RANCH KETTLE ROTISSERIE

[Thin Blue Smoke]

IMPRESSIVE!  The baskets are a really cool addition.  I agree, there definately needs to be video for the first use.

[HankB]

That ring is a thing of beauty! Why do you think it is limited to 90 lb? Did you mean 90 Kg? I think it could! I like the attention to detail such as the flex joint to the motor and the rollers for the spit. I would like to humbly submit some further suggestions.

For the balance problem with the motor, I would mount a surface toggle clamp to the opposite side of the ring to snub it to the bowl. It only needs to be there before/after you put the food on.



I think that would be a better solution than an independent brace to the floor. You would need to find one with a heat proof tip.

The other thing I would do (if not already planned) is provide some accommodation for an adjustable counter weight to balance the load when you cannot easily spit through the center of gravity. I didn't need that with two birds on my spit but I did phase them 180° apart. With a large turkey I might need to employ a counter weight.

I hope they lift your burn ban so you can fire that baby up! I know how eager you must be to do that!

[MaxBobcat]

very nice.  everything looks built very well.  fantastic!

[glrasmussen]

Just awesome!!! Congrats on super build gents!

[pbe gummi bear]

That's so awesome. Very well constructed and engineered.

[Duke]

I'm Chuffed!

That is the BMF!

[dazzo]

This thing is gonna be something!

And it is!

[pbe gummi bear]

Hey, you can create a small hook that fastens to the ring and an existing hole on the bottom bowl so that the motor doesn't tilt it out. it would look completely stealth on the outside and not intrusive for normal cooking. and cheap!

[Hogsy]

Thanks everyone for the positive replies, it's these reactions that keep the motivation up when trying to complete projects
As far as the brace goes , thanks for the suggestions and I'll try and explain a little better what happens when the motor is attached with out the brace.
When attached and the lid is off it doesn't lift the opposite side where the shaft runs through the ring
The top of the ring tends to roll out and the bottom push in at 2 points, say if the motor end of the ring is north and the other end of the shaft is south the ring has pull on it at east & west
Now it's not all that critical, it won't pop out of position and really the only way you can notice it is the motor doesn't look level
I can push down on the shaft end as hard as I want and it won't make any difference
And once the lid is on the sides of the ring pull in and the motor sits back up level
I think the combination of cutting slots for the shaft and having 8lbs hanging a foot off the side of the ring is the issue. The brace was a nice easy fix. Once the motor is supported problem solved plus it's just a nut and bolt attaching it that can easily removed but I guess it does lose a bit of sleekness with the brace
As far as the motor Hank, it's rated to turn 40kg or 90lbs and I don't think your going to get much more meat than that inside the ranch

[AZ_MIKEY]

What type of metal is the ring and motor mounting plate made of. I know at the beginning of the thread the talk was mild steel. I was wondering if you kept with that or went all stainless. I ask cause the pics from what I can tell where the mount is welded to the ring looks like stainless.

[Hogsy]

Your right Mikey , all SS

[AZ_MIKEY]

In that case where it is welded I noticed what some welders/fitters refer to as burn through or sugaring on the backsides of the welds. When this happens on mild steel nothing to worry about really, but on stainless it becomes an area where rust can occur. The fix that can be performed is grind out the burn through and weld over it with high nickel low carbon filler rod. The burn through cause what little carbon there is in stainless to collect in one area. The low amount or absence of carbon in stainless is what keeps it from rusting. Or you can simply grind the burn through even and put and acid paste on it to neutralize it to a point that it won't as easily rust.

[AZ_MIKEY]

When stainless welds are made the weld bead or chevrons should be a silver to gold coloring with very little blue and preferably no black coloring. This means no contamination got into the weld. Burn through shows up black on the back side of the weld due to no gas shield being there to shield out gasess that are naturally in the air around us.

[pbe gummi bear]

MIKEY, I was at a trade show last week and I saw a product that cleaned up the weld discoloration. The rep also mentioned that it recoated that portion so that it doesnt rust. Is there validity to this or was it sales bs?

[Bbqmiller]

Can you post some measurements on the baskets?