Rotisserie Height???

Shaun @ Tru6 · 12-21-2008, 11:50 AM

I'm building a rotisserie and have a question on the height of the vertical beam onto which the horizontal tube is mounted. I am employing a ladder spine between the two ends, and in the pic, it will plug into the upper and lower yellow tubes, scavenged from an engine stand.

So car has to be able to rotate between the tube and top side of the ladder. Give a few inches of clearance, what should the minimum height be?

3.2 CAB · 12-21-2008, 12:21 PM

You will need to allow several inches taller than the car is wide at its widest point. If you can build it with an adjustable end leg height, that would solve the problem, and you could use it on other vehicles as well. Good luck!! Tony.

Tom '74 911 · 12-21-2008, 12:44 PM

I can't answer your question, but I'd love to see some finished photos of the end product!

Tom

URY914 · URY914's Garage

Do you plan on turning the car all the way over?

Better make it so the roof clears the floor.

duckhead68 · 12-21-2008, 01:14 PM

I have built a couple rotisseries, the height sould be adjustable so you can raise, flip, and lower for easy welding. Do not forget to chain or lock the car in position when you are working. I had a close call when my son grabed the car an caused it to flip without anything to stop it from rotating. good luck

Shaun @ Tru6 · 12-21-2008, 01:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by duckhead68

I have built a couple rotisseries, the height sould be adjustable so you can raise, flip, and lower for easy welding. Do not forget to chain or lock the car in position when you are working. I had a close call when my son grabed the car an caused it to flip without anything to stop it from rotating. good luck

thanks for posting. I've got an "ideal" height of 32 inches or so which should be enough to complete revolve why keeping as low as possible.

In what circumstance would you want to lower? I think painting the roof would be much easier, but what else?

My E requires negligible welding, but I'm sure future cars will. The 72 needs a new driver rear quarter, but I can do that on the ground.

kycarguy 935 · 12-21-2008, 02:16 PM

I am getting ready to build one also. If your building a fixed unit you may want to add a few inches on in case you want to use with a turbo body car.

Silverbullit · 12-21-2008, 04:23 PM

I am half-way done with building mine, and have settled on 36" from top of frame crossbar to 'axle' centerline....sounds like we're all in the same ballpark.
Brian

robmog · 12-21-2008, 05:41 PM

mine is at 29" and i can only rotate about 320 deg.
that's fine for me.
plenty of access to the bottom and quite stable when resting on the roof side
i'd be afraid if the center point was off, once it was upside down it would be hard to flip back. (like a turtle).
don' t make your legs too long or they won't clear the rear fender lip.
my 2 stands are not joined with a spanning piece. still solid though

Shaun @ Tru6 · 12-22-2008, 05:13 PM

I ended up going with 34 inches to be safe with 9 inch flares if I ever have another Carrera; KY, there's no way I'll ever have a Turbo. Would love one, just not going to be in the budget. the ends are coming along. I need to figure out how to do a 30 degree angle cut on my chop saw for side bracing. 90, 75, 60 and 45 are all options and a 60/30 brace would be perfect connecting the vertical and horizontal tubes. welding on the caster was a horror show, the cheap cast metal likes to spit and fly.

Will work on the ladder after Christmas.

my only good weld, stopped in the middle.

Shaun @ Tru6 · 12-29-2008, 05:33 PM

made some more progress and changed the design midway to incorporate adjustable height mounts so that the car can be spun and lowered for easier painting. Also makes it possible to get it up in the air with only one person using farm jacks. I'm going to mount it up tomorrow with just the bottom longitudinal in place and if it will clear the upper, will then make the spine, paint the whole thing and finally get working on the car.

BK911 · BK911's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by robmog

my 2 stands are not joined with a spanning piece. still solid though

Love to see some pics.

Shaun, do you think yours will be sturdy enough without the spanning piece? Interesting idea.

Shaun @ Tru6 · 01-07-2009, 03:49 PM

If I had a nice garage floor, I'd consider no backbone, but my "garage" consists of 2 tents sleeved over uneven rough pavement with a 3D decline. it's not pretty, but everything is dry and the 44 foot length is quite nice. This spring I'm going to build something of a raised perimeter foundation for the tents with either railroad ties if I can find them.

So on the backbone. First, I can spin this car like the Wheel of Fortune and feel confident doing so. yes, I have.

There is also the added benefit of creating attachments from the backbone to the unibody so that I can paint every last mm in one shot by taking the car off the rotisserie ends but still have it up in the air. 2 stays coming down from the rear control arm mounts and the front steering crossmember will hold the car. So while it's up in the air, I can shoot the epoxy primer, flip it, lower it down, rest it on the backbone attachments, then hit the upper body including the front attachment points and rear lowers underneath.

here it is 95% complete. I still have to drill holes for the backbone receivers, holes and bolts at the top of the adjustable verticals as safety stops and I want to weld up plates for the farm jacks that will ultimately tie the base to the rotational connector and allow for safe and secure raising and lowering.

sorry for the bad pics.