Building a Fuselage Rotisserie

Since it has taken me 45 mins to set 8 rivets on the seatbelt lugs, and since i had to climb in and out a hundred times, i realised there needed to be a smarter approach to riveting the tailcone to the fuselage. 

I had previously purchased a SuperCheap Auto Engine stand when they were on sale, so now was the time to convert this into a rotisserie. 

There were a number of plans online for this, and many builders who had gone before me. I had initially planned on using timber to make the frame to attach the firewall to the engine stand, but in the end went with 50mm square galvanised steel tube. 

The lower piece spans across the bottom engine mount bolt locations, and there are 2 radial arms which reach to the top bolts. I templated the bolt hole locations using brown paper, including the shape of the firewall edges. The steel was then bolted to the firewall with some washers to ensure it did not contact the firewall at all. The tail of the aeroplane just sits on a padded saw horse. 

This design allows me up to 90 degrees of rotation in either direction, which proved very valuable for gaining access for riveting of the tailcone to the fuselage. 

The stock engine stand is angled backward which would have lifted the tail of the fuselage high into the air - so it was modified to remove this angle. 

The base was bolted together and i came up with a plan on how to lift the fuselage into the stand.

Brown paper was used to template the distance between the 2 lower engine mount bolt holes, as well as outline the shape of the side skins at each end (to trim the steel tube so it cleared the cowl attach hinges).

These holes were then transferred to the steel tube, and the tube was drilled and trimmed.

The engine stand plate was then centred on the lower steel tube, and drilled for the large bolts which came with the stand. 

I then bolted the assembly to the lower engine mount holes. 

Brown paper was again used to template the hole location as well as the shape of the sides for trimming later. The length of the tube at the engine stand end was not critical so was not templated.

One shorter tube per side was marked to the template, and drilled and trimmed

The radial tubes were then bolted to the firewall, aligned with the holes in the engine stand, marked, removed and drilled for the large bolts attaching the tube to the engine stand plate. 

The finished product. Note the cardboard - i actually added some washers to the engine mount points to move the assembly slightly away from the firewall to prevent the mount bolts contacting and damaging the firewall. 

Torque seal was added to these bolts (just in case). 

When not being rotated, or when climbing in, the fuselage is supported underneath.

So far the rotisserie has worked out great - for the next steps it was invaluable in riveting the tailcone to the fuselage.