Automotive Rotisserie Question

JimKueneman said:
so about 6' long? So an 8 foot pickup box it really necessary?
Click to expand...
Sounds about right. Would fit in short bed pickup, might need tailgate down.
Even a large SUV. My Suburban was designed to fit a full size piece of plywood in the back.
But probably not a midsized or smaller SUV.
 
Here are some pictures of a rotisserie I built.
IMG_1817.JPG
IMG_1818.JPG
IMG_1824.JPG
IMG_1843.JPG
IMG_1846.JPG
IMG_1847.JPG
IMG_1848.JPG
IMG_1849.JPG
 
JimKueneman said:
Very nice, the problem is I don't enjoy the side projects to work on the vehicle as much as working on the vehicle.
Click to expand...
That makes two of us. Besides, as someone else pointed out, the cost of metal today is out of sight.

I had some excellent plans set aside for building my own rotisserie when and if the day ever came. When I asked what the current price of steel tubing was I nearly passed out.
2 1/2 x 2 1/2 x 1/4" was over $200 for one 12' piece. 3" square about $250 and that didn't include tax or delivery. I was looking at a thousand dollars for just the steel and then I needed hydraulic jacks, casters, rods, pins, bolts, nuts, drill bits, paint, etc.

The $1500 price tag for one completed and ready to use began to look very reasonable.
 
For folks considering making a rotisserie--you can get a lot of materials for free if you know where to look and ask. Find a medium sized steel fabricator and ask them and tell them what you want it for. Most will give it to you or set aside leftovers as job progress through their shops. Steel tubing is just one way to go but is an expensive option for something without out any torsion loading. I get rem junior beams and split them into "T"'s and use a lot of that for these kinds of uses in static loading. A burning torch is all you need. Almost all structural fabricators i deal with give the shorts away for free they are swimming in so much of it. It is actually a real problem now to get rid of steel rem for many companies. Anything coming off of a burning center as left over has no value to them. Ask them about buckets of left over bolts. I gave away 4 (5) gallons pails of fasteners since it takes too much time and labor to sort--they usually get tossed.
 
JimKueneman said:
I priced the metal (cut to size) for one recently and it was just short of $1000... figure in the welding time and $1500 with hydralics is cheap.
Click to expand...
That's still more than what I paid for both of mine. If you go back and look at the picks of the truck box I have on the rotisserie, I had to make the tubing and brackets that run underneath it, and the new telescoping tubing connecting the two ends together that runs underneath the car. It took forever just to make that. A lot of holes to drill and nuts to weld on. The nuts were zinc plated so I first had to soak them in muriatic acid for about 30 seconds to remove the zinc plating. Some of the holes that need to be drilled are pretty big.

So consider your casters, drill bits, welding wire and gas, hardware, hydraulics, and time, it gets a lot more expensive than $1500.

When you can buy a ready-build rotisserie for $1600-1700 that already comes powder coated to boot, that's an easy call for me.
 
D.A.T. said:
For folks considering making a rotisserie--you can get a lot of materials for free if you know where to look and ask. Find a medium sized steel fabricator and ask them and tell them what you want it for. Most will give it to you or set aside leftovers as job progress through their shops. Steel tubing is just one way to go but is an expensive option for something without out any torsion loading. I get rem junior beams and split them into "T"'s and use a lot of that for these kinds of uses in static loading. A burning torch is all you need. Almost all structural fabricators i deal with give the shorts away for free they are swimming in so much of it. It is actually a real problem now to get rid of steel rem for many companies. Anything coming off of a burning center as left over has no value to them. Ask them about buckets of left over bolts. I gave away 4 (5) gallons pails of fasteners since it takes too much time and labor to sort--they usually get tossed.
Click to expand...
You should go into business selling all this free stuff.
I live in a rural setting and the number of shops are few and most just making enough to survive.

The drive to pick up this rotisserie was 2 1/2 hours one way.
 
There's a Rescued Metal company in my town that sells seconds and shorts (in addition to new metal). They're selling it for a good price compared to new, but it sure as hell ain't free. It's all priced by the pound.
 
When I was still working I could get get cut downs for .47cent a pound. Didn't matter what it was. I always buy it by the stick instead of paying them to cut it. I called a couple places today 2 double check prices, 3x3x1/4, 1 was $184 another was $267 last one was $400 for 1 20' stick??? That's with me picking it up!! They're flippin nuts!!! o_O I'm like Tooling, been doing this type of stuff for over 35 years and would rather build it than buy it.
Like the 4 bolt flange bearings and using DOM by the way

John
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top