Rockler tapering jig for the BT3100

[UPS1990]

I bought the jig while it was on sale and after assembly, I placed it on the right side of the blade on the miter slots and noticed there was a significant gap between the edge of the jig and the blade. Made the decision to switch the jig to the left on the blade. It worked perfectly to mill and taper 8/4 walnut stock for nightstand legs. Instructions say to place the jig to the right of the blade , feels safer to the left of the blade. Does anyone have experience with this jig on the BT?

[Jim Frye]

I don't have the Rockler taper jig, but I have a similar one I purchased at a show. I use it on the left side of the fence (right side of the blade) and it does not use any slots or base plate. Set up requires quite a bit of fiddle, but it works well. Here's the last tapers I did using it. These are double tapers, i.e. Shaker legs.

[capncarl]

My table saw taper jig is a concoction using a no name taper jig mounted on my jig base that slides on the rip fence. I wanted to use the rip fence as the guide because it was easy to move rather than diddle around forever with the taper adjustments. If I want a little more off I just bump the fence a tad. I strongly dislike using a jig such as this on the table saw with the miter slots. The miter slots may be accurate for a lot of purposes but I’ve had several jigs that used miter slots commit suicide when the piece climed up on the saw blade.

For my tapers I now use a simular jig on my band saw that slides in the miter slot. I feel a lot more comfortable using the band saw, it doesn’t spew sawdust all over the room ( there is not much chance of using dust collection in a taper jig on a table saw) and I can stand in one position and cut as many tapers as I want without having to wander all over the shop picking up the jig, rotating the wood etc. as with the table saw jig.
capncarl

[capncarl]

Photo of my table saw taper jig on the right and my band saw taper jig on the left. I like using the band saw so much better than the table saw I’m thinking about stripping all the good hardware off the table saw jig and converting it to band saw use only.

While the band saw is not everyones favorite saw and does leave a ragged cut I perfer the band saws ragged cut over the burning that I got with the table saw on cherry and walnut. Another positive for the band saw is its ability to cut thicker legs. Some earlier tables that I built had 5 and 6 inch legs that I had to finish out the tape cuts with a hand saw. Not a big deal because a few minutes with a plane it’s all good.