My Adjustable Taper Sled for Planer

[matts2]

I am getting ready to start my first glass bow and want to use the woods I have in stock.  But they are all parallel cut and I wanted some tapered pieces for the build.  After chatting with a member he mentioned making a tapered sled that I could use in my planer.  No problem, sounded easy enough.  So I started thinking about future builds and I may want different tapered laminates.  I didn't want multiple sleds laying around.  So I figured I could make a single sled I could adjust to any pitch I wanted.  So I did.

I started out with some cheap 1x4 pine boards cut 3ft long.  I glued up four of them and then cut two pieces butcher block style.  I was thinking this would give it more strength.

 

I planed this down and ripped it into two pieces and then put a hinge on one end of them.

 

I used a thread lock nut and bolt to adjust my taper.  The brass thing is a friction style window opener holder thingy.  I put one of each side to use to lock the two boards in place once the desired pitch was reached.  I counter bored the bolt and nut into the lower board so I would be able to adjust to the smallest pitches.

 
 
 

Now using the gap in the boards and adjusting the bolt to get my desired pitch.  I was originally shooting for a .002 taper but later realized that wasn't what I was going to get.  I put a piece of walnut on the sled with a couple pieces of double stick tape and off to the planer.  You will notice a couple pieces of thin plywood screwed on the side of the sled.  While first starting to plane the lam, I quickly realized that the pressure from the rollers in the planer was too much for the top piece of the sled and it was flexing it into the lower piece.  Easy fix, just screwed some supports over the gap and everything was smooth sailing.

 
 

[matts2]

All done in the planer and time to see if it worked.  This is where I find out that the measurement I set up on the sled isn't what I was going to get.  I set up what I thought was a .002 taper and actually I got a perfect .001 taper.  There is some math involved there with me measuring a full angle and only cutting half of it or something like that.  But heck, it worked anyway.

Those two measurements taken come out to .036 over a 36" piece which is a .001 taper.

 
 

[hardwaymike]

Cool! Looks good.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

Now that's thinkin' with yer dipstick laddy!  

[Walt Francis]

Matt,
That sled looks good.  To make it easier and more consistent, could you slide a couple lams with the desired taper between the blocks then tighten the hold-downs?  It might stop the flex to.

[matts2]

Walt
Thats a good idea.  Make up a couple full length wedges to put between the blocks.  I think I will do that.  That will save a lot time in the long run and keep all future taped lams consistent like you said.  
Thanks

[Brick]

Nice job. I've been thinking about rigging something similar to this to try out as well. How thin can you go with this and do you have a problem with the lam slipping any when you run it through the planer?
Rob

[matts2]

It will slip if you don't tape it.  I tried it.  I put a couple pieces of double stick tape down and it works good.

[eflanders]

Matt,

Nice idea!

Here is an idea to try in replacing the double-sided tape.  Try using some sandpaper that has been glued to the planer sled.  You shouldn't need to replace it like you will with the tape.