Lots of great info on the Barn. Thought it was time to pay a little back for all of the good help. Had to replace brake linings as part of front end rebuild and reached same place as most "what to do about arching the shoes?" Looked at options, looked at having done locally, sending out or finding a used grinder. Ended up on the net and found myself on a free patents site looking at 1931 patented grinders, The simplicity of some were elegant others more complicated but all had really good explainations of how to remove material to adjust the shoe to the drum. The info caused me to remember a jig I had made for my daughter when she was making lofting forms for her kayak. It uses a 2X10 platform (platen) and a belt sander to allow you to sand the wood to the line on an arc. Dug it out of the barn. Sure enough the shoe would lie on the table and could be swung in an arc to remove material where needed. Better yet the sander was positioned to accept the width of the shoe with out adjusting. I have attached some pictures you can easily make your own. Made it from scrap in about an hour. It is important that the sander be plumb to the platen. The sander I use has a flat side it sits on and the clamps allow adjustment & hold every thing plumb & square. Sander is a dual speed, I use low speed & a 60 grit belt. Only takes seconds to get shoe to match the drum. No dust no mess. Make sure shoe edges are flush to backing plate. Pictures are after sanding. Sander is a Hitachi SB-75 (B) from Lowes. Web site was "free patents on line" and best instructions were on a C.A. Bankhead grinder patented Nov. 10, 1931 patent 1,830,868. Go to the web site & enter the patent # and it will come up. Tim
Budget brake shoe archer
- Thread starter Tim B.
- Start date
1931 flamingo
Well-known member
Neat!!!
Paul in CT
Paul in CT
Brentwood Bob
Well-known member
So you are basically freehand sanding the shoe to the correct radius? Bob
The shop manuals I've read say that the shoe should be slightly high in the middle so the center of the shoe contacts the drum first and the shoe arcing attachments that used to be on drum lathes were set up to do this. You would dial in the actual drum diameter after machining and the machine would automatically grind for center contact.
I also learned a trick from a former employer that is an even cheaper shoe arcer! Just stand the shoe up on a piece of wood (both ends sitting on the wood) and smack it in the middle, on the face of the lining, with a dead blow hammer until it just rocks slightly in the drum. We did this a lot with no problems
I also learned a trick from a former employer that is an even cheaper shoe arcer! Just stand the shoe up on a piece of wood (both ends sitting on the wood) and smack it in the middle, on the face of the lining, with a dead blow hammer until it just rocks slightly in the drum. We did this a lot with no problems
Basically, however there is a lot of control because of stability the table provides and the shoe backing plate is suprisingly stable to work with. The low speed of my sander is not as agressive for material removal as the high speed and the shoe material is resistant to wear so you really have to apply pressure to remove anything. You choose where to start to arch based upon the gap found when you place the shoe in the drum. The stability of the belt sander platen (the metal plate under the belt in the middle of the sander) provides a solid surface so you are less likely to gouge the shoe. make sure you stay on the plate area. You present the shoe gently at a low angle at the point on the shoe where you noted the shoe and drum start to gap when you checked the shoe in the drum. You then move the shoe against the direction of the belt movement rotating from shallow to deep (away from the middle & towords the end) applying light pressue. It is possible to mark a scribe line with a marker if you choose and work the line away. If you fit the shoe to drum after each pass and start with light passes you will develope a motion. It is similar to using a router table that uses a pin as a piviot for routing a patterned edge on a circular piece of wood. I considered installing a pin to pivot on but found I didn't need one. Interesting info from the patent I provided was that it showed where to remove stock if you had std replacement linings or oversized. Standard linings require very little material removal from the ends to about a third of the way towords the middle. The sanding pattern will tell you if you are holding the shoe perpendicular & flat to the belt. I was really nervous at first because it was a new lining I had just installed but figured if you could sand wood this way why not brake shoes. I thought about building the patented machine but tried this first and it worked fine for me. Tim
40 Deluxe Check out the machine I gave the info to get to. It is a series of rollers that makes an even arc, the gage it used is similar to an AAMCO expanding dial vernier but with out a dial gage, It pivoted on a center pin and you adjusted a series of pins that the shoe followed that matched the diameter of the drum. Another I found had a pair of rollers on each side to guide you in & out of the sanding drum no measurement, you just compared cut to drum to match. Both patents were from 1931. I figured that if that was what was in use when my car was built it should work today so I tried it. Tim
Merc Cruzer
Well-known member
I just had my front brake drums turned and the stopping is poor to say the least. Lines have been bled...not an issue. New shoes all around and the contact points are now on the outer edges of the shoes. After reading through this post, the belt sander sound like a good option, since no one locally still does brake shoe arcing or for that matter has a machine. Does
anyone have anything new to add to the original post?
anyone have anything new to add to the original post?
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Merc Cruzer
Well-known member
I was really looking for additional input for other members.
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I would just do it to the best of your ability but honestly this is NOT an idea I would post to others for a process to do . I do have several Arcer machines and do many brake jobs for folks.... but this is not anywhere near an accurate process in accuracy or safety. I arc shoes to with about .005-.007 and this is NOT the process to do it. You can and will probably ruin a linings in doing so and then your buying more lining to replace it.
Not trying to be hard line to your ingenuity but this is one to just keep to yourself and not share to the world on the forum in my opinion. There are better home solutions like even using a rounds fixed disk sander would be better than this (but not recommended) .Safety is also at issue here.
Larry
Not trying to be hard line to your ingenuity but this is one to just keep to yourself and not share to the world on the forum in my opinion. There are better home solutions like even using a rounds fixed disk sander would be better than this (but not recommended) .Safety is also at issue here.
Larry
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Merc Cruzer
Well-known member
If you were here I would bring them buy. Just finished the brakes, it worked perfectly and they are great...so OK I won't post it or the pictures.
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KR500
Senior Member
One drawback I find with people using an Ammco shoe archer is Ammco had three different shoe clamps. Since Model A Ford has no adjustment for shoes up and down, you must do the arcing on a machine which picks up the two shoe web holes. You could arc a shoe to correct drum diameter and find with a centering checking tool that the shoe is concentrically high or low to axle or spindle center. It would fit the diameter of the drum nicely, but would touch on the top or bottom of the drum first. You would want the shoe to merely pivot out and the shoe anchor and move out straight following the roller slide.
Kurt in NJ
Well-known member
Mike V. Florida
Well-known member
You need to make some kind of holder for the shoe so that it swings in a fixed arc. Then you will need to make the holder adjustable so the distance from pivot to the sander, the radius, is exactly the same as 1/2 the diameter of the drum.
john in illinois
Well-known member
I tried freehand sanding shoes on my roadster. I made a nice jig on my welding table with a 90* machinist angle plate. There is more to it than making it fit drum. I had very poor brakes in front.
Our local NAPA store has an ammco and arches shoes. Does a lot of truck shoes.
He ground mine and it was like night and day for pedal effort and stopping.
ps hydraulic brakes.
John
Our local NAPA store has an ammco and arches shoes. Does a lot of truck shoes.
He ground mine and it was like night and day for pedal effort and stopping.
ps hydraulic brakes.
John
