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Having had some wheel problems lately I’ve been wanting to build a truing stand. Well, tonight I did.
The stand above is based on the one in the Wheelpro Wheel Building Book, except made with 3/4″ plywood and unfinished. I still have to make some alignment tools and get another 1/4-20 machine screw for the base. Here is a photo another Wheelpro stand with some tools, built by a cabinet maker and with a melamine finish, originally from this page.
I think that I probably spent five or six hours building the stand, but as it only cost about $32 and I enjoyed making it, I think it’s worthwhile. An hour and a half or so was spent working the steel for the dropouts, but as I don’t have any real metal working tools it was a bit difficult. I also had a problem with a bit of tear out on the plywood, which is likely because I wasn’t paying attention to the direction of cut versus top layer grain, and had a multi-purpose blade on my saw. I’m also not great at woodworking, and hadn’t done anything with a table saw in at least two years.
It could have been a lot cheaper too, but being a Sunday when I went to purchase parts I ended up buying everything at Lowes. This meant $4.66 for four flat-head machine screws, $7.67 for the steel used for the dropouts, and $6.27 for the 2′ x 2′ piece of birch plywood. There was also the $4.35 countersink that I bought, then stupidly tried to use on steel, completely ruining it, relegating it to the trash can. Yes, I had to buy steel because I did not have any scrap pieces sitting around the house. At least now I do…
It also would have been possible for me to build a simpler stand, but this one seemed to do everything I wanted. The right dropout slides to accommodate different width hubs, it works fine with 26″ or 700c (29er) wheels, and it’s quite sturdy. This week I’ll have to order some replacement nipples for my wheels and find some time to make the alignment tools, then actually figure out how to tension a wheel after undoing it. That is, actually use the stand.
Cool! I notice that the one by the cabinet maker has two slots under the one arm, allowing you to adjust to different hub widths. What are you doing to accomplish the adjustment?
Also, you should consider dishing. Without a dishing tool you can still accomplish correct dish using the truing stand. You just have to mark the position of one side of the rim, then flip the wheel and compare. A correctly dished wheel will put the rim in the same spot in both positions.
Do you plan to replace all the nipples at once… or one at a time? Since this is your first wheel, I’d recommend one at a time.
Jesse: Using the slots on the platform. ;) You just can’t see them on that photo because with a 135mm hub in there (the rear one you see there) it’s set wide enough that they aren’t visible.
I’m planning on fashioning a dishing tool out of cardboard and some manner of pointer. Since it’s essentially just a crescent shaped tool with something to rest against the nut, it shouldn’t be a big deal to make easily.
As far as the nipples go, the wheel is now loose and once the nipples arrive I’ll swap them. Then I’ll tension / dish / true the wheel. No, I haven’t done it before, but it shouldn’t be too big of a deal.
Well, you build complex electronic stuff I don’t understand, so you should be able to build a wheel. Looks like you’re all set. Have fun! Feel free to email me if you have any questions.
Jesse: Thanks very much. We’ll see… I’m probably going to give it a go tonight.