Walt Lewis > wrote in message >. ..
> I've hear that a motor from a grocery store check out conveyer is
> PERFECT. Strong, small and geared well.
>
> Walt
>
> On Thu, 19 Feb 2004 20:42:20 -0500, "D" <NoMail@NoSpam> wrote:
>
> >Well if your gonna do an entire hog then you will need something
> >a little more powerful than the average grill rotisserie motor that
> >you buy at the outlet house. Trouble is it's gonna be a little hard
> >to find anything in between for sale that's strong enough and yet
> >not overkill on power and price. Try calling some electric motor
> >shops local and ask if they have anything that will run at low rpm
> >for very long without overheating. Tell them exactly what you have
> >in mind. Actually any used washer or dryer motor would do it but
> >you'd have to use a "huge" pulley to gear it down enough to turn
> >slow. A friend of mine once ran a sugar cane mill with one of these
> >by running it thru a series of pulley step downs. Good luck with it.
> >
>
>
>
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First of all decide on RPM-have observed several different roaster
spits for RPM and most range from 1 to 5 RPM. Also most are chain
driven-belts don't like heat but will work if you can keep the belt
far enough away from the heat. Next you have to figure out what size
critter you will roast. Most people roast "hogs" in the 80-100#
range-Germans say it has got to be under 80# to be called Spahnferkle.
Don't think you want to roast 500# hogs. I would think a gear motor
that can be reduced in speed to the 1-5 RPM area with at least 150"
pounds of torque would do the job. There is a place called Surplus
Center in Lincoln NB, www.surpluscenter.com and they have lots of used
and new gearmotors for sale. Got a 30 rpm 135" pound gearmotor for a
coffee roaster from them for about $40 and it works great. They no
longer feature this gearmotor in their catalog but may have a few in
stock. It would be great caused reduced down to 5 rpm or less would
have plenty of torque-assuming you have decent bearings on the shaft.
They also have pillow blocks.

What do you plan to make your roaster from-some local farmers make
them out of 250 gallon oval heating oil tanks - hang a firebox on one
end and it is a smoker-roaster.