Originally Posted by
sjpitts
So I went to my local LBS with my TM-1 in hand. They had a TM-1 for shop use. He said it was a couple years old, but he had never calibrated it.
We grabbed a couple of wheels and compared spoke tension readings. My consistently read high. A spoke that read 21 on mine, read 17 on his. I will also note that mine felt a lot stiffer to move compared to his. Almost like mine was binding or rubbing as it moved.
The possible binding makes me think I should see if I can send it back. I don't know if I should try the ebay vendor (a large ebay seller of bike stuff) or try Park directly.
PS: I now sort of wished I had saved my money for one of these IceToolz meters.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Icetoolz...ht_4657wt_1147
You can adjust the binding yourself such that is operates freely without any twist. The TM-1 is a perfectly good tensionmeter - just cheaper - meaning more maintenance. That is all...
I have two - one which has done about 600-700 wheels already. I just keep it calibrated....work continues without missing a beat. The other has done about 20 wheels...only use it when someone borrows #1 from me.
I also have the classic Wheelsmith tensionmeter....in terms of todays dollars - it costs a lot more. It has gone through about 300 wheels without any calibration whatsoever and is only off by about "1" (estimated) on its dial. You pay for higher quality, that is typically what you get. That's all there is to it...
I don't really use it anymore simply because I like the better resolution readout on the TM-1 dial.
Don't give up on your TM-1, just get it calibrated - make a calibration wheel - and then continue onward.
One more thing, you don't need the fancy higher cost tensionmeters...the TM-1 is all you really need.
=8-)