SonexBuilders.net

I am about to put my remaining kit orders in and am undecided about the Machined Brake drums. What is everyone planning for their brakes?Even Sonex admitted that the standard brakes that come with the kits are inadequate.
Their only option is Machined Brake drums at $200 but checking out other builder sites and Sonex Talk the consensus of some is that the machined brakes are still not good enough .Some here have mentioned using or planning to use the O'brien
brakes http://www.tracyobrien.com/tobacftspc.html . Is anyone here considering hydraulic Brakes from Great Plains
http://www.greatplainsas.com/schbrakes.html .
Thoughts?

I installed the great plains discs. I wanted differential brakes. They fit pretty good but do require some fabrication. I also installed dual hand operated master cylinders in the center just on front of the spar tunnel.

Cant speak for the machined drums. I wasnt happy with the pressed metal drums, boy did they fade and not work at all when going downhill :o . I swapped to Great Plains discs and was planning differential toe brakes, but to get going I just used one master cylinder with the same handle used for the cable brakes to operate it. They work great with the one handle and will remain that way for a while :D .
As for the Tracey Obrien setup. A friend has those on his sonex and is thinking of changing to Great Plains and using the Tracy Obrien brakes on a much smaller aircraft he's planning on building.

Steve
Sonex 892 VH-ZSX

Granted the stock brakes aren't the worlds best but I've been OK with them so far. I try not to put myself in a position where I "really" need them.

Charlie Sonex N168SX

I've got my fingers crossed that the stock setup with the machined drums will be enough. When I built my forward fuselage I installed the crappy stamped drums but just replaced them with the machined ones. Since I'm at an airport with a 4200' paved runway I'm hoping they will be sufficient.

I didn't like the idea of a hand break from the first time I found out that this is what you get but then I've never used a hand brake other than on a bicycle,and maybe it would be just fine but I can certainly think of situations where differential breaking would be a great friend.A strong crosswind on a soft field comes to mind.
I found this in the Experimenter http://www.eaa.org/experimenter/article ... 6_womb.asp
and this one had actual drawings for fabrication purposes http://www.loeff.de/toebrake.html sweet :D

The differential hand brake I installed is just two levers side by side. I don't intend to use them differentially at any speed, just to maneuver in tight spaces on the ramp. I may switch over to toe brakes if I see an elegant design for the sonex.

fastj22 wrote: I don't intend to use them differentially at any speed, just to maneuver in tight spaces on the ramp. I may switch over to toe brakes if I see an elegant design for the sonex.

Fast, are you modifying the tailwheel steering to allow it to swivel freely?

Steve
Sonex 892

I switched to nose dragger. But I had a C150 with direct steer nose wheel, and locking one main wheel would allow you to pirouette around on the ramp if you pull full elevator. Albeit not as elegant as a Citabria. I assume the Sonex will behave similar to the C150.
I currently fly Diamond DA20s and Gobash 700s that have castoring nose gear so you have to steer with the brakes.

fastj22 wrote:I switched to nose dragger. .

Oops I assumed taildragger :D