Wheelbuilding questions tips and ponderations

So, notes to future self:

Don’t leave the dishing too late; fixate on one variable and the others sneak off while you aren’t looking.
If the nipples are less than finger loose, then they are not going to be exacting any force on the wheel. Tighten them to only just finger tight with …. your fingers. Using an electric screw driver is too wild, doing it one turn at a time will drive you mad.
Where you have a dishing gap, it’s the rim that moves, not the hub - double check you’re moving the rim the right way (especially if you a have a lefty loosey righty tightly/ east west issue 🙄)
If you don’t (yet) have a truing jig and are relying on an old fork, chose one without ‘lawyer lips’, or file the fuckers down.
For dishing, find a nice doughnut shaped rest to place the wheel on. That expanded styrofoam one over there behind the box in the corner looks ideal ….
All spoke length calculators are not the same; try and get a cross reference for the hub and rim data you’re relying on.

Keep going and don’t overthink it.
 
doctor-bond said:
So, notes to future self:

Don’t leave the dishing too late; fixate on one variable and the others sneak off while you aren’t looking.
If the nipples are less than finger loose, then they are not going to be exacting any force on the wheel. Tighten them to only just finger tight with …. your fingers. Using an electric screw driver is too wild, doing it one turn at a time will drive you mad.
Where you have a dishing gap, it’s the rim that moves, not the hub - double check you’re moving the rim the right way (especially if you a have a lefty loosey righty tightly/ east west issue 🙄)
If you don’t (yet) have a truing jig and are relying on an old fork, chose one without ‘lawyer lips’, or file the fuckers down.
For dishing, find a nice doughnut shaped rest to place the wheel on. That expanded styrofoam one over there behind the box in the corner looks ideal ….
All spoke length calculators are not the same; try and get a cross reference for the hub and rim data you’re relying on.

Keep going and don’t overthink it.
Click to expand...
Indeed. A tweak here, a tweak there. Constantly checking radial, lateral and dishing. All good stuff. 👍
 
Just a few thoughts that might help....

Buy a cheap screwdriver hex bit (10p market stall) and file a 3mm point into the middle of it....stick it in a little cheapo electric screwdriver....slower the better. That way you start with all your spokes the same depth in the nips....and its far quicker start.

No, you dont need a dish tool, but as some of you are finding/ working out, keeping a relative point is not always that easy.....especially as if you use something hard / fixed on a jig or fork, you risk scratching the rim if its got a bit of a wobble on!

Check dish early....

As for tension....sadly thats were art and experience takes over a bit. Tensioning a wheels with a guage exactly right, won't build you a gteed straight wheel...especially if your using preloved rims! Tighter is better than loose, but you dont need to gorilla it...else it can be curtains for the rim after just a few hundred miles on the road.

Flag any really tight spokes with tape (to ensure your turning the nip, not winding the spoke) and always always always de-tension wheels are re-check. Just put it on the floor (carpet under spindle obvs) and lean on the rim all the way round....both sides. The ping is the nips slipping back round in the eyelets.....your wheels now not true again!

Keep an eye on your vertical trueness too! Often pulling a kink out can ruin that, unless you balance off your tightening on the other side (180o) of the wheel. An easy tool to check is a credit card wedged i to a saw cut in a little block of wood...simples. you can also use it to stand next to the rim to really check for true....and its easy to swap sides at that point with it.

Lay your spokes in piles with a label "drive side" etc.....why? When you finished turning the wheel round 6 times, will you remember which pile was on the left?....i cant.🤣
 
Tootyred said:
Just a few thoughts that might help....

Buy a cheap screwdriver hex bit (10p market stall) and file a 3mm point into the middle of it....stick it in a little cheapo electric screwdriver....slower the better. That way you start with all your spokes the same depth in the nips....and its far quicker start.

No, you dont need a dish tool, but as some of you are finding/ working out, keeping a relative point is not always that easy.....especially as if you use something hard / fixed on a jig or fork, you risk scratching the rim if its got a bit of a wobble on!

Check dish early....

As for tension....sadly thats were art and experience takes over a bit. Tensioning a wheels with a guage exactly right, won't build you a gteed straight wheel...especially if your using preloved rims! Tighter is better than loose, but you dont need to gorilla it...else it can be curtains for the rim after just a few hundred miles on the road.

Flag any really tight spokes with tape (to ensure your turning the nip, not winding the spoke) and always always always de-tension wheels are re-check. Just put it on the floor (carpet under spindle obvs) and lean on the rim all the way round....both sides. The ping is the nips slipping back round in the eyelets.....your wheels now not true again!

Keep an eye on your vertical trueness too! Often pulling a kink out can ruin that, unless you balance off your tightening on the other side (180o) of the wheel. An easy tool to check is a credit card wedged i to a saw cut in a little block of wood...simples. you can also use it to stand next to the rim to really check for true....and its easy to swap sides at that point with it.

Lay your spokes in piles with a label "drive side" etc.....why? When you finished turning the wheel round 6 times, will you remember which pile was on the left?....i cant.🤣
Click to expand...
Good tips for sure. As mentioned, I'll be doing another front-wheel in a few months, and, having seen all these tips here, hopefully, I'll be much better at it and equipped with more knowledge to get it right. My weak spot seems to be overtightening, but I get everything else to within 0.5mm.
And then again, I'm putting a new hub into a used rim, using the same spokes, cut down and re-threaded, so I don't make it easy for myself lol!
👍💯😉
 
Spoke rolling always seems a little desperate.
Unless you spend thousands, it's not a patch on factory.
We'd only use ours if there's no other option.

Why do you need to cut more thread?
Larger hubs?
On a 3x wheel, you can increase the flange by 10mm without seriously affecting spoke length.

It's rim depth that's the problem.
 
we had a cast one in the workshop years ago, but it hardly got used. Ive often wondered about the £100 jobbies you see..if they are actually any good? I can't see they can really apply enough pressure to really press a thread....or are they more a die in that form....ie loosing metal to make the thread?
 
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