Classic & Vintage - Think I'm finally getting good at this - wheel building success

I laced up my 5th (4th successful) last night. first time I didn't have to refer to the web or other wheels to make sure I got the pattern right. I don't have a truing stand so I waited until I got into work this morning and set it up in a spare fork with a dial indicator. I was a bit impressed with myself by how close I was initially. About 15-20 minutes later I had it within +/-.005 in trueness and hop! More than satisfactory for me but I am curious what is an acceptable tolerance for the pros out there?

Yay me,
-Andy

Congrats! But I can't answer your question as I am going to be building my first wheel in the next month or so, after re-reading the Brandt book.

Woohoo! My tolerance is a lot wider than that. I don't have a dial indicator. My goal is that the rim be truer than the tire.

Five thousandths of an inch!
I'm not sure if an electron scanning microscope can see that! :thumb:

Rim brakes +/- 1mm Hub brakes +/- 2mm I don't actually bother to measure, but if someone asked....

I've got dial indicators, but I save them for other tasks like machine setup and alignment (machining)

I'm with noglider, the tire often has variances larger than the rim.

Five thousandths of an inch!
I'm not sure if an electron scanning microscope can see that! :thumb:

You might be surprised. I had about .02" of hop in a couple spots and +/- .015 trueness when I started and it was visually obvious when spinning, especially the hop. But I could tell right away I was a lot closer than my first few builds.

BTW this wheel is a Campagnolo Victory Strada hoop laced to a C-Record front hub using DT butted spokes intended for my Guerciotti. Next up is the rear on a Record 8-speed hub. I chased my tail a bit on the last rear wheel I did but this one has given me a bit of a confidence boost:)

-Andy

Even tension is much more important than the deviation of the round/true when you are building a wheel.

Even tension is much more important than the deviation of the round/true when you are building a wheel.

"feels" good. But I know the co-op in Tacoma has a tension gauge. I plan on going out there next weekend to check my work.

Congrats! But I can't answer your question as I am going to be building my first wheel in the next month or so, after re-reading the Brandt book.

That's a good book Whatwolf. But also, check out this tutorial. Best one I've read. It really helped me when I did my first wheels.
http://miketechinfo.com/new-tech-wheels-tires.htm

"feels" good. But I know the co-op in Tacoma has a tension gauge. I plan on going out there next weekend to check my work.

If it feels good, probably it is good. I've built a lot of wheels now without the benefit of a tension gauge, and so-far, it's all good.:)

Congrats, Andy - you know, I think I'm going to attempt to do a wheelset while in DG. Lord knows I'll need to keep my mind occupied after I get bored of riding the same 18.5 mile road day in and day out ;)

I have Brandt's book, too, and I think it will be going into my pack-out.

DD

Once you've ridden on perfect-- and 5 thou is as close to perfect as we're ever gonna get in this vale of tears-- nothing else will do. Congratulations on spoiling yourself!

My problem's always been finding the start point, I finally figured out it is 4 spoke holes to the left of the hub logo for a drive-side 'push' spoke. Once I get that located, then it's all just counting by 4s.