moleman76

I'm building a wheel and noticed that, on the tube side of the rim, where the spoke holes are drilled through, there are sharp metal edges and thin bits of metal raised from the surface. I'm guessing that as the drill was retracted after drilling the hole, a bit of the metal pulled back.

These will be covered by the rim strip, but I'd rather not tempt fate and possible flats from these sharp edges. (Had experience with that on another wheel)

Not really something that a file would reach to knock down. Thinking about putting a small wire wheel into a Dremel and giving it a spin to knock them down. Don't really want to put a grinding bit in, since I don't want to take "structural" metal off of the inside of the rim.

Suggestions?

cizzlak

you could use the wire like you mentioned. or a deburring tool, Noga is one manufacturer, depending on how "bad" it is. perhaps even a thin pumice stone. you have the right idea, as long as it isnt too coarse you should be gravy. and yes, good quality rim tape will do you a +1.

Al1943

+1
If you have a Dremel you can use a small tapered grinding wheel to de-burr those holes.
Save yourself many frustrations by using Velox rim tape, of the correct width, to cover the holes.

Al

HillRider

+ Many. Velox will cover the holes and protect your tube from nearly any roughness left on the rim. Install the correct width Velox and forget the Dremel, etc.

cizzlak

probably 17mm tape will work unless its a mtb rim or something. zefal makes good tape too. while we're dropping brands

Jeff Wills

Don't worry about it being structural. If you "soften" the sharp edges, you'll be eliminating stress risers. This is a good thing.

I've knocked them off with a rattail file. The narrow end is usually small enough to get at the bigger burrs. If you want to get finicky, you could wrap the file in coarse emery paper. I'm not that finicky, and I've never had a problem in this area.

Torque1st

The heads of the spoke nipples themselves will flatten the burrs around the holes. I still like to remove them. A larger size drill bit held in your fingers will cut off the burrs if used carefully. Using "finger power" will help avoid any significant metal removal. Make sure all the loose metal chips are removed from the rim.

p.s. Wrapping some tape of some kind around the drill bit will help protect your fingers from the sharp edges of the drill bit.

jsmithepa

Dremel tool with a wire brush attachment does a fast job. But if u do this, I would spray a clear coating afterwards, taking care no other part of the rim is contaminated with the clear coat (cover b4r spray). Let clear coat dry for 24 hrs.

dabac

If it's a single-wall rim you might well leave it as the nipples will squash and hide any burrs. But of course using a larger drill bit or a countersink before build-up would be a nice attention to detail.

If it's a double-walled rim and it's the holes in the wall closest to the tubes don't worry about removing structural material unless you're trying to deburr using a plasma cutter or something. A dremel should work fine, even if a good rim tape should be able to deal with it as well.

moleman76

Thanks for the comments.
Rim is double wall. "Flash" / burrs around the spoke holes are gone now (I ended up using a small, slightly conical bit in the Dremel), and rimstrip covers it all as well.
I'm thinking that "veloplugs" would have been a solution, also.

bellweatherman

If the rim has anodization on it, a dremel tool would really make things unsmooth and you would get "thud, thud, thud" when you would brake.

dabac

What? The OP is talking about deburring the spoke holes - and that's a far way from the braking surfaces.

DannoXYZ 

Remember, not de-burring drill-holes is what brought down the Titanic...