Belt sander for wood shaft tapers?

[Arrow4Christ]

How do you guys who use belt sanders to taper the back end of your wood shafts (not nock and point tapers) keep a consistent angle so you can get the same taper every time? I was thinking of setting up my belt sander to do this and perhaps even a barrel taper if I can set the angle so it takes my 23/64" down to 5/16" on the nock and 11/32" on the point. Just wondering how you set them up.
Thanks!
Craig

[Jason R. Wesbrock]

Craig,

Most folks I know use the disc sander instead of the drum for nock and point tapers.

[Bob Stager]

Craig  I use a disc sander and have a 5 degree guide clamped on it with a stop to get a consistant length.  Bob

[flint kemper]

Craig, hopefully "Fletcher" Rick Stillman will chime in. He has a rig similiar to mine for tapering the rear of the shafts for about 9 inches. If he does not search his name and send him a PM. One other really nice rig I have thought about purchasing is from Tim's Taper Tools. You can search the Wes Wallace bows website under accessories and look at the barrel taper tool. I have the point and nock taper rig and love it. Merry Christmas Flint

[dino]

Wish I could do the draw picture thing on here, but I'm not that computer savy.  I place a block 10" back up from the edge of the platen to hold the nock of the shaft.  Put a nock taper on the shaft to use as the center.  On the block I drill a small hole to hold the nock point that would be 5/32 from the belt.  You can use a drill to rotate the shaft, but I have a friend that does it by hand too.  Make sure the shaft it straight before you start, but that is a simple taper set up on a belt sander that is pretty effective.  Sorry I don't have jigs set up right now to take pics of but maybe someone can post a pic of one set up to help out too.  dino

[kennym]

When I shot wood, I made a jig from 3/4 plywood to clamp on my disc sander table. Just took a foot by foot pc,and laid out the tapers wanted with a protractor.

Then took a router with a v-groove bit , clamped a strait pc to the jig on the line and routed a groove on the jig for both angles coming out just beside each other.

Quickclamp the jig to the sander table and hold the arrow shaft down with one hand and turn with the other.

I tried screwing a pc on top of the jig first,but was hard to keep the shaft against it good,so went to the v-groove.

Mine worked like a champ,lots easier than using one of the pencilsharpener types.

[Arrow4Christ]

Thanks for the info so far guys.
I am talking about a 9-10" taper on the rear of the shafts, not nock and point tapers.
Thanks,
Craig

[flint kemper]

Craig, yes that is what Rick and I have. My home computer is locked up with a virus or I would post a picture for you. The Tim's Barrel taper tool is the way to go if doing a barel tapers in my opinion. Rick is doing a ton of shafts though with his rear taper fixture. Sort of sounds like Dino's set-up. Flint

[kennym]

Sorry Craig, I need to read a little closer!!

Woulda saved myself 10 min typin!  LOL  

[ChuckC]

Not the sander type, but I have seen where two pieces were used, either angle iron or stright cut boards.  Sand paper is glued to the upright sides and then they are attached to a piece of board stock using two drill bits, one at the front, one at the rear as spacers.  They form a taper jig.  The rear bit is 5/16 and the front is either 11/32 or 23/64, depending upon your need.  Chuck up the shaft in a drill and drill it in between the pieces.  What I saw worked pretty nice.

I am thinking I would worry about using a disc or belt sander as it will remove wood very quickly.  I would end up with 15" arrows I bet.
ChuckC

[vtmtnman]

I'd be interested in seeing some pics of these setups.I'd love to try tapering shafts.

I'd like to see some of the nock/point tapering jigs as well if you guys have pics.

[Bob T.]

Here you go.   http://tradgang.com/taper/

[AkDan]

much better jig then y ou can make!

 http://www.weswallacebows.com/tapertools/barrel.html

[Jack Denbow]

I have made a taper tool and used it for years but I now use the Tim's Taper Tool from Wes Wallace Bows mentioned above. I also bought a separate sander (4X36) to set it up on and am very happy with the set-up. My old belt sander is now freed up for other things.
Jack

[SCATTERSHOT]

I have tapered shafts using a belt sander. I chuck the shaft in an electric drill and just eyeball the taper. You would be surprised how uniform you can be. Just try a few and get the feel of it. On mine I lay the table down flat and use a scribed line on the sanding fence, 5/16" from the paper to know when to quit sanding.

[straitera]

Recently saw posted here a 10" (+/-) jig with (2) separate walls covered in sandpaper. The idea was to chuck the wooden arrow shaft into a drill and spin it in the jig which narrowed towards the end thereby creating a taper.

Been using woods for a few years now but never tapered any. Why taper a shaft? Advantages? Is there a flight or penetration benefit? Which end gets tapered? Thanks in advance.

[StanM]

I do my tapers with this jig that I made. Glued the sandpaper to the 1x2 blocks.  Hard to see it in the pic, but there is a slot cut in the 1x2 to adjust the front and back side to side.  I just put the shaft at the front and slide the block up next to it.  Then I put a 5/16th drill bit in the back and slide the blocks up next to it.  That gives me a consistent taper from whatever the shaft size is down to 5/16th of an inch.  Hope this helps.

 

Stan

[dino]

Why taper a shaft?  The nock end most commonly gets tapered to reduce weight in the back to creat a greater FOC and a tapered shaft comes out of paradox smoother/faster and is more stable.  Guess is could be argued that if the shaft ocillates less in paradox it would retain more energy and thus penetrate more too.

The jig with the two seperate walls with sandpaper on it can work good but you have to be carefull with it.  Push the shaft in too hard or fast it will cause the shaft to bind and explode.  I've done it many times before I figured out the right amount of presure and speed.  Secondly, since the shaft is spining around as you push it in and the sandpaper is stationary you get circular sanding marks around the shaft which can be hard to get out sometimes and they really show up when the shaft is stained.