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YZF-R1M brake caliper how-to guide

An almost life-size YZF-R1M brake caliper made by needle felting. Go ahead and take up the challenge!

Let's try making a brake caliper by needle felting.

It is the brake caliper which adjusts a bike’s speed enclosing the disc plate that is attached to the wheel that spins at high speed with disc pads.
We have completely reproduced an almost life-size brake caliper mounted on the YZF-R1M! It is almost life-size and made of felt!
Why don’t you take up the challenge and make it according to the pattern and the how-to videos?

Required items

Wool

You will need the following colours of felt to make the YZF-R1M brake caliper.

YZF-R1M brake caliper

Tools you will need

Required tools

In addition to the tools introduced in the guide to successful felting even for beginners, you will need to following tools to make the YZF-R1M brake caliper.

[1] Wire [2] Packing materials [3] Pins [4] Masking tape [5] Scissors [6] Pliers [7] Permanent marker [8] Ruler

Pattern

Pattern

In order to make each part, match the shape and size to the pattern. We have provided the pattern in a PDF file so please download and print it for use.
When printing out, adjust the printing method to get the correct measurements by checking the scale on the paper with a ruler.

Download the brake caliper pattern

Introduction

Check the finished firmness

As you poke the needle into the wool, it becomes more and more firm. You may wonder how firm you need to make the wool.
The firmness of the 1.8cm ball made from 1g of wool as shown in the felt ball how-to guide in the Basic Needle Felting Lesson is the standard firmness for making the YZF-R1M brake caliper.
If the felt is not firm enough, it will be off-kilter when assembling or the finished item will fall apart so it is important to work the felt to make it firm.

Check the finished firmness

1 Make the pad pin and the piston bore

Make the pad pin and the piston bore

Make the pad pin

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Cut the wire to 50mm. 

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Wrap the wire in silver grey.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Straighten out to match Pattern A.

Make the piston bore

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Make two each to match Patterns B and B-2 with base felt.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Fill the space between B and B-2 with base felt as shown in Pattern B-3.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper
  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Cover with dove grey and poke until it gets to the same size as B-3.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

2 Make the caliper body

Make the caliper body

Make the caliper body

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Make a shape with base felt to match Pattern C.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Poke until it gets to a thickness of 5mm.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Poke the white area of Pattern C with base felt until it gets to a thickness of 9mm.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper
  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Poke dove grey onto Pattern C-3.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Make a shape to match pattern C-2 with dove grey.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Make two of these.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Bend part C-2 on C-2 as described in Pattern C and poke to attach.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper
  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Thread through the rolled packing materials until it gets to a diameter of 5mm and poke.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Check that the pin goes through the hole you have made.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Poke part B-3 (piston bore) into Pattern C B-3 area.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Attach firmly from the back, too.

Make the irregular parts of the caliper body

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Cut the pattern from cut 1 to cut 4.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Use dove grey to make the irregular sides.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper
  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Poke the cut pattern parts to match the shape.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Make the same shape on the other side.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Continue to make the indents on the sides.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper
  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Make the same shape on the other side.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Add a protrusion like the one on the screen to the parts you made on the left side.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Make a bevel as shown in Pattern C in Figure 1.

3 Make the caliper body sides

Make the caliper body sides

Make the caliper body sides

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Make a shape to make Pattern D with base felt.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper
  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Make two of these.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Poke the back of the caliper body that you made earlier.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper
  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Attach to the other one.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Take a pinch of dove grey to the indented part of part D and poke into the shape of a kamaboko fish sausage.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Attach at the position which is closer to the centre of the brake caliper than the indented part of D.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Attach to the other side.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Use dove grey to make a shape to match Pattern E.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Make four of these.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Attach to the blue area of Figure 2 (inside of caliper body).

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Attach to the other side.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Use base felt to fill in the gap in the red area in Figure 2 5mm lower than part D and E.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Use base felt to fill the other side in the same way.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Refer to Figure 3 and use dove grey to make indents that stick out 2mm before part D.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper
  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Use base felt to fill the other side in the same way.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Attach dove grey to the parts where base felt is visible apart from the inside of part D.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper
  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Attach dove grey to the back, too.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Mix black and silver grey and embroider C-4 in Pattern C.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Refer to Figure 4 and poke making the mark shape of the bottom of the piston bore with dove grey.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Poke a donut shape of 28mm in diameter, 2mm in height and 3mm in width with dove grey on the back of the piston bore.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Make a line with the needle under part C.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    One side of the caliper is complete.

4 Make the other side of the caliper body

Make the other side of the caliper body

Make the other side of the caliper body

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Use base felt to make a shape to match Pattern F with a thickness of 5mm.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Refer to Pattern F and attach the piston bore parts (B, B-2).

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper
  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Make the shapes in Pattern G-1 and G-2 in dove grey.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Make the shapes in Pattern G-3 and G-4 in dove grey.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Attach B to G-2 and B-2 to G-1 by winding so that they stick out at the top by 2mm.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Attach the bottom of B to G-4 and the bottom of B-2 to G-3 by winding.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Attach B and the top of B-2 with silver grey.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper
  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Continue to attach the interior of G-1 and G-2 to the part 2mm from the edge.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Insert the needles into the colour body and make the borders clear.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Attach the circle on the piston bore cover of Figure 5 with grey.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    The finish is neater if you poke it so that the circle part is slightly indented.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Fill the piston bore gap.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Use dove grey between B and B-2 to fill in so that they are the same height as G-1 and G-2.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper
  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Refer to Figure 6 and fill the red area and the white area with dove grey to make them the same height.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Don’t fill in the blue area; leave it indented.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Add colour to part F F-3 with dove grey.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Attach C-2 to the blue area.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Attach dove grey so that F-2 is the same height as C-2.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper
  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Put on and attach dove grey so that F-3 is 10mm in height.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Attach to the other side, too.

5 Make the banjo bolts hole and the indents on the sides

Make the banjo bolts hole and the indents on the sides

Make the banjo bolts hole

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Make the shape to match Pattern H with dove grey.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    In order to make part H into a ring, wind balled up packing material round H and join.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Poke the join with dove grey from the top.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper
  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Attach part H that you just made to the top of the base felt.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Attach part H that you just made to the top of the base felt.

Make the indents on the sides

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Refer to Figure 8 and make the indents on the sides with dove grey.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Make the same indents on the other side, too.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Make a shape to match Pattern I with base felt.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper
  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Make two more the same.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Poke firmly to make a deep indent of 2mm in the semi-circle in Pattern I.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Make a shape to match Pattern I-2 with dove grey.
    Make two of these.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Wind I-2 round the bottom of I and attach.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Attach dove grey all over.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Add and poke a sliver half way round the semi-circle so that it is the same height as I-2.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Attach the donut shape with the dove grey used on the bottom of part I.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Attach a donut to each of the bottoms.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Make a shape to match Pattern J with dove grey.
    Make two of these.

6 Attach the parts to the caliper body

Attach the parts to the caliper body
  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Make a shape to match Pattern K with base felt.
    Make two of these.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Attach K to the back of part F.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Attach K to the opposite side, too.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Attach part E to the bottom of K that you just attached.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Attach part E to the bottom of the opposite side of K.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Attach the sides of K to part I.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Attach firmly.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Attach part I to the opposite side of K, too.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Attach part J to the gap between the caliper body and part I.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Attach part J to the opposite side too in the same way.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Fill the gap between part I and part E with dove grey.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper
  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Fill the gap on the opposite side in the same way with dove grey.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Make banjo bolts hole H-2 to match the pattern.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Attach H-2 to part H.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Refer to Figure 9 and add a sliver of dove grey and blend 2mm under part H.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper
  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Refer to Figure 10 Left 3 and make caliper body sides with base felt.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper
  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Poke dove grey on top of the base felt.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Refer to Figure 10 Left 1 and make the side shapes with base felt.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Poke dove grey on top of the base felt.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Check if part I is firmly attached.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Attach with dove grey on the top middle of the hole so that it is the same depth as the bottom middle.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Attach all the base felt that is sticking out, including the front and back, with dove grey.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper
  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Attach dove grey to the donut on the inside in the same way as the other side of the caliper body.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    This is what it looks like so far.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper
  • YZF-R1M brake caliper
  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

7 Assemble the caliper body

Assemble the caliper body

Assemble the caliper body

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Fix both sides of the caliper body with pins.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper
  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Put base felt in the gaps that appear in the sides and attach while tidying the shape.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper
  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Check that the space from part C to F is 45mm.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Turn it over and fill the gap with base felt.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Attach dove grey to the parts where base felt is sticking out.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Attach dove grey to the parts where the base felt is sticking out on the opposite side, too.

Finish the details

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Mix silver grey and black 2:1.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Attach the mixed sliver to part I and the hole part of H.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper
  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Sew right around so that the piston bore corners on both sides are bevelled.
    Firmly attach the needle from both sides of the corner to form the corners properly.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    The caliper body is complete!

8 Make the brake pads - Finished

Make the brake pads - Finished

Make the brake pads

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Use brick red to make the shape to match Pattern L.
    Make two of these.

Make the hole part of the brake pad

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Use brick red to make the shape to match Pattern L-2.
    Make two of these.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Attach L-2 so that it is the red part of Pattern L.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

Make the friction material

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Mix silver grey and black 3:1.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Make a shape to match Pattern L-3.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Attach 2 L-3 to part L in the position in the figure.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Attach 2 L-3 to part L in the position in the figure.
    Poke gently and in a shallow manner so that the colours don’t go through to the back and get mixed.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper
  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

    Set the caliper body and brake pad.

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper

Finished!

  • YZF-R1M brake caliper
Done! Done!

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