So we tangent to wheel stands. After using, maybe a dozen+, Park TS-2. stands, VARs and Treks and a bunch of others over the decades I can comfortably say that any stand's dishing capability is completely dependent on the operator and not on the stand's design. Sure many stands seem to have axle support arms that move in concert with each other as well as rim indicators that do also. But the slop in the bushings, the flex in the arms, the inprecision in axle placement, the drift from actual centering as wheels go through the stand, the over tightening that most wrenched do to secure the wheel, side forces due to spoke tensioning attempts all contribute to shifting stand centerlines and wheel placements. To those who do this stuff daily you know that you can install a wheel, true it, remove it and reinstall it and have the rim indicator be a different distance from the rim, only a few moments later.

So when I say "I wouldn't trust a frame to be a dishing tool." it comes from watching the unexperienced or those who don't really think about what they do with each effort. A dishing tool is just another possibility of a gage. But in comparison to a stand, the lack of many moving and flexing parts reduces the chance of shifting contact points. I have found that even the most basic dishing tools (like the Park folding or the table top stack of quarters) can be far more reliable in repetitive checks. And this is one of the hallmarks of a gage.

Having said that, and to return to a statement I started but with broader range- poor tools used by skilled people get better results then good tools used by hacks. (and not saying any one here is a hack) Andy.