[Kmelander]

2018 was the year of building tools. I built a rotisserie and a sand blaster. This post will focus on the rotisserie. I'm too cheap to buy one so I made one. In the end I think I had about half the cost of a quality new unit. I think it cost me about $800 (and 2 months of weekends) to build. I used the plans primarily but did make some changes.

1. The main lift posts were supposed to have hydraulic rams. I opted to use a 3/4" threaded rod with thrust bearings. It's the same concept as the balancing risers and it works well.

2. the plans called for bolts through welded nuts for the pivot pin/bushings to lock the rotary position. I was skeptical about it from the beginning and went a different route. I had some old brake rotors and some old 11" steel discs that I used to create a friction lock on each end. I use either vise grips or c-clamp to lock them together.

3. I welded tabs to accept rollers to the main risers. I did this to ease the load on the 3/4" threaded rods I was using for jack screws.

4. The one mistake I made was using the red, 250 lb casters. They were straining badly under the load and I later changed them out for heavier 600 lb ones.

The thing has been a back saver ever since.