I've been lurking in this web site for some time and have found it a fantastic source of information so thought I would stick some photos on of the hog roast I made last year. I bought my welder to try and keep my land rover going so this was the first build project I have done.
We bring a few pigs on each year and sell them onto friends and family. We decided to roast one of them as a thank you to all our customers and it gave me a nice excuse to have a go at making the machine.
My wife wasn't very keen on the whole idea and only agreed to it if I promised to keep the cost down so it turned into a bit of my very own scrap heap challenge!!
The list of donor items used in the construction included:
An old pony trailer
A trampoline
a mountain bike
some metal shelves
some leftovers from my shepherds hut
an old bracket out of my roof
a door frame
some left over reinforcing mesh for concrete
an old trolley
I was really pleased with the results and was surprised how much difference a couple of coats of paint made. I welded up the end frames but bolted the cross bracing and the roof etc with rivit nuts so it comes to bits for easy storage,
The biggest problem was getting the spit to rotate at the correct speed (2-3 rpm) with enough power to turn the pig from a battery (we don't have access to mains where the pig was going to be cooked).
In the end I bought a 24v electric motor off ebay. It had a reduction gearbox and a small rubber output wheel. Getting the speed down to 2-3 rpm and connecting it to the spit (with the ability to mount/dismount the pig) caused me some sleepless nights. In the end it turned out really easy. I mounted the electric motor onto the frame of an old mountain bike with the motors output when bearing on the back wheel of the bike. I welded up the freewheeling mechanism on the bike and removed on of the pedal cranks. With the bike in second gear and running the motor at 12v I got the 3rpm at the pedal crank. I then bolted a socket onto the crank and welded an appropriately sized nut onto the end of the spit. This allowed the spit to be very easily and quickly mounted into the roaster. I still had the other pedal crank as a backup (hand powered) if the motor decided to pack in on the day.
It all went really well - 10 hours of cooking (with a steady supply of beer!!) and we fed over 90 people.
cheers
colin
We bring a few pigs on each year and sell them onto friends and family. We decided to roast one of them as a thank you to all our customers and it gave me a nice excuse to have a go at making the machine.
My wife wasn't very keen on the whole idea and only agreed to it if I promised to keep the cost down so it turned into a bit of my very own scrap heap challenge!!
The list of donor items used in the construction included:
An old pony trailer
A trampoline
a mountain bike
some metal shelves
some leftovers from my shepherds hut
an old bracket out of my roof
a door frame
some left over reinforcing mesh for concrete
an old trolley
I was really pleased with the results and was surprised how much difference a couple of coats of paint made. I welded up the end frames but bolted the cross bracing and the roof etc with rivit nuts so it comes to bits for easy storage,
The biggest problem was getting the spit to rotate at the correct speed (2-3 rpm) with enough power to turn the pig from a battery (we don't have access to mains where the pig was going to be cooked).
In the end I bought a 24v electric motor off ebay. It had a reduction gearbox and a small rubber output wheel. Getting the speed down to 2-3 rpm and connecting it to the spit (with the ability to mount/dismount the pig) caused me some sleepless nights. In the end it turned out really easy. I mounted the electric motor onto the frame of an old mountain bike with the motors output when bearing on the back wheel of the bike. I welded up the freewheeling mechanism on the bike and removed on of the pedal cranks. With the bike in second gear and running the motor at 12v I got the 3rpm at the pedal crank. I then bolted a socket onto the crank and welded an appropriately sized nut onto the end of the spit. This allowed the spit to be very easily and quickly mounted into the roaster. I still had the other pedal crank as a backup (hand powered) if the motor decided to pack in on the day.
It all went really well - 10 hours of cooking (with a steady supply of beer!!) and we fed over 90 people.
cheers
colin