EAA Wing Rotisserie Plans

[Eric Page]

I did some internet searching to see what builders of other aircraft types (heresy, I know!) are using as wing rotisseries. On one of the other forums, someone posted a link to plans that were published in the May 2010 issue of EAA's Sport Aviation. I'm re-posting here for future reference.

[Kahle76]

I used PVC pipe inserted into the spars with a tee in the center and the frame was made with 2x6s. Took less than an hour to make.

[SomeDay7]

My simple rotisserie. Looked at the ones Kitfox has and they don't connect them together. Just have long pieces that go as far as possible into the spars.

[jrevens]

Hey Starfox, it looks like you’re building your fox inside of a Cracker Barrel restaurant! ;)

[SomeDay7]

Kind of. My 1930 barn came with a lot of history and back in 1984 I just stored it and then hung it up. Always fun to think about what they used about 100 hrs ago

[Cherrybark]

Connecting the end pieces and adding Harbor Freight casters made it simple to move the wings. There is a fifth caster in the middle of the long horizontal. The ends are 2 x 6 with the traditional PVC pipes held in place with 3" decking screws. A bolt runs through the rotating 2 x 6 and the vertical end. Large fender washers protect the wood when you want to tighten enough to prevent rotation.

It's also nice to have protected place to hang the elevator, rudder and horizontal stabilizer out of the way.

[Eric Page]

I got my rotisserie finished, so I thought I'd post the results for posterity. This is loosely based on the EAA plans I posted above, but without the outrigger legs to trip over, or the unnecessarily complicated guy wires. I can hang my (~185#) body weight on the steel pipes sticking out from the front of these and they barely flex.

Here's the overall view:

25789

Horizontal members are 2x4s, held together with a roughly triangular plywood gusset under the center, where they meet. Additional short cuts of 2x4 form three feet at the ends of the legs. The upright is a 4x4 set in a Simpson Strong Tie bracket (https://www.homedepot.com/p/100375216) from Home Depot, reinforced in two directions by melamine/particle board gussets.

All of the lumber, with the exception of the wing mounting bar, is junk I had sitting around my garage; it was mostly rough-cut lumber I got free from a friend in the timber business. The 4x4 post was built up from 2 lengths of 2x4 sandwiching a strip of 1/2" plywood. All held together with screws.

25790 25791

The wing mounts to a 2x4 bar that rotates around its center on a length of 2" Sch 40 PVC pipe. The PVC was cut to the precise length that would allow it to be captured between a steel pipe base and a pipe cap, with a 12" pipe nipple through the middle (I could have used a shorter nipple, but I didn't want the wing bar to foul on the 4x4's gusset). Tightening the pipe cap pinches the PVC, securing the wing so it doesn't easily rotate.

So far it seems to work well, and even with a wing mounted it's light enough to slide around on the garage floor without the need for casters. And, absent casters, it stays put while I'm working on the wing.

[Cherrybark]

That's a tidy bit of work Eric. Do you have a way to lock the wing in a particular orientation? Some jobs are easier with the wing in different positions - leading edge up for the Laker Leading Edge comes to mind or perhaps upside down when riveting the lift strut brackets.

I'm immediately jealous of that vise mounted on your workbench!

[Eric Page]

That's a tidy bit of work Eric. Do you have a way to lock the wing in a particular orientation?
Thanks. Yes, tightening the steel pipe cap pinches the PVC pipe between the cap and the steel pipe base, locking it in position (that's what the Channellock pliers sitting on top of the rotisserie are for). It can still be rotated if you push hard enough, but it takes a good shove.


I'm immediately jealous of that vise mounted on your workbench!
That vise was a stroke of luck. I got it at an industrial auction for $40! I could barely lift it into my car trunk to get it home. The paint on it is rough in a couple of places, but the jaws and anvil look like it's barely been used. It has one cool feature: the jaws can swivel around the leadscrew as well as the whole head swiveling at the base like most vises do, so you can orient the jaws vertically if you need to. Tightening the jaws locks the swivel.

[efwd]

$40!!? You stole it!

[Eric Page]

Yeah, I felt pretty smug about it, driving home.