Spliced tapers question

[Teagus]

Reading the build-a-longs,I noticed "spliced tapers". I have always used tapers on the two belly stacks. I use parallels on the back for concentricity with the back of the riser and the form for best,tight glue joints. If some of you are splicing tapers, how do you get a tight bond between layers with the "peak" where the taper butts meet? This is making my head hurt thinking about it. My best guess is you sand the "peak" to make a smoother surface. I do use a thin rubber float on my bottom form which can absorb some of the deviation.

Mike W.

[Apex Predator]

Glue some reverse tapers to the form.

[Teagus]

DOH!

Marty, thanks again. I'm ready now.


Mike

[Jason Scott]

I have not had a problem with glue lines at the fades and I have used .004 total taper between my riser and back glass. I cut and sand my risers to fit the form light tight and do not put tapers on the form for compensation. Seems like there would be a problem with fit when you think about it but I haven't yet. I do use good rubber strips on top of the form and under the metal pressure strip though. I think the use of good rubber strips makes any lanyap (slack) in contour disappear. I use c-clamps on the riser section to the point out past the fades which alows me to apply the necessary forces to make good glue lines. That probably is why I have never had a bad glue line, good pressure forces along with LONG FEATHERED FADES. Also, when I grind my tapers they really don't start the taper rate for several inches out. In other words, they are parallel for about 4 to 5 inches before the taper begins. Don't know why but that's the way it works out and doesn't seem to hurt a thing. Then when I splice them there is 8 or so inches of parallel in the middle of the long lamination. The important part is that the thickness taper is correct at the fade points anyway. And yes, sand them well after you glue/spice them together so there are no humps or gaps in the layup.

[Teagus]

By next month I will have my new Performax paid off and in the shop. Motherboard fried this month and had to take a detour for a new laptop or it would be online today. I am sitting on a load of actionwood tapers of various butt thicknesses. Jason, are you grinding partial parallels on the ends of tapers or are you grinding partial tapers on full parallels? Will I be able to do either when the new toy arrives?

Mike W.

[Jason Scott]

Well, what I do is take a parallel and lay it on top of a taper. When I run it through the grinder for some reason it does not start putting a taper on the lam until it passes a few inches along. Even if I set the depth of grind to touching the material at the begining of the pass. It may be that the taper has a flat spot on it on the thin end, which in turn will be the thick end of my new taper. Or maybe it is because my sled is really two .001 tapers glued together and the dab of glue between them is causing it. Probably the later, anyway, I keep grinding passes until I reach the thickness I want and it works out because the important part is the thickness at the working portion of the limb.

You will be able to make any sled you want with that sweet thing when you get it home. You could even make a dual taper like KennyM has been experimenting with lately. I would like to hear from him on his findings with that.