Cutting taper on tablesaw

[Jacques Gagnon]

Doug,

Maybe something along the lines of this?

Regards,

J.

[Tom M King]

Since you are only needing two different setups, I'd just cobble together two different sleds. I have done a number of them for making long wedges, using the miter slot.

[John TenEyck]

Another option is to make a sled with the taper you need on both sides. Here's one for cutting tapered porch columns that tapers from 14" to 12", so 1" on each side.



The workpiece is 2" wider than the final part but less would be OK. In any case, you mount the workpiece in the sled with a screw through the fence at each end to secure it.



The rip fence is set to give you the correct amount of cutoff. I'm make beveled cuts but it doesn't matter, it works at any angle including 90 deg. The key is that the jig is wide enough that the offcut has room to fall harmlessly between the blade and rip fence.



And here's the finished part:



And the column:



When I have to make a lot of identical parts this is how I do it. Tapers, hexagons, it doesn't matter, you can make any shape that has straight cuts, and it works equally well on the bandsaw.

John

[Rick Potter]

I would suggest using a simple 'L' fence. Nothing fancy, but it should do what you want.

Google.... 'L' fence video.

[John C Bush]

I made coopered bucket kits for a kids project--70+ kits & lots of happy kids--. The staves were tapered just like you are wanting, and beveled as well. I made two jigs using my inca miter sled to get the angles just right then used the jigs against the fence to make the cuts. I saved the jigs and can send pics if you wish. Not difficult once set up. The buckets had 12 staves so 24 cuts X 70 kits---I got pretty good at it after the first 500!!

[Don Coffman]

I'd second the "L" fence. Built one and used nothing else for tapers since.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Track saws thrive on stuff like this.

I know how I'd do it - but - I can't even begin to explain it.

Maybe this video will help.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=busKR0Y9fbs

[Curt Harms]

Doug,

Maybe something along the lines of this?

Regards,

J.

That was my thought. A jig like that can be useful for a number of tasks. The limitation is width of work piece. The work piece needs to be wide enough for the clamps.