Taper Jig Question

cmccarter1 · Post by **cmccarter1** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 8:18 pm

I am in the process of building a small windmill. The sides appear to be tapered at 5 degrees. I am able to cut the first taper cut but now have no idea what degree to cut the opposite side. It appears:

/-----\
/ \
/______\

Where the bottom is 7 3/8" and the top is 3 1/8"

Any ideas other than sticking the cutoff back on the side and flipping it?

chester

pennview · Post by **pennview** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 8:40 pm

Hi Chester, welcome to the forum.

I don't know how you set your taper jig to cut the first taper, but essentially you want to double that setting. That is, if you set the jig to 5 degrees for the first taper, you want to reset it to 10 degrees to cut the opposite taper. If you set the jig by some measurement, for example 2", then you would reset the jig to 4" to cut the second taper.

Hope this helps. If not, we'll try again.

pennview · Post by **pennview** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 8:40 pm

Hi Chester, welcome to the forum.

I don't know how you set your taper jig to cut the first taper, but essentially you want to double that setting. That is, if you set the jig to 5 degrees for the first taper, you want to reset it to 10 degrees to cut the opposite taper. If you set the jig by some measurement, for example 2", then you would reset the jig to 4" to cut the second taper.

Hope this helps. If not, we'll try again.

holsgo · Post by **holsgo** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 9:07 pm

I have taken the cutoff and using double sided tape then flipped the piece and cut the second cut. If I'm being clear, I use the cutoff to then cut the second cut.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 2:23 am

Not clear how you are making the first cut, but just turn it over to cut the second(assuming yer using the miter gauge). If using a taper jig and fence, reattach the cutoff and turn it over.

I do not understand a need for 'double' sided tape?

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 4:48 am

What you are attempting to do is not as simple as it looks.

There is a chart that I am looking for that gives the angles for you tapers but I can not find it online.

I'll keep looking. It is on page 37 in my edition of Power Tool Woodworking for Everyone. The table is presently unavailable online but this chapter that discusses compound mitering is. If this appears to be the information that you need, let me know the angle of tilt (on the walls) and the number of sides in your windmill and I will give you the tilt and miter gauge angles you need.

PTWFE is a reference that you really want to have in your shop. I would advise getting a copy if you do not have one.

Is the windmill four sided? I expect not. The number of sides effects the angle of the tapers (the chart I'm looking for).

mbcabinetmaker · Post by **mbcabinetmaker** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 7:23 am

Make a template of the piece from 1/4 inch plywood using a jig saw and sander and use it to set your jig.

Ed in Tampa · Post by **Ed in Tampa** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 10:07 am

cmccarter1 wrote:I am in the process of building a small windmill. The sides appear to be tapered at 5 degrees. I am able to cut the first taper cut but now have no idea what degree to cut the opposite side. It appears:

/-----\
/ \
/______\

Where the bottom is 7 3/8" and the top is 3 1/8"

Any ideas other than sticking the cutoff back on the side and flipping it?

chester

Once you made the first cut you lost approx 1/8" of material. You have to take that into consideration even if you tape the pieces back together to cut the second taper. Also if you are cutting a bevel you can't just flip the wood the bevel angle will be opposite the first one.

If you are cutting taper and an bevel I think the easiest way would be to cut a template without the bevels then use it to set the taper jig for each cut. Even then I think you are going to have to make three cuts.
First cut taper one side with bevel.
Second cut taper second side but without bevel
Third cut cut bevel into second side.

pennview · Post by **pennview** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 10:53 am

Reattaching the cut off with double-sided tape or hot glue after you've cut the first taper works and allows you to keep the same setting of the jig. You simply have to adjust the rip fence to make the second cut.

Also, there's no need to make compound miter/bevel cuts for this project, unless you want to do that. If you simply cut the double tapers, you can assemble the four equally-sized pieces like this:
[ATTACH]12188[/ATTACH]

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 3:00 pm

How did 'bevels'(hence compound cuts) sneak into this conversation?