Good dayyyy.

If there are any machine opperators on here. Has anyone ever had ago at making there own brake calipers? Im in the process of deigning my own at the moment and almost at the end so i want to get some material ordered but google doesn't want to help me out. so i was just wondering if anyone on here knew?

Thanks

why are you having to design your own? they are such common things

Because nothing is cooler than having your car name machined into a CNC'd caliper

I'm sure there is an off the shelf one with enough material for you to re-machine a name into it, then again finding out the hard way won't be cheap!


no idea what grade they are made from, but 6082T6 is a decent and easy to get grade for making most things

[Edited on 16/2/2011 by mcerd1]

[Edited on 16/2/2011 by mcerd1]

Save yourself a load of grief by simply making a decent cover.
The other thing you have not considered is the litigation should you have an accident and its found your brakes are at fault.
As rob says its a common item why waste effort on it.

are you going to use a standard piston and seal set? just thinking of the usual chrome coating on the piston surface

To be honest if you are really going to make your own calipers then you should properly research the various aluminium grades in terms of their ease of machining, suitability for surface treatment and, most importantly their characteristics, tensile strength, elongation etc. All this information is easily found on the web.

If you make a set of calipers based on anecdotal advice from unknown contributors to a web forum then you should not be surprised if it all goes horribly wrong.

Apart from all that negative stuff I should imagine you will find what you need in the 6000 or 7000 series. And that's as close as you'll get to a real recommendation from me

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.

Cheers,

Mike

Thanks for advice! In my line of work i make uprated calipers at my work already but out of cast iron for classic jag's. so i thought why not make something alittle bit personal but out of alloy and smaller. I shall have a look into the alloys and see what i come up with 7075 is a grade we use for some sprokets we make and is heat treated and very hard wearing. I just feel like being creative.

I know some have questioned why bother!.. but I think it’s a really cool project and shouldn’t be that hard, hydraulics are only about piston areas on the respective ends and sealing, both of which are easily figured out. Then it just about making it strong/rigid enough, take design cues from other stuff out there and you’ll be half way there!!

Keep the forum posted