Rotating a piece when spraying lacquer

[Dwight Rutherford]

I saw one that seemed to turn at a reasonable speed. It came from an old microwave oven. Another thought would be a BBQ rotisserie motor.

[Grant Wilkinson]

Dwight has it! I made mine using an old BBQ rotisserie motor. It turns much slower than 33 1/3 rpm. It is just a toy, though. I think that I get similar results turning the lazy susan by hand.

[Glen Blanchard]

Rotisserie motors are exactly what I have been reading that folks are using. My notion was that using a turntable would be more of a turnkey approach and would require less tinkering/assembly. The higher speed of a turntable as compared to a rotisserie is what elicited this thread.

[robert baccus]

You can always mount a stick (2x2") in a vise and put your vase/bowl down over it and just walk around it.

[Ricc Havens]

This is what I use to finish small hollow forms and coffee mugs when I use spray poly. chuck is thru the top opening in expansion mode with pin jaws. If I have to touch up the top opening where the spray can't reach due to the chuck, then when done I just use a coat or two of wipe on poly for that area. Scrap wood, a BBQ grill rotisserie motor from Amazon (turns at 20-25rpm), a bearing from amazon and a carving chuck mandrel from Lee Vally (if I remember correctly). the blue masking tape is ugly but it keeps the over spray off my chuck.

Ricc

[Joseph M Lary]

I know a guy that uses a BBQ rotisserie to do his Pepper mills he said he can put on a lot more lacquer with no runs .

[Josh Bowman]

Another way to do this is a little on the expensive side in my opinion (about $50). Members of my club had me make and list for them the parts to make one that uses an electric seat motor from American Science Surplus ($20 shipped) and an electronic control board & power supply from Amazon ($20 shipped). A box and switch from Radio shack and 2" L brackets from Lowes ($5-10). It will turn at 10 to 180 rpm for hours and the members use it to brush on poly or spray. Again, I feel it's a little expensive but they keep asking for the parts list and building them, so what do I know? They will use a mandrel made from 1/2" pvc and hot glue to a wooden disk. The advantage is the board can run several motors at a time. One of the pictures show a double motor rig.

[Marvin Hasenak]

I made something similar, not run off a motor, just hand power to turn it. I found a caster wheel at Harbor Freight for about $5 that had ball bearings in the swivel mount. Removed the wheel, used that bracket to mount it on a stand, piece of plywood on top of the caster's mounting base, and it will literally keep spinning for a minute with a little push.

[Tom Giacomo]

I have been using a rotisserie motor for about 2 years now for finishing my pieces when using rattle can or sprayer lacquer. I think what is missing here is that the rotisserie motor turns your piece in the horizontal position this prevents runs from forming. The motor runs at 3 RPM so that you can spray a very generous amount of lacquer and have no runs. I finished one today three heavy coats of lacquer turned a 3 rpm for 45 minutes the result was a smooth, clear, flawless finish in lacquer.