What is a parabolic shaft taper?

Fenris

Fenris

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Okay. I've read about a parabolic shaft taper and how it's supposed to give a nice, stiff hit. Being a newbie, what I want to know is what exactly is a parabolic taper? Can someone illustrate it somehow? It'd be much appreciated.

On a side note, what shaft taper would give a stiff hit, aside from the parabloic? I'm not too fond of "euro" or straight taper, so besides that.... What about a 9"-10" pro taper? Answers/info appreciated.
 
I'm also a newbie but I can tell you what I know.

I don't know what a parabolic tape is. A "Euro" or straight taper is one whose shaft diammeter gradually increasese uniformly throughout the shaft. A pro taper is one whose diammeter is constant for the first indicated inch of length and start to increases.

Given the same type of wood and construction, the thicker the taper, the stiffer the hit. A shorter taper (9"-10") also gives a stiffer hit than a longer taper (12"-14") because it's in in some sense thicker.

- NN
 
tapers

The parabolic taper usually extends the taper from the joint further down and then there is basically an "S" curve to get down to a smaller taper comparatively fast to get to the final taper the rest of the way to the tip. Like most tapers, the parabolic taper can range from very gentle and almost invisible to comparatively abrupt.

Where you bridge on the stick and how you stroke will have a lot to do with what taper you like and how long of a pro taper you need if you want one. With a nine or ten inch pro taper many people would spend a lot of time on the conical portion of the stick making the stick little different in feel from the straight taper you don't like. A very gradual straight taper going into a parabolic taper may be the best option for you. I am working on a taper like this for break cues right now, slimmed down a bit it should make a fine playing cue. Many cue maker's "pro taper" shafts aren't truly zero taper in the playing area anyway. Slight growth delays the time before people who aggressively clean or sand their sticks are shooting with a bottlenecked shaft. I also think that a little taper makes for better control of the flex point making the shafts play better.

Hu



Fenris said:
Okay. I've read about a parabolic shaft taper and how it's supposed to give a nice, stiff hit. Being a newbie, what I want to know is what exactly is a parabolic taper? Can someone illustrate it somehow? It'd be much appreciated.

On a side note, what shaft taper would give a stiff hit, aside from the parabloic? I'm not too fond of "euro" or straight taper, so besides that.... What about a 9"-10" pro taper? Answers/info appreciated.
Click to expand...
 
Fenris said:
Okay. I've read about a parabolic shaft taper and how it's supposed to give a nice, stiff hit. Being a newbie, what I want to know is what exactly is a parabolic taper? Can someone illustrate it somehow? It'd be much appreciated.

On a side note, what shaft taper would give a stiff hit, aside from the parabloic? I'm not too fond of "euro" or straight taper, so besides that.... What about a 9"-10" pro taper? Answers/info appreciated.
Click to expand...

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe "parabolic" is used loosely just to mean the shaft diameter is always increasing, i.e., there is no "pro" section where the diameter is constant.

Some people do an exponential taper. It's easiest to understand what this is by first describing a constant taper. A constant taper has the diameter increase by the same amount in each successive inch going back from the tip. An example would be like this, where the diameter increases by 0.6 mm each two inches. The second column is the increase.

tip 12.8
2 in 13.4 0.60
4 in 14.0 0.60
6 in 14.6 0.60
8 in 15.2 0.60
10 in 15.8 0.60
12 in 16.4 0.60
14 in 17.0 0.60
16 in 17.6 0.60
18 in 18.2 0.60
20 in 18.8 0.60

An exponential taper with the same two endpoints looks like this

tip 12.8
2 in 13.30 0.50
4 in 13.82 0.52
6 in 14.37 0.54
8 in 14.93 0.56
10 in 15.51 0.59
12 in 16.12 0.61
14 in 16.75 0.63
16 in 17.41 0.66
18 in 18.09 0.68
20 in 18.80 0.71

It's actually a different sort of constant increase. Here the fractional increase (or the percent increase) is constant. This is like the way your money in the bank grows.
 
I don't know about that example

mikepage said:
It's actually a different sort of constant increase. Here the fractional increase (or the percent increase) is constant. This is like the way your money in the bank grows.
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Mike,

I'm not sure about that example. If my shaft grows the same way my money in the bank does, it will come to a point before reaching the joint! :D :D :D

Hu
 
A parabola is shaped kinda like a magnifying lense. It has that type of curve to it that is thicker in the center. So lets say a

protaper looks kinda like this ll

a parabolic taper would look like this ()

Not to that extreme but maybe this will help you gain an understanding.

Vic
 
I thought that a parabolic taper was simply ever increasing thickness too, but I'm as unsure about this as I am about old growth, dense shaftwood :D . I wish some of the experts would chime in now...Tom
 
the parabolic taper is a constantly growing taper,even in the stroke area.pick up a SW with original taper and you will feel it.a pro taper of 10 inches say is going to have a 10" or so section just after the tip that is basically the same diameter or not growing.
 
I'm a bit confused now as it seems that there are two differing views on what a parabolic taper is. One is a constant taper similar to but not the same as a euro taper. The other is the "magnifying glass" shape taper. Which is the correct one? The "magnifying glass" shape looks a bit too weird for me, so I'm hoping it's the "pseudo-euro" taper.
 
I think the guy who did this () maybe should have done )( but that doesn't help either.

It mostly has to do with the shaft being shaped like this. Basically no straight lines anywhere.
 

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do a little research

Check out what parabolic arcs and parabolic orbits are and then decide for yourself what a parabolic taper is.

Hu




Fenris said:
I'm a bit confused now as it seems that there are two differing views on what a parabolic taper is. One is a constant taper similar to but not the same as a euro taper. The other is the "magnifying glass" shape taper. Which is the correct one? The "magnifying glass" shape looks a bit too weird for me, so I'm hoping it's the "pseudo-euro" taper.
Click to expand...
 
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Da Poet said:
I think the guy who did this () maybe should have done )( but that doesn't help either.

It mostly has to do with the shaft being shaped like this. Basically no straight lines anywhere.
Click to expand...
Woo hoo !!


Ding, ding, ding!
 
easily combined

Black-Balled said:
Woo hoo !!


Ding, ding, ding!
Click to expand...

The parabolic taper is easily combined with a pro taper or whatever taper someone prefers. Using compound arcs behind the initial section allows the cuemaker to put more meat back there than more conventional tapers adding stiffness to the hit and some forward weight to the complete cue. I prefer useful weight like this to using a heavy pin or insert to move weight forward if needed. There is a short section of standard taper matching the butt behind the parabolic section also.

Hu
 
Maybe they could make the parabolic taper be used as a satellite dish so when the cue is stolen GPS could track it down evertime the joint is put together. :)

And then when you miss, it could broadcast it to the world.

And then the pool rooms could have little posts all around so you could store your cue on them.

And Dish network could...ahh never mind.

Jeff Livingston
 
The pic that Da Poet posted is what I thought a parabolic taper was the first time I heard about it. But then I started hearing other things about parabolic tapers and I started wondering if I was right....

I guess I will go with Da Poet's version for now.
 
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