Oil Drum Pig Roaster Designs

Oil Drum Pig Roaster Designs

Oil drum pig roasters have become quite the trend in the barbeque world. Essentially, all an oil drum pig roaster design is, is an oil drum, cut in half and hinged together, with a spit going through the center. There is much more to oil drum pig roaster designs than that though.

First thing you have to do is get your oil drum and cut it in half. It is really important that this be done carefully and accurately, other wise you could have trouble mounting the spit. Once you get it cut in half, it needs to be hinged together. If you choose to use bolts to put the hinge on, make sure you put a tack weld on the bolts so they can’t come undone easily. Same for the handle which goes on the other side of the barrel. If you want, you can also mount a latch to hold it tight when it is closed.

Be careful cutting oil drums in half as oil is combustible.

Build a steel frame to hold the oil drum pig roaster. This is not any specific design. Make due with what you have and make sure it is sturdy and at a decent height. Other than that, you can do this step however you want.

The spit is really an important step in the oil drum pig roaster designs. You need a strait, long steel rod. It has to have two barbs on it. One of them has to be adjustable since all pigs are not the same length. It is best to make them both adjustable. This can be done by welding the barbs to a piece of metal tube that is slightly larger than the rod and then using a clamp to hold it to the rod. The spit also needs a crank on the end. If you make the handle side of the crank out of a bike pedal or something like that, it will swivel in your hand when you crank it.

You can mount the spit two ways. First is the easiest, but not the most efficient. You can simply cut a divot in each end of the barrel so that the spit can rest in the center of the drum and rotate when the barrel is closed. This can cause friction and make it difficult to do.

The better way is to mount ball bearings on the spit that can be removed, but you will have to get creative on your own to do this. The bearings also have to be mounted outside the barrel on the frame, otherwise they get hot and will seize.

TIP: Another fun thing to do is to gear down an old washing machine motor using old bike gears and make your oil drum pig roaster turn automatically.