of getting it to work.
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Perhaps it might be easier to visualize in this picture:
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The t-bolt is on the bottom of the table, the collar is on the top of the table and as you tighten the cookie it pulls the assembly tight to the table. Lets look at the steps to get there. First the collar has to be placed so there is some space to allow the t-bolt to pull things together, if not it simply will never tighten. You then drop the riser into the hole as shown here:
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Then the bolt is insert from the under side like this:
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Now the cookie is screwed on and it ready for use.
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While this works and I have used it for a while I think I have a better way and we will look at that in the next post.

Ed
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Re: Today in the shop "lets talk bench cookie stuff"

Post by reible »

When I got the other risers I had to look for a way to make use if them with my 20mm tables. The solution I came up with we will look at in a moment but first lets finish this for the t-track version.

PVC pipe is cheap and very handy for a lot of not plumbing jobs. I normally have a few feet sitting around the shop so it was one of my first thoughts for this project.

By replacing the collar with a section of PVC you save the cost of the collar that run $3 or so each with a few cents of pipe. This ends up looking like this:
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Now the pipe ends up not fitting the cut away in the rubber so to protect it from damage when the cookie is screwed on I added a fender washer which takes care of that potential issue.
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Now we can divert our attention to the other risers. We will again use PVC pipe and this time add a knob to tighten from below. Basically we are capturing the table between parts if you will, the result is that the cookie is pretty stable in the over sized hole.
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The result seen as what a cut away would show:
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The rest are just variations on the same theme:
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This concludes the information on the risers and the next post will cover the sawhorse clip and the finishing cones and bridges.

Ed
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Re: Today in the shop "lets talk bench cookie stuff"

Post by reible »

The sawhorse clips are designed to work with 1-1/2" material so if you are using say two sheets of 3/4" plywood etc these will work. This is what they look like:
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Just another way they might be useful.

The finishing cones and bridges are basically an item that snaps on the bench cookie, makes it easy to store them stacked then put them on the cookies to use when needed. The cones work nice for larger flat things and the bridges are good for narrow items because you can set them on the "bridge" for better support.
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Hope this helps you better understand the system. I didn't show the t-track being used but I think it should be pretty easy to imagine. And as always questions and comments are welcome.

Ed
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Re: Today in the shop "lets talk bench cookie stuff"

Post by JPG »

Excellent job AS USUAL!!!!

I was not aware of the sawhors clips.
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Re: Today in the shop "lets talk bench cookie stuff"

Post by sehast »

After I got my Festool jigsaw to supplement the SO I started using four short risers with a bench cookie on top and bottom to hold work pieces on my bench. Very easy to set up and they work great for normal length saw blades.
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Re: Today in the shop "lets talk bench cookie stuff"

Post by reible »

sehast wrote:After I got my Festool jigsaw to supplement the SO I started using four short risers with a bench cookie on top and bottom to hold work pieces on my bench. Very easy to set up and they work great for normal length saw blades.
Yes this is almost always better then trying to hang the work-piece out in free air and having it bouncing around while you try to cut. And as you said having the cookies on the top and bottom provides pretty good support, and will work on any old workbench/surface even ones without holes.

Ed
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