Tapers with a planer

[oldandslow]

Spent a couple hours with a hand plane and some oak I had laying around. Build a .003 taper sled.
Interesting going g thru the planer 😉.
The taper portion seems good enuf.
The wood takes a bit of a beating...chipout and stuff. Also the glue aspect would be useless as someone said. Made for an informative afternoon.

[Flem]

What species were you trying to taper? A fine grained wood like Maple seems like it might be easier to taper with a planer

[oldandslow]

I ran some cedar thru at first cause its soft and right  beside me...I ran it real thin just cause I could.
 It wasn't so bad. Then I tried a piece of that same oak...no good at all. It is very very hard.
The last piece may have been some walnut.
I couldn't tell. It was a scrap piece.  I could try some ash. I have some of that. But still even if it  worked getting a rough sand for glue up would be another chore.
Still might be worth fooling with as I learn the craft

[oldandslow]

Man...looks like a drunk wrote that!

[oldandslow]

What is a typical size at each end of a taper?
Thickness.

[mmattockx]

Sigh...yes
Wife wont be happy!

If you have decent woodworking tools and skills you can make one that will be perfectly serviceable for a tiny fraction of what a commercial unit costs. Mine cost me ~$125 in parts aside from the motor (which I already had).

That mark guy lives near me Flem.
Maybe I should take my cut lams out there...lol

Is this me you are referring to? Where are you located?

What is a typical size at each end of a taper?
Thickness.

That does depend a lot on the particular bow. A recurve stack will be something like 0.250"-0.300" at the butt end of the lams and then have a 0.001"-0.002" taper to the tips. If that stack has 0.040" glass that leaves 0.170"-0.220" for the core lams and that will probably be split between two lams. So each one will be ~0.100" thick at the butt end and then maybe 0.070" at the tip.

Longbows have thicker stacks, more like 0.400"-0.450" at the butt end and more taper along the length.


Mark

[oldandslow]

If you haven't already figured it out...I'm in Calgary.

[Shredd]

If you already have an edge sander or a put a belt sander on it's side, this is probably the cheapest way to go and it is very accurate...   The pivoting pin inline with the drum keeps things more at a constant which makes it very accurate...  The threaded adjuster off to the side allows for very fine adjustment... I think one turn gives you about 8 to 10 thou which means a 1/4 turn will give you 2 thou...  The device gets clamped down and I put 2 - 10lb. plates on top of those two boards in the middle to keep the pivoting section down and in place...

[oldandslow]

If you already have an edge sander or a put a belt sander on it's side, this is probably the cheapest way to go and it is very accurate...   The pivoting pin inline with the drum keeps things more at a constant which makes it very accurate...  The threaded adjuster off to the side allows for very fine adjustment... I think one turn gives you about 8 to 10 thou which means a 1/4 turn will give you 2 thou...  The device gets clamped down and I put 2 - 10lb. plates on top of those two boards in the middle to keep the pivoting section down and in place...

Could I get you to email me some photos with enuf detail to start building this. I think that would work well for me! Thanks

[Shredd]

Sure...

[oldandslow]

Sure...

Oldandslow at shaw.ca

Thanks

[Flem]

Nice jig Rich How is it attached to the table?

[Mad Max]

Nice jig Rich How is it attached to the table?

You make a pretty rig
Looks good

[Shredd]

Just two C Clamps...  Thanks Mark...

[mmattockx]

Could I get you to email me some photos with enuf detail to start building this. I think that would work well for me! Thanks

Honestly, there is enough in the pics posted to make that. The backing board that holds the lam against the belt should be 2" wide, maybe a bit more. Make the base maybe 12"-14" long X 10"-12" wide or as required to fit your setup. Use 3/4" plywood for both the base and the swinging board. Try to get the vertical height of the centerline of the adjusting bolt near the centerline of the the backing board the lam runs against to minimize twist in the swinging board.

Everything can be tweaked to suit the space and arrangement you have in your shop and very little of it is critical. Use the pics more as a conceptual guide than a hard and fast design you need to copy verbatim.

Shredd, is that a standard belt sander laid on its side or an actual edge sander?


Mark

[Shredd]

That's what I thought too, Mark...  I sent some dimensions any way...  I got the idea off another forum but I like my design better...  The offset adjuster makes it...

   It is a 6 x 48 Harbor Freight sander...  Actually a pretty decent sander...  I am happy with it...  I don't know if the newer ones are any good...  they look a little different...  Their 4" sanders suck...  I have one that I put on it's side and put a real 1/2 hp motor to it and with a 50 grit zirc belt...  The thing is now a beast...  I use it for all my rough sanding and shaping...

   The 6 x 48 is on it's side...  Two bolts go through the base and hold it to the table...  The base is also shimmed so that the drive drum is 90* to the table...  I have two more bolts threaded into the table that the sander also rests on...  I can raise these up or down to get the platen 90* to the table...

   For the first couple of years I kept thinking that I needed a big 'ol edge sander...  Then I put that 6" sander on it's side and did not like it for sanding my limbs...  I felt it was to long and if I was not careful the limb would sometimes be getting sanded where I was not looking... Now I sand my limbs on that 4" sander...  It sands only the area that you are working on and in your site...  It seems that I had come full circle and found out that smaller is better...  For me anyway... 

[mmattockx]

The 6 x 48 is on it's side...  Two bolts go through the base and hold it to the table...  The base is also shimmed so that the drive drum is 90* to the table...  I have two more bolts threaded into the table that the sander also rests on...  I can raise these up or down to get the platen 90* to the table...

I like this idea. I have a generic 4x36 belt sander I will have to look at with an eye to mounting it on its side. I like the jack bolt idea for squaring it all up with the table.

For the first couple of years I kept thinking that I needed a big 'ol edge sander...  Then I put that 6" sander on it's side and did not like it for sanding my limbs...  I felt it was to long and if I was not careful the limb would sometimes be getting sanded where I was not looking...

I can see that happening. I have enough issues some days with that on my 4x36, a longer belt seems like more opportunity for disaster.


Mark

[oldandslow]

Having trouble tracking down that spring locally.
It's just an extension spring? 3.5 × 5/8?

[Mad Max]

oldandslow "
Could I get you to email me some photos with enuf detail to start building this. I think that would work well for me! "

Shredd  "sure"

Mark
Could I get you to email me some photos with ALL details to start building your R/D bow? I think that would work well for me!

[JamesV]

With a little practice you can cut perfect tapers with a thinkness planer using a good heavy sled. You will get a little snipe on the end so cut them 3" longer than needed. I sold my thickness sander because I didn't need the hastle with paper and the planer did as good if not better job. For those that say it can't be done, Jump on your fast horse and come down to my shop and we can run some tapers.

James