Rotisserie - Rivet together first or start spinning?

[bertschb]

So I did the "Big Join" yesterday and now I'm getting things ready to use a rotisserie. Using the rotisserie is making me nervous because the attachment bolts at the rear of the aft fuselage seem pretty whimpy. But, what I'm really concerned about is whether or not I should rivet the two fuselage halves together before using the rotisserie.

So, for those who used a rotisserie, did you rivet the two halves of the fuselage together first or did you start using the rotisserie as soon as you had the clecos in place after the join?

 

[Shado]

I just did the big join for my RV14 two weeks ago. I put in quite a few Cleco to hold everything together. I then placed the whole “canoe “ on the rotisserie so I could do the riveting and installation of baggage bulkhead and the such. With just the Clecos it is very stable even as I rotate the whole fuselage. Makes things much easier. No worries here.

 

[Phil Sprang]

I put my 14 on the rotisserie with only clecos holding the two ends together. Lots of clecos. It was fine.

 

[TASEsq]

So I did the "Big Join" yesterday and now I'm getting things ready to use a rotisserie. Using the rotisserie is making me nervous because the attachment bolts at the rear of the aft fuselage seem pretty whimpy. But, what I'm really concerned about is whether or not I should rivet the two fuselage halves together before using the rotisserie.

So, for those who used a rotisserie, did you rivet the two halves of the fuselage together first or did you start using the rotisserie as soon as you had the clecos in place after the join?

I installed it on the rotisserie with just clecos. I can't imagine how it would be possible to rivet it without the rotisserie. I did 8 rivets with it sitting on saw horses, and was in and out of the fuselage 20 times.

Building a Fuselage Rotisserie

A Build Log detailing the build of a Vans RV-14

tasrv14.blogspot.com

 

[georgemohr]

Same as all above.

 

[bjdecker]

Joined the halves together and never used a rotisserie. I built a lower-than-normal saw horse (saw-pony?) and used that to rest the fuse on its side when needed.

 

[KeithB]

I did all join riveting before mounting on the rotisserie, but I had a helper for all the bucking. I used the shipping crate for the fuselage and a pair of saw horses (short and tall) for the empennage, with the seam off the end of the crate.

 

[bertschb]

Thanks for the great feedback guys. I've got clecos in every available hole so I think I'm good to go. I'll give the rotisserie a shot later today.