[pnj]

Building a 24 inch wheel, new hub/spokes/rim. It's 3 cross.

it went together really easily but I haven't tightened the spokes up yet. I have a slight hop and some slight side to side.

I had a difficult time with the third and fourth round of spokes, getting the nipples on evenly.
Should I take off each spoke and put them back on with the exact same amount of twists?

or is there another way to get the hop out?

I do have a truing stand but it's kind of a POS and my skills are seriously lacking....

 

[Nick]

If you take time when tensioning you SHOULD end up with a round, true wheel.
I like to get the wheel laced and then thread all nipples evenly, 2 full turns each, then 2 more each, then 1 each, etc. until close to tight.

If you have a hop, you'll want to pull it in. Make small adjustments over 4 or 6 spokes to pull the rim back to being round.

Once the wheel is tensioned and semi-true, start working on the dish. Don't always think about only tightening spokes to make corrections. If you need to adjust to the drive side, start by loosening non-d.s. spokes slightly and take up that slack on the drive side. When the wheel is true and round, continue tensioning evenly in small steps. If you're new to building this isn't the time to rush the process.

If you already have half the spokes half-tight, back them out and bring every spoke to tension somewhat evenly. Also, use your stand. You won't get a good result trying to do this by eye.

 

[pnj]

Hmmm.
*edit*
OK, I have the wheel built up.

I think it's dished correctly. I have a dishing tool but I may not be using it correctly.. but from what I can tell, it looks right.

I have some small hops and very little side to side movement. For the hops (which I think I should fix first?), should the truing stand part rub evenly on the entire outside of the rim, if the rim is evenly spaced from the hub?

I keep slowly tightening the 'hop' part of the stand and where it rubs the rim, tightening (1/8 to 1/4 turns) the nipples. But I feel like I keep chasing this hop all around the rim and not actually getting anywhere.....

now what?

 

[w00dy]

Fix hops first. They take much coarser adjustment to fix than side-to-side slop.

If the wheel is too tight, try loosening low spots first. If there are no severe low spots just go around and loosen everything that isn't on a hop.

 

[w00dy]

Fix hops first. They take much coarser adjustment to fix than side-to-side slop.

If the wheel is too tight, try loosening low spots first. If there are no severe low spots just go around and loosen everything that isn't on a hop.