I've never taken classes at Bikes not Bombs, but three years ago I decided to build a new rear wheel for my commuter. After screwing up the lacing, I finally used my membership to go to several of their tool time evenings. I RSVP'd, they ask you to so that they have an idea of how many people are coming, I mentioned I was building a wheel and they made sure to borrow the spoke tension meter from the bike shop and bring it to the "Hub". I worked one on one with of of the mechanics. They would point out/demonstrate what I needed to do and then let me take it from there, occasionally checking to make sure I hadn't drifted out of control.
It's been nearly three years and the wheel has never needed truing. A far cry from the first pair, and only other wheel set, I built about 25 years ago.
After three weeks I had a