[Closed] PSA Park spoke tension meter £35 @ wiggle

Bah all gone

Read what wheelpro has to say before blindly following these.

You must measure your batch if spokes dont assume they are the od in the box there are variances the tool doesn't account for.

You can end up with a big variance in expected tension if you don't on Stan's it could be fatal too the rim

[i]You must measure your batch if spokes dont assume they are the od in the box there are variances the tool doesn't account for. [/i]

Sorry, can you elaborate?

I've built a fair number of wheels and always use the Park tool to make sure tensions are even. I'm not slavish to it (ie. I'll accept a small variation in tension to get a rim that's true) but it helps if they're close and also within the accepted range for the type of spoke being used.

Certainly makes building a wheel quicker and easier for an amateur.

Ribble doing them for £35 now.

http://www.wheelpro.co.uk/support/tensiometers/
Fill yee boots.

Synopsis bending moment measured referenced to a chart by x sectional area which is variances by the od at the measured section

I use the wheelpro manual and use a park spoke tension meter. I'm fully aware that the value may not be accurate but like wwaswas I find it good for checking the tensions are even(ish)

As Musson says, a tension meter is a good way of getting even tension and, for someone new to building wheels, will get you in the right area. He also suggests the Park tool.

Without a means of checking them a tensiometer can only give you an approximation to the numerical tension and sometimes they can be a long way out.

If you want to give one a go then the low cost Park Tools tensiometer is as good as anything, it's a simple design with not much to go wrong.

Some people use a tensiometer to check that the spokes in the wheel have equal tension, I prefer to pluck the spokes.

Ta trail_rat.

I think for me this is the key bit;
[i]
Some people use a tensiometer to check that the spokes in the wheel have equal tension, I prefer to pluck the spokes.[/i]

I tried the 'pluck' method and it was time consuming and with my wooden ear a bit hit and miss.

I accept that the tensionmeter is only an approximation of the actual tension in the spoke but really only use it for evenness and for getting tension in the right ballpark.

I use one too.

Without it, especially with really light road rims, it's possible to build perfectly straight wheels with hugely out of wack tensions. Alternating between truing and tensioning gets a true wheel with as near as possible even tension. Even if the spokes were perfect you'd still get a variance from some parts of the rim being stiffer than others. And all you need is a reading in the correct range as you're going to go back and add/remove tension to true it anyway, you wouldn't adjust tension as your final step.

I don't really understand his argument though, obviously thinner/thicker spokes will affect the tension readings, but they'll also affect his guesswork when squeezing them, or the tone produced by plucking the spoke, they're all fundamentally measuring the same thing which is how easy that particular spoke deflects. It's not the tension meter, it's the spokes.

I have one I use it . Mainly for Stan's rims

I'm just pointing out that an amateur should not blindly aim for a given value without understanding what they are trying to achieve and the tools flaws.

Also tinas if you buy spokes by the box they are all from the same batch so when you build a wheel it should have no variance in spoke tone on the same side.

£35 at Ribble cycles.

I do it by listening to the pitch of struck spokes.
Have done for years and never had a failure yet.

Imo the park guauge is fine for checking even tension but prefer the Dt one for accurate results but as ive not tested either with a test rig it may not matter

I also check my tension by pitch, and if I want an idea of absolute tension then compare to a known good wheel. Though I've also used a chart giving absolute tension against pitch. Helps if you're not tone deaf, but then I'm used to tuning a musical instrument.

If as it appears the Park one is only useful for relative tension, then not much use for those of us who can do musical pitch. ISTM using a tension meter would be more trouble and time consuming than plucking spokes.

I'm not musical in the slightest so do rely on my Dt guage when doing high end wheels. And how do you tell by pitch the spoke tension in nm ?

Similar way you tell it by measuring the bending moment.

Be referring to a chart.

The dt one is no less susceptible to the same issues as the park one btw so be aware when using it. Good practice to measure your spokes with the vernier before starting out.

I do it by listening to the pitch of struck spokes.
Have done for years and never had a failure yet.

This for me too.

I also check my tension by pitch, and if I want an idea of absolute tension then compare to a known good wheel. Though I've also used a chart giving absolute tension against pitch. Helps if you're not tone deaf, but then I'm used to tuning a musical instrument.

So you'd know that you can get the same note from different diameter strings at different tensions?

So it's subject to exactly the same problem as a gauge that measures by deflection.

Absolute tension is not as critical as relative tension. You can get a good feel for an acceptable absolute tension without the need for measurement. After that tonal testing will give you an even tension around the whole build. At least that's my cod thinking on it.

[quote=thisisnotaspoon ]So you'd know that you can get the same note from different diameter strings at different tensions?

Yes of course (though I don't really do stringed instruments I understand the concepts). But if you want absolute tension then you simply adjust for that in the same way you do for a meter measuring bending deflection - I used a chart for that, though if I really wanted I could do it from first principles. It's certainly not a disadvantage of the musical method compared to the meter method.

Though I still agree with Stoner that absolute tension isn't the most critical thing.