Anyone using, for a lack of better terms a “fast rotisserie” or “slow lathe” to finish (sand and paint) airframe tubes?

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jahall4

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Something that rotates the tube, would make radial sanding in particular go much faster and be more consistent. Simple to build once you knew/had the parts need, but no use reinventing the wheel.
 
I made a rotisserie to do fiberglass lay up work recently. While the current motor only turns at 4 RPM, I had toyed with the idea of using a different motor and drive wheels/belt to increase the speed to make it into a sanding tool, too.

As for painting, never had much luck with the horizontal rigs that I came up with and I prefer to do that vertically with a lazy susan.
 
I made a rotisserie to do fiberglass lay up work recently. While the current motor only turns at 4 RPM, I had toyed with the idea of using a different motor and drive wheels/belt to increase the speed to make it into a sanding tool, too.

As for painting, never had much luck with the horizontal rigs that I came up with and I prefer to do that vertically with a lazy susan.

Thx Tom, Do you have any pictures? details on construction?
 
2x4, grill rotisserie motor, 3/4" electrical conduit, conduit clamps, screen door rollers, and some assorted screws. I tried to make it as simple as possible and easy to store, that's why it's 2x4, scrap plywood, and sets up and tears down easily with simple clamps to any reasonably flat, level work surface.

Hopefully this helps you. I don't have $30 in the whole thing.

Overall picture
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3D printed drive plugs. Orange ones are Rev 1, black are Rev 2. Change was to use 2" piece of the rotisserie bar as a drive key instead of the plastic (the orange drive key that fits into the motor would shear off). The hole in the side of the plug corresponds to a hole in the conduit for a paperclip key that is the torque lock that locks the drive plug to the conduit
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Here you can see the Rev 2 drive plug and the captured paperclip. The V block that the conduit is resting on is so that you can take the spindle free of the drive motor and hand spin it. Lift it 1/4" and insert it into the motor and set the slide lock on the other side for normal operation
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Free spin side of the spindle. Light weight sliding screen door rollers. The last disc can be slid against the stop and locked in place to bear against the idler wheels support block and prevent the spindle from backing out of the drive motor. Gravity keeps everything else in place, once set and locked, you can walk away and leaving it spinning for hours.
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These are the support wheels for the tube. 3/4" hole to slide on the spindle. These are sized for a 4" tube. One screw through the bracket and into the wood wheel holds one side of the bracket onto the wheel, the clamp screws then can be tightened to hold the wheel in place for varied spacing.

To use other tubes, make other wheels with the same 3/4" hole for the conduit, but sized for the ID of the tube you're using.
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Mock up of a tube on the spindle. This is the fiberglass layup tube that I made this for.
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2x4, grill rotisserie motor, 3/4" electrical conduit, conduit clamps, screen door rollers, and some assorted screws. I tried to make it as simple as possible and easy to store, that's why it's 2x4, scrap plywood, and sets up and tears down easily with simple clamps to any reasonably flat, level work surface.

Hopefully this helps you. I don't have $30 in the whole thing.

Ahhh yes, very much so, BIG thx. Ingenious

I'll have to "splurge" :) on the motor to ensure I have enough speed and torque for sanding. You mentioned considering the same... have you sourced a motor?

For sure 115V, variable speed, but beyond those specs not sure.
 
FWIW: You might also want to keep an eye on Craigs List or Facebook Marketplace for a used wood lathe. I bought a Jet wood lathe for about $200 from a guy less than 3 miles from our home. Then you can turn nose cones, make transitions and centering rings, etc. too.

The one I have is freestanding, but they make bench top models too.
 

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Slowest speed on any wood lathe I've seen is ~100rpm. WAY too fast for layup work but might be slow enough for sanding. You might be able to gear down the wood lathe to something much slower but you'd have to have some really big pulleys for that. Metal lathes can get you down into the dozens of rpms but I wouldn't want to hang epoxy over the bed of a good metal lathe even if I had the ways covered.
 
Slowest speed on any wood lathe I've seen is ~100rpm. WAY too fast for layup work but might be slow enough for sanding. You might be able to gear down the wood lathe to something much slower but you'd have to have some really big pulleys for that. Metal lathes can get you down into the dozens of rpms but I wouldn't want to hang epoxy over the bed of a good metal lathe even if I had the ways covered.

Agreed in regard to layup work. I thought the topic at hand though was sanding and painting?
 
Ahhh yes, very much so, BIG thx. Ingenious

I'll have to "splurge" :) on the motor to ensure I have enough speed and torque for sanding. You mentioned considering the same... have you sourced a motor?

For sure 115V, variable speed, but beyond those specs not sure.

No, not yet. So far it's just been a thought experiment, but I'll know it when I see it.
 
These cup turners could be adaptable...
 

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These cup turners could be adaptable...
Most of those are made from the same grill rotisserie motor (or a variation of) that I used and turn 3 to 4 RPM, and that's where I got the idea. Thankfully, my local Home Depot and Lowes both had the kit in stock.

I'm currently looking for an old school working sewing machine motor to cannibalize. My idea is to adapt my current set up to mount the motor and run it with a belt and the variable speed foot control.
 
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Yah, those are fairly easy to find. Don't forget to check out the thrift stores too.
Consider using a variac (variable transformer) to control the motor. It's a bit simpler (and neater in a workmanship way) to get to your solution. How valuable is your time and how much do you want to tinker with a side project?
 
Remember when grills (Bar-B-Que) use to come with rotisserie motors? They usually used 1/4" square sockets for the drive. Which in turn used a 1/4" shaft with 2 sets of forks facing each other to slowly turn what ever it was your cooking?
If these little motors was geared strong enough to turn a 20lb turkey, they should be quite adequate for turning rockets.
When I cleaned out the garage after my Father passed, I bet I threw out 5 or 6, never used motors.
Hind sight tells me I was a complete fool to throw them out.
Ask around, you might find someone of vintage years in your neighborhood that has one hiding in the garage they could give you, or sell cheap!
Another option is look at mudhole.com, a fishing place. They sell all kinds of stuff for making fishing poles.
I find their 24 hour finishing epoxy makes a strong, durable and flexible finish for many things.
They have motors for turning fishing poles for the slow set finishing epoxy.
They also have all kinds of additives for epoxy for highly unique finish.
Thinking Outside the box sometimes yields great inexpensive solutions to problems that you think might cost much more.
 
Hi,

I've made a manual version using the slotted extrusion known as 80/20. I'm sure it can motorized.
 

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FWIW: You might also want to keep an eye on Craigs List or Facebook Marketplace for a used wood lathe. I bought a Jet wood lathe for about $200 from a guy less than 3 miles from our home. Then you can turn nose cones, make transitions and centering rings, etc. too.

The one I have is freestanding, but they make bench top models too.
Love the tree! :music1:
 
Love the tree! :music1:

Thanks. They are made from pinion pine branches from trees on our property. We had a heavy snow last spring and quite a few branches broke off the trees. Some we use as firewood and some I use for lathe stuff.

I made these last week. Pinion pine is soft.. and therefore a bit tricky to turn on a lathe. Chunks tend to tear out. So making lemonade out of lemons I sanded the bad areas flat and made a trio of "happy little trees"... as Bob Ross liked to say.

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