Do you need a jig to dish a wheel?

Jamey
Jamey Posts: 2,152
edited October 2008 in Workshop
As the title says, really... Is it possible to accurately dish a wheel without a truing jig/stand?

I can see how you could do lateral truing by eye, and maybe vertical truing as well, if you stretch a rubber band between the chain stays or something, but can you get the dishing right just be eyeballing the wheel in the frame?

I'm planning to start learning wheelbuilding soon... Am I going to make it ten times more tricky by doing it without a stand?

Comments

  • Big Red S
    Big Red S Posts: 26,890
    A wheel dishing gauge makes it an awful lot easier to dish without a reliable stand, and they're a lot cheaper.

    Any work on a wheel becomes substantially easier in a truing stand.
  • Jamey
    Jamey Posts: 2,152
    Hmmm... Christmas present idea.
  • redvee
    redvee Posts: 11,922
    I've seen it done freehand and was amazed at how accurate it was. I've got a Park dishing thingymajig which I no longer use.
    I've added a signature to prove it is still possible.
  • meagain
    meagain Posts: 2,331
    I do them in the frame for which they are intended. When simultaneously re-spacing axle and juggling chain line (for a fixed) "custom dished" seems a good idea!
    d.j.
    "Cancel my subscription to the resurrection."
  • You can make a dishing tool from a bit of stiff cardboard.
  • IMHO, a dishing stick is a luxury but a truing jig will make you life so much easier.

    I check dish by putting them in the frame both ways round and noting any offset.
  • Jamey
    Jamey Posts: 2,152
    Ok, next question...

    Do you need to shell out for something expensive like the Park TS-2 or can you get away with a cheaper one like this, or maybe something like this?

    Edit: here's a better link for that first stand:
    http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/src/froogle/ ... nd-866.htm
  • There is no denying the park jig is lovely. However you can buy either of the other jigs AND the ingredients for a pair of top notch wheels for the same money.

    I built my first jig out of wood. I used an old caliper as a guide to trueness.
  • Jamey
    Jamey Posts: 2,152
    What is it about the Park jig that would actually make life easier?
  • dennisn
    dennisn Posts: 10,601
    Jamey wrote:
    What is it about the Park jig that would actually make life easier?

    if you buy the Park top of line jig you don't need a dishing tool. Plus it is about quality.
    Cheap truing stands work but Park makes a really good solid product. Up to you what
    you buy. If you plan on doing lots of wheels go Park. If you're only planning to true a wheel or two and maybe try building one, a cheapie will do. Get the best one you can afford.

    Dennis Noward
  • Monty Dog
    Monty Dog Posts: 20,614
    The Park Stand is overkill for the majority of home mechanics - the art of a straght, round wheel is in the skill of the builder, not what you clamp it with - you can build wheels properly without either - a frame or fork makes a pretty good building jig. If you want to know you've got the dishing right, turn the wheel around in the drop outs - if I even possessed a dishing stick, I doubt I'd use it. The £40 jig you listed is ideal if you want something to start with. If you want something serious you'd be better off with something that you can fit a dial-gauge to either size, or try and find a professional shop-jig second hand for less money. Whatever you do, don't buy the basic Park one, it's bent steel painted blue! There's a bit of snobbery with some tools, Park could make a blue bog-brush and someone would pay silly money for it.
    Make mine an Italian, with Campagnolo on the side..
  • Jamey
    Jamey Posts: 2,152
    How does turning the wheel around in the drop-outs work then? Surely if the problem was too subtle to spot one way around it's going to be similarly tricky to see the other way around as well?
  • andrew_s
    andrew_s Posts: 2,511
    If the wheel is 1mm out of dish, it moves 2mm relative to the frame when you turn the wheel round.
    If it doesn't move enough to be easily measured with a ruler, the dish is good enough.