tapering jig........

[thomaskennedy]

hi all,
firstly....i've been gone for a few days (damn those viruses ) so tell me if something really esciting has happened ........

well to the point,
i made a taper jig for the T/S,but im having a few problems,
i know how to make the jig, but i don't know how to use it

ive had a few goes but i cant seem to get it right.BTW i want to leave a square bit at the top. Also is there a limit on how steep the taper is? i am wanting to go from 60mm and the top to 40mm on the bottom....how do i set the jig up?

any advice please?!

Ta

Tom

ps. the problem seems to be that if i have the jig like this \/ when i push the wood through, because of the flat needed at the top, the wood just pushes against the side of the blade!.....hehe that was a long ps. wasnt it :wink:

 

[Aragorn]

Well I'll give this a go Tom!
Put your tapering jig up against the rip fence, hinged edge furthest away from you.
Plane your timber to 60mm square
On your timber, mark the beginning of the taper (i.e. the starting point, down from the end to allow for the square bit) and the end (thinnest bit e.g. 40mm nearest you - mark this on the endgrain of the wood)
Put your timber against the jig, with the pencil mark on the endgrain down towards the table and nearest you.
Slide the whole assembly along so that you can line up the pencil marks with the mitre slot in the table saw.
Adjust the angle of the jig so that the start and end point of the taper aligns with the mitre slot. (This gives you the "angle" of the taper)
Now bring the rip fence/jig assembly in towards the blade so that the front teeth of the blade just touches the timber where you want the taper to start. (in your case this will be down from the top of the wood to allow for the square bit).
The jig should now be ready to cut the wood.
Fix the rip fence in place and holding the timber firmly against the jig, slide the whole jig along the rip fence into the blade to make the cut
Mind your fingers!
Happy turning!

 

[Noel]

Thomas,

Assuming you've made the taper jig with the following properties:
(I'm sure you've done all this but just in case...)
Pivoted or hinged at the saw blade end,
jig material thicker than the stock being cut,
a device to lock the two arms at the desired taper,
a stop to retain the stock on the blade side of the jig.
the stock does not extend by more than a third past the end of the jig.

Ok, if yes to all of the above proceed as follows:
draw a line from top mark to bottom mark on the stock to establish the taper line,
take a good straight edge that exceeds the lenght of stock and lay this against the saw blade (ensuring that it come into contact with the blade teeth) and on top of the stock which should be snugly located in the jig,
then manipulate the jig and stock so that the straight edge aligns with the taper line and tighten the jig so that the angle is set,
slide the fence and jig so that the top mark enters the blade at the desired point, without entering into the realms of trigonometry this is the quickest and easiest way
lock fence, withdraw the jig and fire up the saw,
then it's just a simple matter of pushing the jig and stock through with the jig tight against the fence similar to a regular rip cut and the stock captured in the stop on the jig.

Long winded but hope it helps,

Rgds

Noel

 

[thomaskennedy]

thanks Aragorn and Noel,

jig material thicker than the stock being cut

why does this have to be?, does this meen that i have to make the jig from 60mm thick stock??

Tom

 

[Noel]

Thomas,

Not vital, just safer, but as long as the jig timber isn't too flimsy shouldn't be a problem. My thinking was: the more robust the jig the safer and more accurate.

Rgds

Noel

 

[thomaskennedy]

ah ok, i understand now, thanks Noel

Tom

 

[Offcut]

I made a similar jig at the weekend and suffered the same problems. The wood tended to follow the saw. The problem was that I had the jig fixed to the fence and I was sliding the wood along the jig. I will now try moving the jig and wood along the fence -makes sense, why did I think of it before!!.

Andy

 

[thomaskennedy]

andy,
yeah my wood was following the blade! but it does work when you push the whole jig through, well mine did

thanks everyone who helped me,and as th esaying goes, you are all worth your weight in gold!!!

Thanks again

Tom