dishing a wheel
 

i am just getting ready to build my first wheel. do i need a dishing stick or can i just flip the wheel over in the truing stand.

gerry

I just got a dishing gage for Christmas last year but before that, I just flopped the wheel back and forth. It works fine.

Is the advantage of a proper dishing tool just closer precision, or does it offer some other benefit over flipping the wheel in the stand?

A dishing tool is more accurate, and easier to use if it works without removing the wheel from the stand. I put a couple of blocks on a table, place the wheel on the blocks, measure the height of the locknut, and flip the wheel over and measure again. Flipping the wheel in the stand is not accurate enough, especially if you have a flexible stand.

em

Flipping the wheel is close enough for the girls we go with. Well within 1mm accuracy just by flipping.

If I had a shop and was dealing with wheels all the time I would get one, mostly for qhality control on new machine made wheels, but for the home mechanic who trues every once in a while, its not necessary.

I learned to put it in the frame/fork and measure distance from rim to blade/stay on each side with inside calipers. I then take its reading with vernier calipers to get a numerical value and adjust close to even before final truing. I do that with the wheels on the bike too, soon to be with dial gauges that attach to axle/QR by morningstar tools.

I like doing it this way. It makes sense to me centering the wheel with its mate.