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Rotisserie

asw20c

Well Known Member
Again I apologize for asking, but I can't get the search engine to work for me. I'm at the stage now where a rotisserie is necessary. I've been mining through some of my old EAA magazines and found one that was discussed that someone built for working on wings, but I need mine for the fuselage. Any ideas on where I can find a rotisserie design, or two, or three, to give me ideas for building my own?
 
Most builders use the Harbor Fright Engine Stand modified with a bracket attached to the firewall. The tail end can be done a few ways.
1. Sawhorse.
2. Stand with a steel plate and hole. Tail wheel stinger or a plate clamped to the aft deck with a pipe.
There's photos of mine on my blog, Fuselage page. However, mine was a demo that is no longer in production.
 
In pictures:

Harbor Freight engine mount with an "X" adapter to firewall made of 2x4s. You can build out the front half hanging off of it.
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Have three guys lift the tail section to it; cleco it and hang the tail end from your garage/workshop ceiling.
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I suspended the fuselage on each end using engine stands purchased from Harbor Freight and mounted it from parts from my local hardware store. I can supply more detail if requested.
 

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I did not take the time to make a rotisserie for my fuselages on the first 10 planes but as I got older I really felt the climbing in and out. For the last project, RV14, I made a simple triangular jig that bolted to the main wing spar stub and turned the fuse on its' side so that the middle was about waist high. The aft end of the fuselage was supported with a picnic table. A simple wooden fixture was used to attach the aft fuse to the table.
The whole thing was very stable and it greatly helped with the wiring, floors, plumbing etc. I am not really sure how helpful it would be to be able to do a 360 degree type of fixture.
I would certainly use this method again.
 
A benefit I found from my two engine mount approach was the ability to easily move the fuselage around in/out of my garage. Due to the height of the mounts, I'm able to tilt the fuse to about a 45 degree angle in each direction.
 
The ability to roll it around in the shop Is a pretty big deal. I do wonder about the tipping potential? Some sort of a temporary outrigger might be a good idea?
 
A bit more involved than the Harbor Freight engine unit but it allowed completing the underside of the engine and painting of the fuselage.
Constructed from one 4 x 8 sheet of plywood and two fixed roller casters.
 

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I chose short engine mounts to keep the CG low so it's pretty stable. That was the trade-off for not being able to rotate it 360 degrees which would have alleviated a lot of back strain.
 
A GREAT set of rotisserie plans....

Hi,

I built a rotisserie about a year ago. I spent quite a bit of time researching what others had done, and I think I really did find the best answer, at least for me. There is an outstanding write up about a rotisserie build by John Janovetz in the December 2018 EAA Sport Aviation experimenter section (pg 114). John's approach is simple but elegant. It allows for full rotation and adjustment to the elevation of the supported item, which can all be accomplished by one person. It is fully movable around the shop. I built a set of rotisserie stands based on his design. They work absolutely outstanding, and I highly recommend them.

I think the write-up is available on the EAA site, but if not shoot me a PM, and I've got it around here somewhere and I'll dig it up for you.

I have used mine to paint a fuselage and a set of wings, and it really works great.
You can roll the ends up to each end of the wing, attach, and lift if out of the wing stand then roll it outside for prep. Then roll it into the paint booth, spray and leave it in there to dry. Then roll it back over and lower it into the wing stand. Switch to the other wing, and repeat. I did this all solo, no problem.
 
Dpansier, How did you connect to the fuselage? Can you show a picture?
Allen

Drawing shows the rotator attaching to the four engine mount bolts, I did deviate from my drawing and welded small tabs (.125” x 1.5” flat stock) to the 2" x 2" angle to widen about 1” as the angles interfered with the engine mount.
 

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I went the HF route too, and lucky for me I found a pre-welded flat piece of steel with a pipe welded to it a local surplus building material store. Worked like a champ. The main point is finding the correct axis for it to roll around. I ended up removing the front wheels off the engine mount and shimming it up with some planks to get a smooth axial roll. I had to put plastic blocks at the engine mount holes for the frame to clear the front skins.
 

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Silly Question??

Maybe not. In my mind I thought one would work straight through the plans from section 6 on (we're building a 14A). But in the rotisserie pictures, nobody has the elevator and rudder from section 11. So did you fit the rudder and elevators to the aft fuse and then remove them, or wait till you were done with the fuse and marry the front and aft fuse?
 
Well... initially, put them on for the sense of accomplishment, then realize the inconvenience in a small garage, take back off, and wait til final assembly.
 
Well... initially, put them on for the sense of accomplishment, then realize the inconvenience in a small garage, take back off, and wait til final assembly.

Also, unless you are building at the airport, you’ll need to take them off for transport, anyway. 🙄
 
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