Engine rotisserie stand

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jscarmozza
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Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2014 5:09 pm

Engine rotisserie stand

Post by jscarmozza »

Has anyone built an engine rotisserie stand? I find it very difficult to work on the underside of my locomotive and thought this would be a good project to add to the list :) Any plans, photographs, etc... floating around out there?
Thanks, John
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Builder01
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Location: Erie, PA

Re: Engine rotisserie stand

Post by Builder01 »

I have built a "rotisserie" type of construction stand for my loco as it quickly became much too heavy for me to keep turning it over to work on the bottom. Understand, that my loco is a 1" scale loco, not 1-1/2" scale. It is a fraction of the weight of the larger locos. The total weight is about 120 pounds, 1-1/2" scale loco are many times this. Perhaps my stand could be modified to work with heavier locomotives.

Here's the link to the drawings: https://supersimplex.yolasite.com/Const ... -Stand.php Scroll to the bottom of the page for the drawings. I got these drawings off the internet from Colin Abrey and modified them for my purpose.
DSCN1011 - reduced 4.jpg
DSCN1009 - reduced 2.jpg
David
jscarmozza
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Re: Engine rotisserie stand

Post by jscarmozza »

Thanks David.
I wasn't thinking that it could be mounted on a work bench, I like it! I like the height adjustment feature too, and I see that the engine to rotisserie mount is customized for each engine, another feature I wasn't thinking of. I was going for a one size fits all mount (whatever that would be). I'll try to come up with a solution to your problem of swinging the full weight of the engine, maybe reducing spur gears or a worm screw and gear...I'll have to think about it. I knew that someone out there did this, no point reinventing the wheel; thanks again for sharing your experience and design.
John
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Builder01
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Re: Engine rotisserie stand

Post by Builder01 »

As for swinging the full weight of the loco, the mount is built in such a way that you can change the pivot point relative to the center of gravity. This way, when you remove the locking pin, the loco does not try to spin! But, a worm and wheel would work as well.

With the crank, I can lift the loco right off my test track and into the air, and then turn it. Each lifting assembly can also be set on the track at a steaming bay, should you need to.

David
jscarmozza
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Re: Engine rotisserie stand

Post by jscarmozza »

I studied your photographs, I think I see what you do with the mount adjustment to balance the engine. I have three 1" Atlantics, two projects and one up and running; each one will require its own mount as the frames, pilots and other features are all a little different. I can see that the mounts may get a little tricky. That being said, I like your design...far better and more versatile than what I had in mind. Thanks again David.
John
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Builder01
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Re: Engine rotisserie stand

Post by Builder01 »

Glad you like it! The wooden beams that the buffers fit into are white oak with 4, #10 screws holding the top and bottom parts together. The holes that the buffers fit into are felted for a tight fit. This is plenty strong for my 1" loco. The wooden part is probably the part that you would make custom for each different loco. Maple would work well for this also.

Yes, the rotating part of the mounts and angle iron can be put together several different ways. Each way, re-positions the center of gravity. I had to do this twice as my locomotive got heavier as work progressed. Now that my loco is mostly finished, weight wise, it is still a little bit top heavy and when turning the loco, I always have one hand on the steam dome and the other on the locking pin pf the construction stand!

David
jscarmozza
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Re: Engine rotisserie stand

Post by jscarmozza »

David,
I have my two rotisserie stands completed except for the custom mounting brackets, now I found that when I mount them face to face on my work table they are not perfectly plumb, the tops are about 1/8" farther apart than the bottoms; easy enough to shim, but I didn't allow that much play in the spindle and I don't think my engines are going to stretch. I was wondering if you have had issues with plumbness or alignment, especially while raising the the blocks?
I added a worm gear and screw to one of the rising blocks to maintain positive control over the load when rotating it, my intention is to use this for maintenance of my running engine as well as for building my projects, so I expect it to handle heavy unbalanced loads. Thanks for the plans, I deviated from them, but they were a good starting point and provided the basic design.
John
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Builder01
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Re: Engine rotisserie stand

Post by Builder01 »

Hi John,

On my stands, the bottom brackets were drilled and tapped into the uprights. I put these pieces together, checked with a square, and then clamped them together tightly before drilling right through both pieces with the tap drill. This assured perfect alignment and squareness. If your uprights are not exactly square, you can open the clearance hole for the screws and then re-tighten them when square.

If your lead screw is not aligned with the top bearing block, that is a completely different issue. The top block should be drilled and spotted through to the lifting block, or, vise versa. This will align the lead screw, top block, and lifting block in a perfect line. Do this with the lifting block all the way in the top position and clamped while spotting through.

Hope this helps.

David
jscarmozza
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Re: Engine rotisserie stand

Post by jscarmozza »

My alignment issues may stem from me welding the lower part of the stand rather than bolting it. I bolted the top cross bar so that I could install and remove the rising blocks, but as I said the lower part was welded. I'll let you know how everything works when I clamp on an engine. Thanks David.
John
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Builder01
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Re: Engine rotisserie stand

Post by Builder01 »

Hmmm...... it may be difficult to adjust any misalignment if it is welded. On mine, everything is drilled and tapped and can be completely taken apart. I hope you are able to make your lift do what you need, I'm sure you will.

David
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JTolan
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Re: Engine rotisserie stand

Post by JTolan »

Ive seen it done on full size loco frames. It works!
jscarmozza
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Re: Engine rotisserie stand

Post by jscarmozza »

Success! It works like charm David, thanks! John
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