I have used the brake pad method a few times on junker bikes that came from the trash that I was giving away. Bought a Park TS-2 and a base for it last year and only recently started to really use it. The only way to get good at something is to do it a bunch of times, and so far I have worked my way through 24 wheels that have been sitting in my spare parts pile. Had two that had failed rims that are going to scrap.
That was enough practice to move onto the wheels on the bikes that will be flipped come spring. Having the professional stand let me concentrate on the truing task and not the tool, which I found nice. The stand and base cost under $200 and I figure it already paid for itself in this first years use.
Of course I had the money to buy it from the previous years bike flips.
