Originally Posted by
matchy99
Hope everyone is having a great summer cycling season. Building my first pair of 32 hole 406 wheels. Based on the following details, which would be the better choice; 2x or 3x? Reading other threads, builders have noted problems with some 3x builds due to hubs with high flanges. My hubs have a flange height of 58; while not BMX small it's not large like IGH hubs (I.e. Rohloff, Alfine). Spokes and nipples used will be DT Swiss Champion straight guage and DT Swiss Squorx pro-lock brass nipples (15mm length).
The main problem I've noticed with smaller wheel builds is the angle where the spoke enters the nipple - you want it to be close to radial. I don't understand the terminology that calculator uses so I don't know which value you should be minimising. I know 36h 1x works well for a geared motor hub, because I built one earlier this year, but that's considerably larger than your hub. I would guess 2x is better than 3x for 32h, but it's just a guess. Note that the shape of the nipple and drilling of the rim (or shape of eyelets where fitted) will influence the maximum possible nipple deflection, beyond which you start kinking spokes. I've seen it suggested that where spoke kinking is an issue you can just deliberately kink the spoke near the nipple so it comes out of the nipple straight and then aims for the hub, but I'm not sure how effective that would be. But when it comes down to it, most 20 inch wheels are inherently stronger than larger rims, unless you're building for lightweight mini-BMX racers, using aluminium nipples and low spoke count on skinny rims, so it's probably not critical anyway.