A Big, Round
Pancake Grill
Build one for your EAA Chapter
BY JOHN EGAN, EAA 336835
FOR MANY PILOTS, A Saturday morning flight means a visit to a local EAA
chapter that’s hosting a pancake breakfast. Often at these events the cen-
ter of activity is where the pancakes are cooking—on the chapter’s big,
round grill.
This article will provide details on the construction of our EAA
Chapter 252 (Oshkosh, Wisconsin) grill, originally built by Bill Rewey.
The plans are a spinoff of the grill built by EAA Chapter 1389 in
Middleton, Wisconsin. Our grill is 48 inches in diameter, rotates at either
one or two revolutions per minute, and is heated using propane gas burners as found in residential gas grills. The cooking concept is simple; one
cook stands in place to dispense pancake batter onto the grill surface
while a second cook flips and removes the pancakes. The cook flips the
pancakes after one cooking revolution, and after another time around, the
pancakes are removed.
THE FRAME 1
The frame is welded up using 1-inch-square mild steel tubing. Forty feet is
required. When purchased from a steel supplier, it’s sold in 20-foot lengths,
and it can be cut to manageable lengths. The welded frame is 32 inches by
32 inches by 31 inches high. A 4-foot length of 3/4-inch-square tubing is
required for retractable handles. After welding and painting, a couple of
utility wheels are bolted in place using shoulder bolts.
The metal frame, with lower deck for motor.
The installed drive assembly.
Finished grill with hoses and control knobs.
The gas burners within the wind skirt.
DECKING 2
The upper surface of the frame is covered
using a 48-inch-diameter sheet of 3/4-inch-
thick plywood. Cut and center the plywood
onto the frame and fasten the plywood to
the frame using #10 bolts or self-tapping
screws. The upper deck requires a firewall;
a thin sheet of 0.020-inch to 0.032-inch aluminum or steel is sufficient. A series of air
supply holes and a hole for the drive shaft
are cut through the upper deck using a hole
saw or spade bit.
The lower deck is made using plywood
or pine boards, again fastened, as is the surface above. A center hole for the drive shaft
and a slotted hole for the drive motor fixture
are cut. A protective coat of paint or varnish
is applied to finish it.
THE GRILL SURFACE 3
The griddle is made of a 1/2-inch-thick 6061
aluminum plate, cut in a 48-inch-diameter
circle. A center hole to accommodate the
drive shaft bolt is needed. Aluminum plate
can be sourced and cut from a local machine
shop. A smooth-milled outer edge looks
great but isn’t required. A flame cut or water
cut edge is adequate and accomplished at a
machine shop. If builders want to cut the
diameter, a jigsaw will work, however, a little slowly. The upper surface of the plate
may be Teflon coated if desired; this is also a
machine shop service.
THE DRIVE ASSEMBLY 4
A fractional horsepower 115-volt alternating
current (AC) gear motor supplies the power.
In this example, a 2-rpm gear motor with a
3-inch-diameter V-belt pulley is mounted to
an adjustable take-up fixture to tension the
drive belt. The wood motor fixture is glued up
to mount the motor. The motor fixture slides
in a slotted hole on the lower deck. Two more
pulleys (3- and 6-inch diameters) are mounted
to a 1-inch-diameter drive shaft to make the
final grill speed capable of either 1 or 2 rpm.
The drive shaft is mounted vertically
through the frame using 1-inch flange bearings located on each deck. A 1-inch split
collar is clamped to the drive shaft above
each bearing to help hold the shaft in place.
The top of the shaft is threaded for 8 threads
per inch ( 1-8 tpi), to receive a 6-inch-diame-
ter lathe faceplate. A 1-8 hex nut is added to
jam the lathe faceplate onto the shaft. The
