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Whilst I probably don’t really need one of these I’d quite like one. When building wheels at the moment I get them tensioned approximately in my wheel stand, but then put them on one of my bikes to measure dish.
It looks like for sub £25 I can get one - I can see 2 on Wiggle - an x Tools one and a Park Tools one. Normally I’d go park as a no brainier, but the x Tools one looks more sturdy in the pictures.
Thoughts / what have people got?
I made one out of scrap wood and an old broken spoke, cost was FREE...
Nice - assuming you are capable of vaguely accurate woodwork. Not my strongest skill. Would your tool manage for 26 / 27.5 29” wheels though? I assume you use the spoke to measure the distance from the rim to the end of the hub?
I followed the instructions for the dishing tool from Roger Musson's great book on wheel building...all my bikes are 26" wheels, but I would imagine that it would be adequate for 27.5" and 29" as the tool has a fairly wide footprint...the measurement spoke can be moved forward or back to measure from the appropriate point on the hub.
Got the X-tools one from wiggle and it's fine. The middle bit needs a suitable hub bit to sit over or butt up to but once on it's fine and nice and stable.
Has anyone else noticed that the brown road sign symbol for a ballroom looks like a dishing tool?
I didn’t know there was a brown road sign for a ballroom - seems like quite a niche road sign requirement?
The wooden one above can also be made from cardboard.
I have the X-Tools one (it was called Lifeline when I bought it) and it is good. For that price I couldn't be bothered to make one
Assuming you only need to get the rim centered, there is no need to put the wheel on the bike, you can just flip it around in the truing stand.
If you really need an offset wheel (i.e. Cannondale Ai), then a dishing gauge is a must-have.
I use two empty jam pots on a table to support the rim on opposite sides, then I pile coins at the axle, flip the wheel and voila, free, and doesn't take space or time/skills to build.
I've built 5 wheels so far with this method.
I have a dishing gauge that came free with my Minoura wheel truing stand but I prefer to just flip the wheel in the stand.
Same here - just flip the wheel in stand.
The dish tool arrived yesterday - should do the job ok. Feels solid but light and nothing really to go wrong. Bit expensive for what it is but a nice to have.
I made one a la Roger Musson's design but will try stacking coins next time.
Next time will be quite soon as my front wheel on the commuter was vandalised whilst i had a couple of pints- tossers stole the QR then stamped on wheel as they could'nt remove it pressumably (unhooking the V-brake noodle would have helped). Amazingly the front axle was sheered 🙁
Flipping the wheel in the stand gives an indication of double the off centre measurement. A wheel dishing tool indicates 4 times the off centre measurement.
I just take the wheel off the stand and place it on a flat bit of kitchen work top. Place the rim with the valve hole against the wall side of the worktop and the rim touched against the surface. Stack up anything to fill the gap from surface to rim at the near side. Flip wheel and the difference is four times the off centre measurement just like a dishing gauge.
Flipping the wheel in the stand gives an indication of double the off centre measurement. A wheel dishing tool indicates 4 times the off centre measurement.
Say what now?
+1 for cardboard, last one was a 2 minute job with scissors and they are just as accurate
What druid and mick said.
Say what now?
You're determining dish by reversing the wheel in a jig. You don't know where the absolute centreline is. One way round you wind in a pointer to touch the rim and then you reverse the wheel and it leaves a gap to the pointer position. The gap you have measured is double the adjustment you need to make.
If you use a dishing tool, when you adjust it to touch on side A of the wheel, you adjust the centre position so that the tool touches at two diametrically opposed points. When you flip it over and place the tool on side B, the same thing is happening. The tool can have a gap of double the adjustment you need to make *at both diametrically opposed points*.... but what you do is you press one of the ends of the tool onto the rim and the gap at the other end opens up to be "double the double offset" - four times the adjustment you need to make.
It is an analogue multiplication that means you're not diddling around with dial test gauges - you're looking at a big old gap and there's very little ambiguity.
I won’t claim to understand the above, but I like my new dish tool. Had the wheel into the right place within 10 mins flat.