Pictorial Assembly Guide

This will attempt to be a step-by-step setup guide for building your own roaster, (This can be difficult as every grill is different.)   It is a collection of documents and images that give close-up or additional detailed information that may make the assembly of your RK Roaster easier.  Since every setup is unique, a little ingenuity and forethought is necessary to completing your setup.

*************DISCLAIMER***************

Do we need to say this? ....ok, here we go. 

These instructions are provided as a helpful guide.  They are not necessarily a step-by-step exact guide for your situation.  Some thinking, planning, forethought, and common sense are required on your part.  If you do not know how to use hand tools, power tools or otherwise, please acquire the assistance of a knowledgeable person.  Working with tools, flammables and electricity can be dangerous if common sense is not used.  If you scratch yourself, bruise yourself, cut yourself, burn yourself, electrocute yourself, drill through your hand, cut your arm off, poke your eye out, lose any appendages, blow yourself up or blow up your neighbors, family and friends, or inflict any other kind of injury to persons or property, we are not responsible, RK is not responsible, you did it to yourself. 

There is nothing unusually dangerous here and every attempt has been made to make this guide safe and logical, but use your head, if you are not sure how to do something, ask a question in the forum or get some help.  If this guide is intimidating, ask for help from someone who knows this kind of work.  Wear your safety glasses!

*************END DISCLAIMER***************

F.  MOTOR, BASEPLATE & MOTOR MOUNT SETUP

There are two approaches to motor mounting.  With the two generic grill types, you either have some sort of tray mounted on support tubes (with this type we will mount to the grill tubes using the muffler clamps.  Step 11-B) or we will have a non-removable platform (mount directly to the tray.  Step 11-A).  Please skip to the section that is relevant to your grill.

PLATFORM MOUNTING

Step 11-A.

Here we need to make sure the mount plate is equidistant from the tray edge and then make sure that the rotisserie rod is perpendicular to the mount plate.  This ensures a square fit of the coupler to the motor.  You want to make sure to use about 5" minimum here, but not so far away that your handle gets too close to the heat.  Every grill is different and every setup is different, so use this as a rule of thumb and just think it through before you commit.  Basically you want the rod to be fairly balanced with the drum on it without too much weight on one side or the other. 

IMPORTANT NOTE:

You also want to make sure the rod sits visually between the narrower holes.  Later we will need some free-play here to move the motor mount plate left and right. (Figure 25.1)

(Figure 25)

(Figure 25.1)

I'll measure out from the edge of the tray about 5.5" (The edge where the grill and side tray meet).  This seems right for my setup. (Figure 25)

(Figure 26)

I'll measure the other side too (Figure 26) and then lastly make sure that the plate is PERPENDICULAR to the rod. 

(Figure 27)

Use a pencil and mark the four 5/16 bolt holes. (Figure 27) Note that the holes that are closest together face the grill.

NOTE: For a quick timesaver skip over to Step 13 (here) to mark and drill the holes for the switchbox.  My preference is to wait till later.

(Figure 28)

Here are my four marks for my bolts. (Figure 28)

(Figure 29)

Here I use a center punch (Figure 29) to dent (mark) the location I will drill.  This helps keep the drill bit centered on my hole instead of walking around all over the place.  I recommend always for a cleaner job, use a small drill bit first to make a pilot hole, then follow up with the larger drill bit to make the size of hole you need.

(Figure 30)

Drill out the bolt holes. (Figure 30)

(Figure 31)

Here we are with the holes complete. (Figure 31)

 (Figure 32)

Line up your mount plate (Figure 32) and then push your 5/16" bolts and washers through from the bottom (Figure 33 & Figure 35) and lightly secure with the hex nuts if necessary.  We will still make some adjustments, so just finger tighten it up to keep everything in place.  I don't even use a wrench at this point.  Next, skip on down to motor mounting. (The next section is for the tubular mount folks.)

(Figure 33)

 (Figure 34)

 (Figure 35)

TUBULAR MOUNTING

Step 11-B.

The tubular mount is arguably easier than mounting to the side platform.

Remove your side tray if you have a grill with the tubular bars and mount as shown by inserting the muffler clamps through the slots in the mount plate and secure with the clamp.

Bolt it down to the side tray bars with  two 1-1/2" muffler clamps and four 5/16" X 2 1/2" long bolts. You can use the washers and nuts supplied with the hardware kit.  The muffler U-bolts are readily available at Advance, Autozone and other auto parts stores.  You may find them as well in hardware stores.

Keep them loose for the time being as we line everything up.  I think the pictures will provide all the needed explanation.

(Figure 36)

The square style tubular mounts. (Figure 36)

(Figure 37)

The mounting hardware from the top. (Figure 37)

(Figure 38)

The mounting on the round tubes from the bottom. (Figure 38)

MOTOR MOUNTING

Step 12-A (Rotisserie Motor Mounting).

You may roast with the 6RPM rotisserie motor, but consider this your budget motor and consider upgrading to the commercial motor supplied here.  This section will cover rotisserie motor mounting and mounting of the 52RPM (or greater) motors.

(Figure 39)

If you plan on only using the rotisserie motor, measure and drill out the holes for the rotisserie bracket(Figure 39) .  You will want to make sure if your grill does not come with pre-drilled rotisserie holes, that you get the correct height of the motor bracket as compared to the bearing bracket back in Step 6.  You don't want the rod to rub on the grill or anything else and you want the rod to be as close to level as possible to prevent your beans from piling up in one end of the drum or the other as the drum turns.  The motor just slides onto the bracket.  Not much else to it.

Step 12-B. (Standard Commercial or Home Motor Mounting)

We will now need the motor mount plate.  If you find it easier to work with you may go ahead and finger-mount it to the base plate, this might help to get the screws started if you're short on hands.  I will mount it temporarily to the base plate, but then remove it again to finish up.  Go ahead and tighten the baseplate (Figure 40) down with a wrench as the weight of the motor is significant.

(Figure 40)

(Figure 41)

Mount the motor (Shaft down) in the center slot of the motor mount. (Figure 41)

(Figure 42)

Lightly-tighten the four screws that hold the motor in place.  Don't crank it down yet as we will need to line it up with the rotisserie coupler in a few minutes. (Figure 42 & Figure 43)

(Figure 43)

(Figure 44)

Insert the opposing 3/8" coupler onto the shaft.  Careful to align the Allen screw with the flat face of the motor shaft. (Figure 44)  With an Allen wrench, tighten it down. (Figure 45)

(Figure 45)

(Figure 46)

Insert the Buna-N bushing into the motor and lets align the rod to the motor next.  NOTE: You can put a little rubber cement or silicone between the bushing and the motor coupler to keep it stuck there.  Makes life easier when trying to pull a hot drum out.  Don't expect it to stay there forever, with the heat and turning force, but it should last you 20 roasts or so. (Figure 46)

(Figure 47)

Note that the couplers and rods are not straight here.  Next we must align it. (Figure 47)

(Figure 48)

Loosen your motor mount plate nuts and the motor mounting screws and:

1.  Align the motor mount plate laterally. (Figure 48)

2.  Align motor vertically so that the motor shaft and the rod are straight. (Figure 48)

3.  Check that the rod sits nicely in the rotisserie cutout of the grill. (Figure 49)

4.  Check the space between the cutout and the rod is the same as the space between the rod and cutout on the bearing plate side. (Figure 49 & Figure 18 (Click here))

(Figure 49)

(Figure 50)

Check that the coupler and rod/shaft is straight and tighten all bolts/screw or readjust if necessary.  Don't obsess with straightness here, but make sure it's relatively close otherwise your bushing will wear out sooner among other problems. (Figure 50)

(Figure 51)

(Figure 52)

Insert your fan (if included), it's a little tough, don't be afraid, push it on.  Careful with the blades (Figure 51 & 52)

(Figure 53)

(Figure 54)

Make sure that the inside edge of the bearing is tight on the bracket, check that the motor coupler and rotisserie coupler, base plate and motor mount is all tight.  Everything should be fairly rigid now.  Tighten the bearing on the rod with a screwdriver. (Figure 53 & 54)

(Figure 55)

(Figure 56)

On the bracket end, lets go ahead now and install the wooden/plastic handle

(Figure 55 & 56)  as far away as possible from the grill.  You can even put another locking collar at the far end (wooden handle only) to make sure the wooden handle stays put.

Now would be a great time for one final check.  Make sure everything is lined up and centered, then tighten your bolts on the motor mount, or adjust as necessary, tighten all your collars and bearing and handle.  Everything should sit comfortably tight, centered and without much free movement. 

Put a level on your drum and make sure it sits level so that you get an even roast.  You don't want beans piling up on one end. 

If it is un-level, you may need to re-adjust your bracket vertically, or laterally.  Sorry, I'll go ahead and say this.  Make sure you aren't sitting on a hill :) (Figure 57)

(Figure 57)

OK, so that's that, lets move on to the wiring. Here is what we should have at this point. (Figure 58)

(Figure 58)

CONTINUE TO ELECTRICAL & SWITCH WIRING

Further documentation can be found on the Drum/Motor setup page by clicking here.

http://www.rkdrums.com/docs2.htm

As always, I enjoy your comments and questions.  If you need assistance feel free to email.

Thanks

RK