ETLB Squawk Forums — Archive

Does anyone have any opinions?  I recall reading that bands were considered better because you don't actually want good brakes on a tail dragger.  But I've seen that some people have converted to disk and don't seem to regret it.  

What are your thoughts?  Personally I love disk brakes.  I've not had tremendous luck with bands.  Currently my max is on band brakes, however.

IT Man,
I'm just fitting discs to my 'Max. I've posted several photos on the MinimaxUK FB page. I have arthritis in my fingers and found that trying to hold the Max during engine checks etc. was a trial. My main reason for fitting discs is that I can have differential braking for ground handling. I've used a set of Clarks Hydraulic MTB brakes with 160mm rotors. I have to make heel brake pedals to fit the tiny master cylinders. It's been quite a journey!

I actually made pedals with differential braking to use with the band brakes. Though it would be a lot easier to do mechanically with little boosters..

I have been researching disc brakes myself. Check out the brakes for electric bikes. They have a thicker rotor. I have heard that some people are having rotor failure due to excessive deflection with hard braking. The thicker rotors should help.

I was going to steal the brakes off of my electric gokart, which are meant as front brakes for those big full roll case yerf-dog two seater off road gokarts.  You've actually genuinely heard of minimaxes having brake failure due to that? Huh.. I didn't think they weighed enough to do that, though I suppose if people are using tiny little frail mountain bike disks, that might be why..  

IT Man,
Some people have tried mountain bike hydraulic brakes. Actually in Max SSDR post, he is referring to that type of brakes. And yes, people have had rotor failures.

Hi KG, can you point me to any references regarding MTB rotor failure? I'd like to see the circumstances.

I put band brakes on my piet, i made heal peddles for differential braking. still mostly untested yet though

Hi Max SSDR,  When I started to think about putting bike brakes on my plane. I did a search on a few different aviation BBS. There is an old thread on this BBS. I do have to correct myself. The rotor failure was due to the mounting bracket flexing. Sorry, my memory isn't wait it used to be. I have seen your setup on the UK Minimax group on Facebook. Your design looks very strong.

The thread is http://www.lonesomebuzzards.com/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl?m-1476221555/s-21/highlight-Rotor/#num21

Quoted from KGrenier The thread is http://www.lonesomebuzzards.com/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl?m-1476221555/s-21/highlight-Rotor/#num21

Yes, thanks for that info. I gave a lot of thought to my caliper mounts but only time will tell!

I use drum brakes on my AirBike. I use a stick mounted dual lever. Squeeze both=both brakes, right=right, left=left. Works well. They are adjusted to not lock the wheel. Very simple and light weight.

Quoted from Max SSDR Hi KG, can you point me to any references regarding MTB rotor failure? I'd like to see the circumstances.

I use mountain bike disc brakes on my Eindecker E-111 replica.  One of the rotors failed under heavy braking when the mount flexed.  I had to add a "stay cable" to react the torque forces.  No problem since.

Quoted from KGrenier The thread is http://www.lonesomebuzzards.com/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl?m-1476221555/s-21/highlight-Rotor/#num21

Here's my rotor mount. It actually has a bushing inside it to replace the lost bearing area where I had to turn down the bushes on the Asuza wheels to give enough room to stack the whole setup within the existing axle length.

How does the caliper mount on there?

Caliper mounts on a 2 part bracket using the axle bolt plus one other steady bolt as you see here. The extra washers are temporary until I can get shorter caliper mount set screws

[img][/img]

thats a neat looking bracket!

Thanks! I should have mentioned that there is some float for the calipers via the slotted mounting holes holes in the supplied caliper mounts.