Journal: Scott Brawner's Journal

Here's a brief description of how I built my rotisserie for my MGB as requested by various members of the board.


First, a couple of disclaimers:

1. These are not actual plans for you to follow and I accept no responsibility and provide no guarantees that you won't be killed or your car destroyed if you try this.

2. I am not a welder and I know that my feeble attempts at welding are laughable. However they are strong enough to do the job and that's all I really care about. :)


Supplies I used:



2 Harbor Freight 1000lb Engine Stands, part number 32916-4VGA, about $50 each.

4 8' sections of 2" box section steel (medium thickness) from a supply house.

3 8' sections of 1.5" square box steel, ""

2 6' sections of 1 1/2" by 4" rectangular box steel ('borrowed' from work).

4 4" caster wheels from Harbor Freight (steel wheels)

angle iron 1.5 by 1.5 and some flat stock.


Tools I used:



10" miter saw with steel cutting thinger.

4" angle grinder

90 amp wire feed welder (C-H)

various hand tools



Let me preface this by saying I did it 100% without any real plans, a few sketches and measurements but that's it.


Picture of stand I used:





I did each stand individually and then tied them together at the end (after I had the car on the stands).


First I unpacked the stands and sectioned the vertical, adding 16" of height so the car could rotate 360 degrees. I had to use two 1.5" square box sections welded together to weld in because I couldn't find any 1.5" by 3" box stock.





Then I took the bottom piece (6' long) and bolted the casters on.






Drilled holes in the center and bolted it to the vertical piece. I used the original leg and wheels but added a piece of 2" box to make it level and to have a place to bolt the piece to tie the two stands together.




Then I measured and cut the 45 degree angle braces.. I had to do a bit of grinding to get them to lay properly, because the stand as it is built in China or wherever has some weird angles. I also added a smaller piece of angle to gusset for strength. It is short because the rotating car has to clear the piece.



Then I put on the front wheel bar and added a 2" box section to serve as a leveler and provide a place to bolt the span piece that will hold the two stands together.






Once I had that all welded together and was happy with the height and safety of the structure, it was time to jack the body up and build the brackets to attach the car to the stand.


I started with the rear. I built two really goofy little brackets to mount to the bumper brackets because the hole into the chassis was round and I didn't want to mess with it. After I had built these, I attached them to the car and measured and cut a 2" box to weld on. I did this because I knew if I tried to measure, build, and then attach, I would screw it up.





Once I had that done, I attached the rotating plate with bolts and left them slack so I could adjust later and make sure the car was level on the rotisserie.






For the front, I used angle iron and the bumper mounting holes, actually I used the bolts from the bumper brackets.


As before, I fabricated the brackets first, mounted them on the car and then cut and welded the center piece on.





Then I found center, drilled holes for the rotator plate and mounted with bigass bolts, leaving them somewhat slack in order to work out the level later.





Then it was time to get the car jacked up to mount level and get it on the stands. Let's say I used some pretty half-assed methods to get it up to the level where I could mount the car on the stands, and it would have been a really good idea to have some help for that. That being said, one person can lift each end up easily, as long as the pivot point is near the center of the car.



Once I had the car on the stands and the stands braced so they wouldn't tip towards the middle, I measured and cut the center tie piece out of 1.5 stock and some bar stock. Then I tied it all together.






Well, there it is. The car is a little bottom heavy on the stand but not too bad. I can rotate it myself with a little elbow grease. It's super-stable and rolls easily.

Full thread post is here:
http://www.mgexperience.net/phorum/read.php?1,635763