Nose cone painting rotisserie

At long last I've taken some pictures of the painting rotisserie I cobbled together for large nosecones.

I despise painting nose cones vertically. Just can't seem to get the right motion coupled with consistent speed.

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Built out of standard lumber from a big box store like Lowe's or Home Depot. I doubt I have more than $10 in this thing and most it is due to using wood screws to anchor the vertical upright and the brace. The nose cone responsible for this contraption is from my Polecat Aerospace Goblin 5.5 and is shown mounted for paint.

The white foam board centering fits inside the shoulder to stabilize the nose cone. Different sized nose cones will require different sized foam board centering rings.

When I paint with this device, I normally cover the frame with nose paper in the manner of a drop cloth because I store this thing in my garage. Mrs. OD doesn't care for paint fumes.

I want a rocket painting rotisserie... Painting anything longer than 18" or bigger than 2" OD can be a PITA sometimes.

Me likey. What about turning or tapering the end that would go into the tip of the NC so that it would be self centering? It needs a big crank handle on the other end :wink: that way the paint is cooked just wright.

K'Tesh said:

I want a rocket painting rotisserie... Painting anything longer than 18" or bigger than 2" OD can be a PITA sometimes.

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You mean something like this?

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It's infinitely adjustable...just use a "spit" of appropriate length.
34" long rocket in the first image and 18" long and 4" in diameter in the second.

Much easier to make than the nose cone rotisserie but the PVC fittings cost a bit more than simple pieces of wood.

@accpool:

No crank necessary, just roll the "spit" with your non-painting hand and the rocket/nose cone will rotate. Trust me.

As far as tapering the chunk of 2x4 on the spit, I just rounded it to fit inside a 3" cone. If you taper it too much it will go too far into the nose cone. You only need it to go in past the nose cone's center of mass.

@EveryoneElseFollowingAlong:

I neglected to mention in the original post that I use an adjustable clamp (Irwin Quick-Grip) to hold the rotisserie down to the edge of my painting bench. Can't have a wet nose cone fall on the ground.

Joking about the crank, referring to rotating a nice side of beef to cook it evenly.

I don't understand how the end piece could go too far into cone? I was thinking of it self centering and the rear foam board would handle the aft end, just thought having it "level" with no effort would help with the consistent spray distance. Either way I love jigs and this one is very usefull, thanks for the pictures. It also begs for some sort of motor to spin it a high rate of speed to keep the paint evenly spaced wink: yes this is a joke).

o1d_dude said:

At long last I've taken some pictures of the painting rotisserie I cobbled together for large nosecones.



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Hey o1d_dude,

It's always neat to see different ways people accomplish the same goal...

This forum never ceases to display both depth and width regarding this hobby...

I just tape up the shoulder, put on a disposable glove, and spray away...

You probably get better results than me...

Love the Thomas Jefferson quote in the background...

"Sic semper tyrannis"

Kid

There are many paths in the Tao of Rocketry.

I've found over the years the painting models in the horizontal level can causes runs and drips you don't usually get if you paint parts in the vertical position.
I use both mechanical and manual turntables to rotate my models and nosecones while painting. They Help ensure even paint application.