Free DIY Rotiserrie Skewer - No Welding Skills Required

Hi there all you meat and grill lovers guys and gals. This 'able is about how to make a cordless drill powered rotisserie on the cheapo. And fast. The whole process for the basic stuff shouldn't take more than one hour.

What can you do with a rotisserie? Remember dogs TV, that succulent chicken that goes round and round and smells incredible? A vertical Shwarma on coals, slow cooking meats and so on. You can use it with your gas or charcoal BBQ, in your porch or even over a bonfire in the wild. Impress your friends and let that heavenly Barbecue smell get all over the place.

I'll love to see your rotisseries in action, so if you make one, be sure to post it in the comments. Pictures (and videos, of course) of a good skewer in action during a BBQ are more than welcome.

Disclaimer: this is my first instructable, so pardon all my gaffes and go easy on the comments :-P. I've also subscribed this 'able to the "outdoor cooking" and some other contests and would love to get your vote :-)

Okay, lets get started. You will need:

1. An old stainless steel oven grill rack

2. An angle grinder

3. Metal cutting disc

4. Flap sanding disc

5. Sanding paper and burner for cleaning the steel

6. Corded or cordless power drill

Optional wooden handle:

7. Wooden broom stick

8. wood dowel

9. Glue

And that's it. Super simple. Lets go over it one step at a time...

Okay, let say you got an old oven grill rack. If not, just go to your junkyard and get one. there are tons of older ovens around, and the grill rack is usually inside. It should look something like the model above.

Why an oven rack, I can hear you asking. It is make from food grade stainless steel, the sides are about 6 mm and the inside pieces are about 3-4 mm. Perfect for a long skewer. Besides, everything is already welded in the right place, and that makes the hole process much easier. Got a better idea? Just post it in the comments.

I forgot to take a picture before cutting, so that pic above is from a model and comes from here:

https://img-new.cgtrader.com/items/81861/oven_rack...

First thing to do is finding the right place to cut. look at the grill rack you got and find the welding point on the side of the rack. It should look a little misaligned just like on the first pic. Sometimes the welder did a great job and its hard to find, but work on it.

You don't want any welded parts on your central skewer because they will break with some pressure. I'm talking from sad experience here - take a look at picture 2...

Cut the sides in the places as on the first pic. After that, cut the three first inside pieces on the top side and the other inside pieces on the bottom. The result should look like pic 3.

Use the flap sanding disc to take out those little pieces that are still there and to get it reasonably flat as on pics 4 and 5.

Put the piece you cut in the vise, get some gloves on and bend the bigger rod until is fairly flat all along. You can press the twisted parts with the vise and get them reasonably strait wit some brute force. Worked great for me.

Keep in mind that it doesn't need to be perfect. as long as the skewer is able to rotate you are good.

The side skewers are easy to bend using your hands. Bend them just like in the picture. leave one of the little skewers in place and bend one of the others to one side and the other to the other side (did u see that? I used the word "other" 3 times in a phrase and got away with it).

Be careful not to bend them to much to the sides as not to force the welded joints.

If you want, use a sanding disc to round the skewers points.

If you know where your rack came from you don't really need this step, but if not, I highly recommend cleaning the skewer thoroughly.

I got basic 60-100 grit sandpaper and sanded the hell out of it by hand. Didn't took too long and in the end I had mostly shinning stainless steel on my hands. The not so shining parts look more as impurities in the alloy than dirt. After that I got a kitchen burner and went over everything just to be sure (and to make it kosher...)

Use a small malleable piece or steel wire (like those used to close bread packages) to keep the handle of the drill pressed. Control the velocity by tightening the wire.

You don't really need one, but I feared for the safety of my drill.

To make the handle, cut a piece of a broom stick, make a hole on the center of one side with the exact diameter of your central skewer (mine was 6mm). On the other side, make a hole on the center with the diameter of your wooden dowel (mine was 12mm). I used the biggest dowel I could attach my drill to.

Glue everything. I used CA glue for gluing wood to metal (not sure that's the best option here...) and wood glue for the dowel. Leave it alone for a day and you are ready to go.

Its time to call a bunch of friends over.

Enjoy your BBQ and don't forget to Leave a comment bellow and to vote for this instructable in the outdoor food contest.

All the best.