shaft saw machine.

Question about sheldon's saw machine

This is a question for the pics of sheldon's machine, but anyone could answer. I'm looking at building something similar, and I haven't gotten into the full design yet, but I was curious as to whether with the change of size from one end to another, (butt or shaft) would you have to worry about the piece of wood moving out of center on the blade? Or perhaps the distance of the pivot point from the blade makes this side to side movement as the wood moves up negligible.

If this is a concern, would a Dado blade resolve the issue if you started the wood at the far side and as it creeped slowly toward the pivot point you still have plenty of cutting area on the blade accurately centered?

I may be overthinking things and if so, please tell me to shut up.
 
shakes said:
This is a question for the pics of sheldon's machine, but anyone could answer. I'm looking at building something similar, and I haven't gotten into the full design yet, but I was curious as to whether with the change of size from one end to another, (butt or shaft) would you have to worry about the piece of wood moving out of center on the blade? Or perhaps the distance of the pivot point from the blade makes this side to side movement as the wood moves up negligible.

If this is a concern, would a Dado blade resolve the issue if you started the wood at the far side and as it creeped slowly toward the pivot point you still have plenty of cutting area on the blade accurately centered?

I may be overthinking things and if so, please tell me to shut up.
It wouldn't matter b/c the blade stays on center and the taper bar is vertical. The distance from the blade to the wood determines the taper/cut.
 
JoeyInCali said:
It wouldn't matter b/c the blade stays on center and the taper bar is vertical. The distance from the blade to the wood determines the taper/cut.

I believe that Sheldon said previously that as the work piece rises along the taper bar, that it pivots on the linear bearing. (Kind of like a car hood on it's hinge).

If the vertical movement (provided by the taper bar) is the Z-axis, and the length of travel (provided by the half-nut and lead screw) is the Y-axis, then as it rises along the Z-axis and pivots on the bearing, there will be movement along the X-axis. (creating a quarter circle if you were to lift it all the way up to vertical.)

I'm wondering if the movement is enough to get the center of the shaft (or butt) away from the best cutting area of the blade.

Perhaps I'm mistaken about how Sheldon's machine works, and if I am, please explain it to me a little better. If I'm not making any sense, please let me know, and I'll try and explain it a little better. And thanks for your help.
 
I understand exactly what you are saying.

I don't have, and have never seen (in person, just pictures) or used a saw machine, but i will say this:

What you are talking about, IMHO will happen. But, for the small amount that it will be moving, i don't think there should be a problem at all. If there was, i don't think as many people that use these machines, would use them.

Thanks,

Jon
 
I just figured out the horizontal movement would be less than .005 inches. This assumes the following: 10 inch "arm", which looks about right according to the picture; .188 inch vertical travel (calculated by [.850-.470]/2).

Disclaimer: I have never used or seen in person a saw machine, but you can use trig and easily determine the horizontal movement with a known vertical movement.
 
Gee... I was just about to say that :p .
Good work Watson.

As i said before, the small (we now know just how small :) ) movement isn't worth the worry.

I might make one of those, but different of course :D .

Thanks,

Jon
 
iusedtoberich said:
I just figured out the horizontal movement would be less than .005 inches. This assumes the following: 10 inch "arm", which looks about right according to the picture; .188 inch vertical travel (calculated by [.850-.470]/2).

Disclaimer: I have never used or seen in person a saw machine, but you can use trig and easily determine the horizontal movement with a known vertical movement.

That is pretty much dead on, the blade is 6" from the bearing (pivot) and the taper bar is 4" from the blade. You only have to worry about the part that is 6" away moving though.
The biggest PITA is the fact that you can't cut a taper bar exactly the way you want your shaft taper to be, because of the pivot.
 
Sheldon said:
That is pretty much dead on, the blade is 6" from the bearing (pivot) and the taper bar is 4" from the blade. You only have to worry about the part that is 6" away moving though.
The biggest PITA is the fact that you can't cut a taper bar exactly the way you want your shaft taper to be, because of the pivot.

I have my machine designed so that the shaft is halfway between the taper bar and the pivot. That way the shaft moves exactly half of what the taper bar moves. If I want to take .010 off of a shaft then I crank the micrometer head down .010 and the saw blade cuts .005 per side.
 
BiG_JoN said:
Gee... I was just about to say that :p .
Good work Watson.

As i said before, the small (we now know just how small :) ) movement isn't worth the worry.

I might make one of those, but different of course :D .

Thanks,

Jon
Here's my saw taper machine. Works great for parabolic tapers.
Much more quiet than the screaming router.
:D
 
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Sheldon said:
That is pretty much dead on, the blade is 6" from the bearing (pivot) and the taper bar is 4" from the blade. You only have to worry about the part that is 6" away moving though.
The biggest PITA is the fact that you can't cut a taper bar exactly the way you want your shaft taper to be, because of the pivot.






If you built a z axis type of assembly to mount the shaft in, then mount it to the sled, you might solve the pivot issue, to get the taper off your bar, only thing, you are almost sure to pickup runout or chatter problems. Might could be done with right slides, and beefed up brackets. If there was a binding issue by some chance, you might could run taper bars on both sides, they would have to be calibrated to each other tough, so ajustments could be harder. This would ofcoarse also add more weight, and might require some work to the power feed if not enough to push the sled. just an idea for those creative types with money to blow on some really tight slides. I have a few decent used sets laying around, maybe I will give it a go sometime to see if I could make It work. Would love to see something like that if anyone has done It yet.
 
Here's my saw taper machine. Works great for parabolic tapers.


Hey, my saw is missing :confused:
I want to see a receipt...
There goes another private method of mine, stolen by SoCal Ninja's...

Thanks,

Jon
 
Murray Tucker said:
I have my machine designed so that the shaft is halfway between the taper bar and the pivot. That way the shaft moves exactly half of what the taper bar moves. If I want to take .010 off of a shaft then I crank the micrometer head down .010 and the saw blade cuts .005 per side.

Damn, why didn't I think of that? :D
 
Shaft Saw Machine

Hello All,
I am new to this group. I saw this shaft saw machine and then looked at a few more designs on the web before falling in love with the idea of building one. I can’t really call myself a cue maker. I think I am really into more of the tinkering than the actual producing a complete cue. Kind of like when I was 15, I found that building the slot car track was infinitely more fun than racing the cars around the track. I have a few question about the taper machine. 1. What is the ratio of the feed (movement across the saw blade) to the rotation of the shaft? I will probably go with just one motor unless there is a good reason not to. Is there a good reason not to? 2. I will probably use my 10” table saw to play on. I think it now turns at 3400rpm. What are you spinning yours at? 3. I guess a 100 tooth blade would work fine. Any ideas on blade choice? Sheldon thanks for posting such clean pictures of the beauty that you built. How is your micrometer connected to the bearing (which follows the template)? I will probably put an automatic reverse switch on the carriage and a stepper motor on the micrometer to lower it after each pass automatically. Any other designs out there for the micrometer assembly? Of course I will reciprocate by posting the pictures of my unit in the very near future.

Best Wishes to All,

Steve
 
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