Engine stand as rotating fuselage stand?

tvlawyer · #1 08-31-2006, 02:24 PM

As I start my window shopping for tools, I wondered whether I could use two of the $60 rotating engine stands they have a Harbor Freight to hold up my QB fuselage and flip it over when neccessary. The engine stands have four stubs on a rotating bracket. How might these fit against a fuselage?

LifeofReiley · #2 08-31-2006, 05:45 PM

I've seen a couple of website with people using auto engine stands for a fuse rotating stand. Cheap enough and easily adaptable. Go for it...

alpinelakespilot2000 · #3 08-31-2006, 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tvlawyer

As I start my window shopping for tools, I wondered whether I could use two of the $60 rotating engine stands they have a Harbor Freight to hold up my QB fuselage and flip it over when neccessary. The engine stands have four stubs on a rotating bracket. How might these fit against a fuselage?

You may need to get some angle iron to make the stubs attach at the engine mt. points but it should work pretty good. I've seen others do the same. The tail may be a little more challenging if you're trying to rotate around a consistent axis. I'm at the stage now where being able to tip the canoe back upside down sometimes sure would be nice for all the interior and systems work--since I'm not putting the aft top skins on for a while I can do so and just put it on the sawhorses but it does require an extra person or two. Good luck.

pierre smith · #4 09-01-2006, 03:33 AM

Hi Larry,
I built basically the same "rotisserie" for a friends MG he was restoring.........great move. The only fly in the ointment might be the slight inclined angle of the rotating shaft. It's easily fixed by lifting the rear set of casters so that the two stands' shafts are more or less parallel to each other and more or less the same height so as you rotate the fuse they won't bind. You'll enjoy being able to stand up with it on it's side or not having to crawl under it either.

N713R · #5 09-01-2006, 06:04 AM

I did exactly as you are thinking, when I was working on my fuse. I would say, it worked okay. Honestly, it was handier just to have the casters (at times) than to use the rotating feature. It is not easy to mount in the aft end so that it will rotate nicely. What I found was where it hung nicely, and worked well with the stand, it had a very low center of gravity in the rear. Thus, when you rotated it, the weight was WAY off to one side. I could get about 25 to 30 degrees of rotation, then it was starting to get to where it was very unstable, and could fall over. The firewall was very easy to mount, but I found that the stand upright was not quite tall enough to allow clearance for the fuse to rotate with out hitting the base horizontal legs of the stand. The other problem with them is the lack of locking casters. When working alone, and trying to buck a rivet that is not the easiest to get to (which in my experience was about 75% of them) as I would get into postion to rivet, I would be leaning slightly on the fuse, and it would start to roll away from me.
If I was to do it over, I would use a stand on the firewall, and make some sort of adjustable padded stand for the tail, rotate it and set it on the stand at whatever height it required. And I would put locking casters on the stand.
Oh, one more thing. Most of the engine stands (especially the cheap ones like I used) use a pin and alignment hole for indexing the engine (fuselage) The problem is that it is never in the position you want it, it is either too much, or not enough angle. Plus, they are not a very well toleranced hole so there is alot of slop. A solution to this would be to weld a nut over the hole and use a bolt as a set screw for indexing, then you would have infinite adjustability. And make sure you use the stand with four casters and spread front wheels for stability. I used one on the firewall, and used a three wheeled one on the tail. All the time wishing I had spend the extra $15 and got both with 4 casters.
My honest opinion is that it does work, but it is not the best solution.

Rockyjs · #6 09-01-2006, 07:28 AM

On one of the builders sites they used an engine stand with angle iron on the firewall and a plywood "firewall" for the tail section with a threaded pipe stanchion bolted to this firewall in the center of rotation. They used I believe a 2" pipe screwed into the stanchion and just let it roll on a stand (sawhorse built to the correct height). The end of the pipe could be loosely clamped with a U bolt so it would rotate in a fixed position. I can't locate the site right now, but I'll keep looking. It probably wouldn't be hard to make an easily removable clamp in the floor to lock down the engine stand if it was necessary to move the fuselage and keep it from moving while working. Obviously on the tailstand you would want to put locking castors on it.

RVbySDI · #7 09-01-2006, 08:32 AM

The picture below shows the stands I constructed. They are made of rectangular steel tubing welded together. The attach points on the fuselage are made of angle alluminum. I used a piece of 1 1/2 galvanized pipe as the pivot piece that is attached to the fuselage bracket on the front stand. That pipe slides into another piece of 1 1/2 pipe attached to the stand. The pipe on the stand was split length wise about half way down the side and half way around the circumference of the pipe at the end of the split to allow it to spread around the inserted pipe. I then have a nut welded on each side of the split pipe that allows me to squeeze it closed by threading a carriage bolt in the nut that tightens the outside pipe around the inserted pipe. The pivot point on the rear stand has a bolt run through the stand and the tailcone bracket. The fuselage can pivot to any position. Once it is where I want it I turn the bolt on the front stand down to hold the fuselage in place. Now no matter what I need to do I can stand upright with the work at the perfect height to do whatever I need without bending over, crawling on my knees, working above my head or standing on my head.

I am not sure how much a couple of engine mount stands cost. the materials for this project ran around $100 or so. Of course it had to be designed, fabricated, welded together and then painted (I used the cheapest rattle can paint from Ace hardware I could find). All told I think I may have about $125 and a friend's and my labor in it.

Rockyjs · #8 09-01-2006, 08:59 AM

Steve,
Would you have a picture of the aft attach on your fuselage you could post? That really looks like a nice rig you put together.

RV_7A · #9 09-01-2006, 08:59 AM

Larry- PM Sent.

-Jeff

RVbySDI · #10 09-01-2006, 09:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rockyjs

Steve,
Would you have a picture of the aft attach on your fuselage you could post? That really looks like a nice rig you put together.

I do not have any other current pictures other than the one posted earlier and the one below. I will try to take some more over the weekend. I will post them as soon as I can get them uploaded to a computer.

As for the stands, they work fantastically. However, I must say I cannot claim credit for the general design. I have seen pictures from other builders with similar stands and thought I should be able to build one also. In fact, I noticed that the RV7 on display at the Garmin booth at Oshkosh this year had a very similar designed set of stands. Perhaps similar minds think alike. Who knows. At any rate, it is a very functional design that works very well.

I have to also credit the fact that I have a wonderful friend who works as a machinist. I hold his skills in very high regard. Whenever possible I find myself asking for his assistance as I know that his wisdom on such matters will always exceed my own. He is a most generous friend who has been more than willing to share his knowledge. I owe a lot of the design of the attach points to him.

The way I figured it, if I can build an airplane I should be able to build a couple of metal stands. It was not too complicated. Anyone who can weld should be able to build them fairly easily.