# brakes brakes brakes!!!



## danl (Feb 16, 2007)

i'm doing les mis and currently working on our barricade... it is in two pieces that join together to form a 20' long, 6' deep and 8' tall (at it's highest point) barricade... the two pieces will lock together in the center of our turntable and have to support 15 fighting and dying students climbing around on it... it is constructed on two separate 10x6 wagons and built of framing and a bunch of old furniture, doors, etc. the standard stuff...

each half will use swivel casters, because each half is used in other parts of the show and will turn on their own (without the help of the turntable)... i'm unsure of exactly which wagon brakes to use and how many... i'm worried...

thanks for any suggestions...


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## Footer (Feb 16, 2007)

The best kind of brakes are drop pin breaks, though you will have to drill holes in your stage to make these possible. Your other options are the rosco lifting variety or good old human weight. Also, using swivel casters on a revolve can be a difficult thing to do. Be sure with you line the piece up and finally lock it is that the way you do it gets all the casters going the same direction otherwise your stage crew will find it a bit challenging to start spinning. If you can drill into your stage, pins are the best way to go hands down.


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## danl (Feb 17, 2007)

eeek - the drop pin type sound a bit scary... again, i'm lining up and joining to large set pieces to form one on the center of the turntable... in an ideal world, the holes for these pins would always end up in the same place, but i'm sure that will never happen... rosco brakes are good, though? not sure where we got the wagon brakes that we have on hand now - i don't even know what their weight limit is... i looked on them, but they don't say...


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## Van (Feb 17, 2007)

Try Destacos there is a wide variety to choose from.


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## Footer (Feb 17, 2007)

Van said:


> Try Destacos there is a wide variety to choose from.



Also a great choice


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## highschooltech (Feb 24, 2007)

I agree, the best thing to use would be drop pin brakes. I honestly don't know where you would go to get them or what it around you so i can't help you out with that.


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## Brilliant2007 (Feb 28, 2007)

I will jump on the band wagon with a few of the others, but only if it is using Destaco brakes!! Hehe! 

They have always been my favorite for this type of situation. Well, short of a huge automation budget!

BRANDON


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## timokay (Feb 28, 2007)

I also have some brake issues, and have a couple of Rosco brakes that are just not going to cut it. My truck is 12' x 9', has an interior on it, and is assembled with another truck, creating a rather large rolling set. Plus, the actors have to dance on it.

Pinning into the floor is out of the questions. Does Destaco make a larger brake than Rosco? Its the pad that seems to be lacking, I want more of a footprint for stability.

Thanks.


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## Footer (Feb 28, 2007)

timokay said:


> I also have some brake issues, and have a couple of Rosco brakes that are just not going to cut it. My truck is 12' x 9', has an interior on it, and is assembled with another truck, creating a rather large rolling set. Plus, the actors have to dance on it.
> Pinning into the floor is out of the questions. Does Destaco make a larger brake than Rosco? Its the pad that seems to be lacking, I want more of a footprint for stability.
> Thanks.



They do, but if you want a much larger footprint you are going to have to break out a welder and weld a piece of C channel or angle iron on it. If you did it correctly (Depends of the model) you could bolt it.


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## Les (Mar 1, 2007)

I think you can rule out drop pin brakes because it is a revolve (most likely rented, and it will NEVER be in the same place!). I did Les Mis a few years ago and the design of your barricade sounds A LOT like ours. I'm not sure of the exact brakes we used, but they were of the lifting type. They were placed about 5' apart and worked quite nicely. Of course, we had the Agriculture Department build us steel wagons with heavy casters for everything.


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