brakes for your cart? 20inch wheels on a custom cart.

[johnpaul215]

For people with custom carts and BMX tires (12 or 20inch), what are you using for brakes? Before I make a bracket to mount an actual BMX/MTB brake, is there anything else you guys have been using?

My cart right now is a "PSC-style" inspired cart made from 80/20 T-slot extrusions. I have some sweet 80's BMX 20" mag wheels on it. I had to remove the front wheel brakes when a nut fell off during a film. They didn't work so well anyway.

This is an old setup, but the cart/wheel configuration is about the same:

[Jeff Wexler]

John Paul's PSC-style cart built with 80/20 profiles

I don't know what people are doing for brakes on their carts. I know Chinhda does a very special disc brake on his beautiful carts but I have always just gone with a brake on the small front caster wheels.

[studiomprd]

sand/shot bags!

[johnpaul215]

Sand bags are my fall back since the brakes were removed from the little wheels.

I might mount a BMX brake. A little more fun than some rigged flip down block brake. I don't know about today, but in the 80s/90s freestyle BMX riders used locking brake levers (for tricks). I might mount one of those levers on the cart's handle (it will go nicely with my bell!). The only real work is building a bracket to mount the brake over the wheel. Those locks were never meant to be left on for hours/days at a time, but the cable stretch shouldn't be a big deal.

[old school]

I have no brakes, but I do have a recurring nightmare of my cart rolling down a steep hill and into traffic and getting creamed by a Peterbuilt. I have looked into some brakes from wheelchair suppliers. A big grip clip or sandbag works well enough in a pinch.

CrewC

[Jeff Wexler]

I have no brakes, but I do have a recurring nightmare of my cart rolling down a steep hill and into traffic and getting creamed by a Peterbuilt. I have looked into some brakes from wheelchair suppliers. A big grip clip or sandbag works well enough in a pinch.

CrewC

I have the same nightmare but in mine, the cart just rolls away and I don't even know where it's gone --- imagining the worst of course. Your brother Moe solved the no brakes problem by not having front wheels but solid pegs instead. Once the cart is in position it is sitting on big back wheels and 2 front posts, very solid. Moe doesn't have nightmares.

[old school]

Moe does have nightmares. In them he looks into a mirror and see's himself. Scarry.

CrewC

I have the same nightmare but in mine, the cart just rolls away and I don't even know where it's gone --- imagining the worst of course. Your brother Moe solved the no brakes problem by not having front wheels but solid pegs instead. Once the cart is in position it is sitting on big back wheels and 2 front posts, very solid. Moe doesn't have nightmares.

[Nate C]

Back in the day most of my bikes didn't have braces. We used to put our foot against the wheel. Poor mans brakes. You could use a bar mounted from the upright beam, that swivels between the the spokes preventing it from rolling. Sorry I'm much better at visualizing than describing.

The brake levers would also make a cool headphone holder. Although easy to accidently release. I vaguely remember a version with a locking nut. Been some years since I have riden a BMX and truth be told I was really skateboarder. Come to think of it, miss the sound of seven ply slapping against concrete.

[johnpaul215]

I was more of a skater too, but had a freestyle phase. I might go for wheelchair brakes, as suggested by CrewC. That's a pretty simple mechanism that's intended for what I need (lock, or roll free).The front wheels being replaced by pegs is so simple I would consider that too. I always roll on my back tires. I keep them at the right PSI so they are bouncy for a little shock absorption, but (hopefully) won't get a snakebite and flat out on me.

I *might* be starting a film near water soon, so the sandbag may not be quite secure enough for my liking.

[Philip Perkins]

I was more of a skater too, but had a freestyle phase. I might go for wheelchair brakes, as suggested by CrewC. That's a pretty simple mechanism that's intended for what I need (lock, or roll free).The front wheels being replaced by pegs is so simple I would consider that too. I always roll on my back tires. I keep them at the right PSI so they are bouncy for a little shock absorption, but (hopefully) won't get a snakebite and flat out on me.

I *might* be starting a film near water soon, so the sandbag may not be quite secure enough for my liking.

My PSC style cart has excellent brakes on the smaller front casters. No brakes for the 20s. Holds fine even on steep grades.

phil p

[Philip Perkins]

I was more of a skater too, but had a freestyle phase. I might go for wheelchair brakes, as suggested by CrewC. That's a pretty simple mechanism that's intended for what I need (lock, or roll free).The front wheels being replaced by pegs is so simple I would consider that too. I always roll on my back tires. I keep them at the right PSI so they are bouncy for a little shock absorption, but (hopefully) won't get a snakebite and flat out on me.

I *might* be starting a film near water soon, so the sandbag may not be quite secure enough for my liking.

My PSC style cart has excellent brakes on the smaller front casters. No brakes for the 20s. Holds fine even on steep grades.

phil p

[John Blankenship]

My latest cart deployment has 16" rear wheels and started life with pegs in the front but I've now added front casters. They make it a lot easier if I need to roll a few inches in position. Also, it's nice to not have to tilt it to roll down long hallways.

However, when speed is of the essence, I tilt 'er back and awayyyy we goooooo!

So, I may look into brakes besides the shot bags. A Velcro strap through the wheel would work in a pinch. I carry a lot of heavy-duty Velcro strips for duties such as strapping cables down for travel, etc.

[Chase Yeremian]

I usually just wrap a bongo tie or someting around one wheel spoke to the frame of the cart. It works but it is crude at best. I think what would be great is some type of break that was always engaged until you squeezed the lever on the cart handle that held the brake open. Hmmmmm.

-Chase

[johnpaul215]

I usually just wrap a bongo tie or someting around one wheel spoke to the frame of the cart. It works but it is crude at best. I think what would be great is some type of break that was always engaged until you squeezed the lever on the cart handle that held the brake open. Hmmmmm.

I think a bike brake spring could be modified to create this situation. There is something like you describe on those baby strollers made for jogging/running. If you let go of the handle while cruising, they apply brakes. Might create an awkward situation, but maybe we need to go investigate strollers.

[Jim Tanenbaum, CAS]

Here's another option: my cart is a custom A&J case bolted to a Magliner dolly with an extra set of wheels at the top. When set in place on the ¼-inch aluminum dolly baseplate, the wheels don’t touch the ground. Since my cart as grown to be morbidly obese (over 325 #) it's not going anywhere. I even let the grips tie off the guy lines for 12x12s to the lower axle when I’m set up on concrete and they can’t pound in a bull prick.

The advantages of my design include easy setup and wrap – just latch or unlatch the front cover. And it’s completely self-contained, with 105 amp-hours of batteries for the built-in work lights and such, a 10-foot mast for the antennas, and flip-up desk. I even ship it with the shock-mounted gear inside, only removing the outside accessories.

For rough ground or steep inclines, I set it down on all four wheels and the three of us push or pull it uphill, or tie on ropes to snub its descent going down. Digging in our heels serves for brakes. On a smooth surface, I can pile extra cases on top as we roll it along. I have a set of collapsible aluminum ramps to load and unload it from vehicles that don’t have a liftgate.

When upright, the pneumatic tires allow it to drop off a curb, and by running the nose of the dolly baseplate onto the curb from the street, it is possible to lever it up and swivel it around to get it back on the sidewalk. (Wheelchair ramps at many crosswalks render this procedure unnecessary.)

I don't need no stinkin' bicycle brakes.

[johnpaul215]

I went with a pair of universal wheelchair locks. They just came in the mail, and I still have to mount them up. They look like they will do the job perfectly. Pictures to follow when I get them mounted.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

[Boomboom]

Jim, terrific setup; I'd call it "the mammoth" ! :-D

On your mast, there's three shark fins; how is it plugged and what's the third one for ?

Your video monitors, they simply flip down and it's wrapped ?

Got more pictures please ? I'd really like to see more..!

(btw, I used to tape a ball of moleskin on the tip of my Txs antennas to keep them away from the subject's bodies (with a 50-50 success history) then I learned about your wiper washer tubing setup; yet very simple and so much more efficient ;-) one thousand gracias sir ! )

[Jim Tanenbaum, CAS]

Jim, terrific setup; I'd call it "the mammoth" ! :-D

On your mast, there's three shark fins; how is it plugged and what's the third one for ?

Your video monitors, they simply flip down and it's wrapped ?

Got more pictures please ? I'd really like to see more..!

(btw, I used to tape a ball of moleskin on the tip of my Txs antennas to keep them away from the subject's bodies (with a 50-50 success history) then I learned about your wiper washer tubing setup; yet very simple and so much more efficient ;-) one thousand gracias sir ! )

3rd sharkfin swivels independently for aiming at the video assist cart where I have 2 UHF video xmtrs to feed my monitors. A small snake runs up the mast with 3 coaxs and an audio feed to the second Com-Tek xmtr (mounted on the 3rd sharkfin). The 2 monitors are kind'a fragile, so I remove them. Their mounting bracket is secured with a single knob-headed 1/4-20 screw. I just have to unplug one 4-pin XLR for their power and the antenna coax that feeds a 2x splitter.

If the file attaches, here's a pix from the days when I still used DAT.

Jim T.

[Boomboom]

Thanks Jim for all the infos and the pic !

[Mirror]

I am digging your cart Jim! I would love to see how you connect the cables from one case to another. Any pics that you can share that would show that? Also pics of the back would tickle my fancy. In a manly, non-prison way of course.

[Mike Ford]

You could use those DVD ram cartridges from the PD 6 as a wheel chock after I'm done with the machine..lighter and would recycle them into good use!

[Izen Ears]

I've got a set of wheelchair brakes on my rear (16" wheelbarrow wheels, 4" wide) and they do not hold. I think they were made for skinny tires because they are tight, but the wheels slide right through em on a slope. (If I made them any tighter they would damage the hand!) Luckily I've got a good old "welded nut" with a bolt on the front wheels which work much better, though not as sexy or quick...

Can someone post a picture of their wheelchair brakes that work? A close up?

Dan Izen

[johnpaul215]

I got my wheelchair brakes, but have not mounted them yet. I have to make a connecting piece, and did not have time before this film started. Hopefully I can do it on my day off.

I might have an easier time because I have BMX off-road tires. I'll post pictures when I get them mounted.

@Mike Those PD-6 DVD-Ram discs are way too expensive to use for wheel chocks!

[Izen Ears]

Cool looking forward to it. I think the wheel barrow wheels are just too darn wide and spread the momentum too wide for the skinny brakes. I could perhaps fabricate a wider "brake pad" and that might help. Maybe I should just switch to BMX wheels. But 20" is too tall, I wonder if 16" bike tires are as sturdy, who knows maybe they're more sturdy than 20"-ers! I went with the beefiest tires I could find, which apparently they use as wheels on helicopters, so I knew they would never burst.

Dan Izen

I'll try to add a photo soon Dan. My wheelchair brakes work great, I have GT BMX 20" wheels with an "off-road" type of tire.

RVD

[johnpaul215]

I got my wheelchair brakes, and did some quick and dirty work on some scrap aluminum stock to make mounting blocks. I just need my mounting hardware to arrive from 8020 and I'll give them a try.

@Dan before I put on the 80's mags, I was using 20" spoked wheels from an Oxy-Acetelene cart. I don't know what your cart weighs (heck, I don't know what my cart weighs), but they were pretty stable. If the 16" ones are of good quality, they should be stiffer than the 20" ones. The only thing I wonder is if they would be more of a kids "toy" bike. I figured that my BMX wheels were made for the abuse of freestyle/BMX riding. A 200lb rider flying down a hill and over jumps etc is a pretty good amount of force. The current Issue I have is that I bent my axels a bit. They are front wheels that were made for support on both sides. I just spun them in and support from one side. We did a feature that required rolling through corn fields with lots of corn on the ground, and that beat the heck out of my cart. When I get a break I am going to look for, or make, some sort of reenforced axel that can take the mounting on one side. I know something exists because some BMX bikes use a single sided fork. It's just a question of possibly making something more functional myself. The 20" wheels do give you the ability to roll right over lots of things that smaller wheels can not. Maybe that's not an issue for you, but it seems to help us out a lot.