Bicycle Mechanics - spoke/nipple odd question- please help!

im relacing a chris king hub which got demolished in a race. i used to have 294mm cx ray spokes with standard nipples. i recently bought 293mm dt rev. spokes to save money and i got the shorter length because the spokes were running out of threads and could have even used a bit more tension. anyway, when relacing with the 293 spokes im having the hardest time ever getting the 4th set of spokes to thread on. its too tight. ive built a few wheels before and am pretty decent but have never experienced this. would longer nipples solve this problem? should i just buy new spokes of 293 mm length? i did not think 1 mm difference would make it so damn tough but it is. any help would be great

You're probably off by one-hole when lacing up the 1st two spokes on the rim. This causes one spoke on the 2nd pair to be too short and one too long.

You're probably off by one-hole when lacing up the 1st two spokes on the rim. This causes one spoke on the 2nd pair to be too short and one too long.

That's a commonly made mistake. Looking at the rim side it looks like you have 2 too long spokes followed by 2 too short spokes.

you guys may be right, but i just undid everything, save for the first set of spokes. it looked good to me so i rebuilt it... to no avail. maybe ill take it totally apart and restart.

if all else fails, ill buy 14 mm nipples instead of 12 mm nipples. however, is there a difference between the standard 14mm nipples and the pro-lock hexagonal nipples? ive never used either. will either/or allow me to build the wheel up if, in fact, the spokes are a tad to short (wich i hope theyre not).

thanks

also, while im at it. my rear wheel needs to be be rebuilt. im supposed to use 294 for the drive side and 296 for the non drive side. since i have 293mm spokes, and i plan on buying 14mm nipples if the front wheel doesnt lace right, would buying 295mm rear non drive side and using 293mm drive side spokes with the longer nipples work? please be pretty certain of your answer. im trying to minimize my costs here and if it sounds preposterous, id just shell out for the right sized spokes and use 12mm nipples. as per usual, any advice would be great.

buy the right stuff and do the job right. 1mm shouldn't totally prevent you from building the wheel unless at 294 you were already rounding it down. Are you using a nipple driver to build the wheels?

im using a screwdriver to build the wheels. i guess ill go buy the right stuff today. unless there are any suggestions... anyone need 293mm spokes?

fyi-i just found out that the threads in the longer nipples start at the same place as the 12mm nipples, they just protrude farther starting at the rim. so in my case, they would not help