Originally Posted by
eddy m
I like the Wheel Fanatyk meter. It's better and cheaper than a DT, and half the price of the digital version of the DT.
YOu need to measure tension to build a reliable wheel. back when we had 5 speed wheels, everyone went by feel and we broke a lot of spokes. The margin for error when tensioning a 10 speed wheel is so thin that no one can do it reliably with measuring.
A Park TM-1 is ok for amateur wheel builders, but the Wheel Fanatyk is good enough for quality control even for the best builders. The electronic dial is a little easier to use and cool, but maybe it's also overkill for amateurs.
em
The high-end high-cost tensionmeters are flat out overkill on the both the measurement side of things and the cost. Read my earlier post - in general, the material we are using to build wheels are "rough". Maybe not as rough as "rough stock" in the wood working business...
Bringing in those high end tools is like bringing in a metric tape measure to do house framing when the old American standard tape measure is good enough.
But hey, if you want to feel "elite" and have an awesome show piece, go right ahead and buy one...
=8-)