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Rotisserie or Not

Rotisserie or Not

  • Full engine stand rotisserie

    Votes: 33 60.0%

  • Padded pallets (partial rotisserie)

    Votes: 1 1.8%

  • No rotisserie (low cart or table)

    Votes: 22 40.0%
  • Total voters
    55
mulde35d

mulde35d

Well Known Member
Friend
So I am about to get the fuselage up to the point where it joins with the tail and have a poll question. Considering I am doing all my own interior paint and electrical, the question is should I

1) Take the time to build a rotisserie using an engine stand and sawhorse.
2) Lay the fuselage on some pallets with padding and a sawhorse (still able to rotate, but supported by the skin)
3) Keep the fuselage on a low table / cart and forget trying to rotate the body.

Also open to other opinions if anyone has creative ideas. Keeping in mind this is only for a couple months until I get the fuselage up on the gear legs.
 
For me, a rotisserie was a life (and back) saver. For example, routing the wiring harness to the sticks forces you into the most cramped position possible to get the wires from the center tunnel to the sticks. So much easier (although still a PITA) to do it sitting on a stool with the fuselage tilted 45 degrees. Could I have done it (and lots of other examples, including painting the interior) with it blocked up on saw horses. Probably. Was it much simpler to rotate the fuselage to whatever angle made it easiest to access. Definitely! :cool: YMMV.
 
For the two hours and less than a hundred dollars it took me to build the rotisserie I saved a hundred hours and a lot of sweat. It?s a no brainer. The only thing I wasted in it was too many hours deciding to do it. I wrapped the tail in bubble wrap and let it roll around on a stand.
 
Rotisserie

Love mine. So much time and effort saved working inside. Just flip any orientation to get the job done. Last job is vinyl wrapping the belly before she goes on gear and the engine gets mounted. Wish I had the electronics but they have to wait so I will be laying inside.
 
At the stage you are, I can hardly think of any item that will be much easier if upside down. The 14 is a bigger plane and routing of the wire, tubes etc are well thought of and space created for it. If anything, I recommend not putting on gear so it is lower to the ground for easy of getting in/out.

I did not put mine on gear till I had finished my canopy, all push/pull controls and right before engine install.
 
Maybe it is just a case of greener grass . . but . .

I wished I had had one for my 7, and told my self I'd have one next time.

But, not having one did train me to think differently about where/how to do some things to avoid doing it again. I do remember long days of working in a squat position with my hands in a cavity below my foot level. . . .and the pain afterward. Then doing it again.

It could be a case of planning for routings, and generous use of quality connectors.
 
I did not use one. If I had it to do over again though, you better believe that's about the first thing I'd do. Leaning over the side rail is a killer.
 
Jon you can have my engine stand and mount if you can come get it, just pass it on when you are done. Sawhorse for the rear is on you though :)
 
I just use saw horses for now. But then I'm building an RV-3B and that's a MUCH smaller airplane than the RV-7 or later. With the engine, gear and tail off, it's easy to flip it to a reasonable position and reach in and do something.

Of course it'll get practically impossible when the motor and gear are on. But by then I hope I'm past most of the interior work.

Dave
 
Alternative

I didn?t go with a rotisserie, but fully agree that rolling on the side makes life a lot easier. I used some 2x6 planks that were around 3 ft long between the spars. Drilled holes so that the fuse bottom was around 4? off the floor. Placed 2 bolts through each of the spars. This allowed me to lay the fuse on either side for better access. Total time to fixture was around 20 minutes. The height on each side allowed me to lay on the side without rolling over (this is after the tail cone attached).

It will stay on the ?legs? till I place on landing gear in the next few weeks.
 
I used one to paint my 7A fuselage and the tail cone for the 14A. It may take time to build but saved much more time and headache.
 
I made one from two harbor freight engine mounts, some spare 2x4, bolts washes and nuts, a few wood screws and a packing strap. (~$100 in material and gas)

TOTALLY worth it!!! If you want to see what I did click the link in my signature. Last week I posted some video about making them. I still can’t remember from who I learned it from but it here or a another build log.

- Kilroy
 
I`ve welded one myself and it took me maybe 150bucks and a day of work. But it saved me a countless hours and backpain. It was just great to just turn it to every angle I want to. Meanwhile I have passed it to e fellow builder.

I strongly recommend it.


Cheers Yves
 
While a rotisserie would sure be nice I don't think it save you a bunch of time like people are mentioning. You might make up little bits of time here and there but I sincerely doubt it covers what you had in making the rotisserie in the beginning. I do not use one and yes running brake lines and wires is kind of a pain but I don't think that someone with a rotisserie could get it done any faster. The difference is, they rotate the fuse, I bend over or get inside the fuse. If you want convenience or perhaps have a bad back go the rotisserie route; if you don't mind bending over a lot, save the cost and time in building one. Either way I really don't think it saves you time. Just my 0.02 cents.
 
jcarne said:
... if you don't mind bending over a lot, save the cost and time in building one. Either way I really don't think it saves you time. Just my 0.02 cents.
Click to expand...

He makes a very good point. It is about convenience and being able to work in an area much more easily (not that you can't do it without it but my back REALLY appreciates it). For me it's keeping my fat, clumsy *** from having to crawl let's say into the back area as much or into the tail cone or other myriad of positions. All the while I'm thinking, 'I wonder while doing this simple task I'm going to kick something or make a huge dent in a piece of aluminum or other non fixable thing so close to having this finished?'

So yeah for me its peace of mind and peace of back.
 
Food for thought

The old Stits tube and rag approach for fuse fabric covering has worked well for me.
Just make a tic/tac/toe # frame with 1x4 pine and bolt through the 4 motor mount holes at the fuse. Just rotate 90* as desired and set the legs back on the floor.
Good for riveting, wiring and painting. It is also very stable to climb in the fuse while working or drink a beer while admiring your work !
If it is a nose dragger, you will want to wrap the tail cone with something for it to turn on a saw horse. Otherwise, the steel stinger makes a universal saw horse rest for the tail.
 
For those who have used a Rotisserie at what stage of construction did you mount the fuselage onto the Rotisserie?
Is it stable enough to climb in and out of it once on the Rotisserie or does all work have to be done outside the fuselage from the floor?
 
I began the rotisserie when I began to need to work inside of the fuselage, specifically under the panel, but it is still useful for anything else you that is hard to reach.
After you put the airframe on the rotisserie, you will not get back into the fuselage. I would not get into something that is suspended. I think you would be asking for trouble. You might end up damaging something; Maybe even yourself.
Best to you,
 
Rotisserie

Jetmart said:
For those who have used a Rotisserie at what stage of construction did you mount the fuselage onto the Rotisserie?
Is it stable enough to climb in and out of it once on the Rotisserie or does all work have to be done outside the fuselage from the floor?
Click to expand...

As soon as it was one unit from firewall to the last bulkhead. I didn't have the top skins on yet but side skins and bottom skins were all fully riveted.
NO. Do not climb in. However, the fuse is light enough to place sawhorses under each bulkhead. Just put the gear on and place them on blocks. I drilled two 4x4 blocks and slip one over each gear. Slide sawhorses under the aft bulkheads, raise and shim till they touch. The fuse will pivot on the gear pretty easy do weigh it down at the aft end. Fabricate some planks from 1x6 then sections of scrapped crate lids to lay on. The slick surface is perfect for sliding in.
Takes longer to type than to do it.
 
Just me

I just laid the fuse on its side on saw horses to put in the fuel lines and brake lines. I am keeping it low on a 8” saw horse for now.

I never understood how to add a rotisserie without compromising the firewall. I was thinking on making a hoop out of plywood at the spar location and use this as a rollover stand, but never felt it was needed.
 
kiljoy said:
I made one from two harbor freight engine mounts, some spare 2x4, bolts washes and nuts, a few wood screws and a packing strap. (~$100 in material and gas)

TOTALLY worth it!!! If you want to see what I did click the link in my signature. Last week I posted some video about making them. I still can?t remember from who I learned it from but it here or a another build log.

- Kilroy
Click to expand...

Bahahahah "Those spiders can f* off!" :D

Nice vids, thanks. :)
 
I have mine on 2 engine stands (fore and aft) and can rotate it by myself through 180 deg very easily. This week I riveted the top forward skin on and I wish I had done a time lapse movie......I probably rotated the fuselage 20 times to achieve a comfortable angle to do the riveting. It would have be 10 times more difficult with the fuse upright.
 
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