Originally Posted by
onespeedbiker
I had some spokes cut and re-threaded at an LBS and it was a disaster. Apparently they had a Phil Wood machine but no one really knew how the use it. The first 36 15g spokes were to be cut by about 5mm, but the operator used a 14g die so the the threads were barely there (they eventually replaced these with new spokes, but not until I returned them). The next 36 spokes were 2 mm apart and 18 needed to have the previous threads picked up; they used the right die, but the threads varied in length, so it was a real chore to even up the tension from the start.This may not be the norm but keep in mind what you are asking is outside the norm of some LBS.
Many folks who own the Phil Wood machine really don't know how to use it - even moreso - change its setting or do any custom mods with it.
It's primarily because they really do not understand how it works beyond the basic principle.
I know two owners - one who has never reset his machine - another who has only started to do so within the last two years after going twenty years without a reset.
They fear changing to 15g - and getting it right - and then fear even moreso not being able to get it back to 14g correctly. They find it intimidating...
One wasn't even aware of the manual method of long-threading a spoke on old Phil Wood machines - and they're the owner of one of the first hundred machines made that have large dies and lots of slack that allows for 16mm worth of threading.
=8-)