Lam sled design for performax

[Teagus]

Hi all,
 Just moved my new Performax 16-32 into the shop.
Having the vhs converted to dvd today. Any wisdom on sled design welcome.

Mike

[T Folts]

Pics would be great

[Shaun]

I have a drum sander other brand. Made my sled by taping a pair of .002 taper lams side by side on a 4" wide piece of laminated header material and then running it through the sander - then peal of the lams and viola! Put a piece of self adhesive 80 grit sandpaper on the sled to hold my lam blanks in place as it passes through the sander. Made another one with no taper for making parallels.

[Teagus]

Thanks Shaun,
 It's frustrating not being able to see the tape. Called the factory. No DVDs for Jet or Performax. All I can do is work on the dust collection hookup. If the tech can't get to the transfer tomorrow, I will have to wait until next week. By then I will have the tool junkie shakes.

Mike

[Dick in Seattle]

Teagus....   I also use a different brand of drum sander, but that really shouldn't make a difference.   I made my taper by simply calculating how much taper I wanted, in my case .0015, midway between the usual one thou or 2 thou per inch.  Multiplied the .0015 times the length of my proposed sled and ground a piece of wood to that dimension.  Glued the piece of wood to the bottom of one end of the sled (it wasn't very long, an inch or so) and then put the proposed taper sled on top of my parallel sled and started grinding, with the drum sander set so that it took a bit off the high end of the taper sled, then a bit more on the next pass, etc. until the drum was taking a smooth grind off of the taper sled full length.  belt sanded the glued on riser piece off of the bottom and I had my taper.   I've made 20 bows now with those sleds, about 15 of them using the taper sled.  I don't always put a taper in the bow, especially at the real light weights.  Anyway, it worked for me.

I've seen some pix from guys who built a kind of frame for the sled to ride in, with a screw and lock nut on one end, so they have what amounts to an adjustable table sled.

Just figure out what'll work and go for it.

[strungstick]

Like Dick said - you can calculate length and desired taper and put a spacer under one end of your future sled and grind it until you're making a clean pass.  My sleds are just 6/4 oak and I have a performax 16-32.  With the 16-32 just check your side to side measurements with the mic as it has a tendency to flex a little on the end that isn't attached.  If it is close  you can just reverse the sled so that it cancels that out.

[AkBillyBow]

I have the same Performax 16/32 as you, and love it!!  What I did was ordered some tapered lams in the sizes (.002, .0015) that I use from Binghams.  I ordered their "action wood" so the lambs would be stable and not move.  

Then I glued the lams to a sanding belt (from my belt sander) with the rough side away from the lams, to both the top and bottom of the lams.  The lams are basically sandwiched between two sand paper strips.


The bottom sand paper now holds the "sled" to the table when run through the sander.  The top sand paper holds the newly cut paralel lams to the top of the "sled".

Hopefully I did not confuse you on the description.  Here are a couple of pointers, also.  Make your sled 2 lams wide, and always grind 2 lams together.  They need to be in a matched pair, as one will go in the top limb and the other in the bottom limb.  I always "spin" one lam, so the grain rolls the opposite way in the opposite limb,  That way, if the grain runs out bad to one edge, it will run out the opposite direction in the other limb.  That way they will pull against each other and be balanced in the bow.

Another tip, mark on the sandpaper what taper that sled is with a magic marker.  Once you have them covered with the sand paper, the marker label is the only way to tell the taper amount.

Lastly, run them through slowly!!  Don't take off too much at a time.  Slow is better, and will result in a better product.  If they are run slow, they will not try to be pulled off the sled by the sanding drum.  Take your time and go slow, and you can maek perfect tapered lams.

Sorry this was so long winded.  Let me know if I can help with anything else.

AkBillyBow

[Teagus]

Thanks guys,
 When grinding a 36" taper, how many passes will I be looking at (approx)? Guess it is also a matter of how far one cranks down each pass?

I am also getting the impression from some research that I had better think about an outfeed table to catch the sled.

Mike

[Teagus]

BTW,
 We tried to copy the VHS to a DVD Friday. We started the tape to make sure it was working right. It started playing so it looked like a go. Next we hit rewind to get back to the beginning and start the copy. That is when the tape died. Old inventory. Called the factory. The do not have tapes or DVD's anymore. Sent me a PDF of the manual. Feel better knowing some of you have one.

Mike

[Dick in Seattle]

How many passes?    Let's see... how thick did you start at?   How thin did you want?   However, most important...   How's your power supply?    In my shop, I know right away if I try to take too big a bite... the circuit breaker trips.

Power aside, I really get into grinding lams.  I do 'em one to a pass, have them all lined up and get into a rhythm... start one through, step past the sander to catch it, mike it, then do the next one, etc.   I really do think you get better control if you go real thin when you're at the point of getting serious.

I'll use a full crank, or turn, of the handle when I start, to get rid of the saw marks, but quickly go to 1/2 turn as I get smooth, and work with 1/4 turns as I close in on it.

Always mike!   While we'd like to pretend that these things are precision machine tools, they ain't!  They're wood working tools.  Sandpaper wears and clogs.  It gets thinner in the middle if you run most of your work there.  Get to know your machine and how it's performing.   I'll sometimes mike a lam and decide that I want just a little more off and decide to send it through for another pass without lowering the drum any.  I'll send it through in the middle if I want a thinner pass or over toward the edge, where the paper is maybe  newer if I want a thicker pass.

Also, don't forget to play with the lam orientation... mike and flip, mike and end for end.   Find out how to get the flattest, truest lam. Like I said, you have to get to know your machine.

[Mike Most]

I am glad you guys put this up, I have been sitting on a performax 10-20 now, wondering how to get taper dimensions without buying premade tapers.

Dick, Length of taper 36" multiplied by .0015" in your case equals .054" thick or the dimension of the block thickness under the sled prior to sanding flush? Yes?

I love this site.

Thanks Mike

[Dick in Seattle]

Mike... yep, you got it.   that''s what worked for me, but there's lots of ways to approach it.   I'm no expert, and I deliberately try to build very simple bows, but after a couple of years of messing with it, and 20 bows, I've come to the conclusion that mostly, we tend to over think this stuff.   Generally, if you look at a problem and come up with a solution that makes sense to you, it'll work.   At the least, you'll get some experience with the effort, learn something and have some fun.