Homemade Truing Stands - Materials

[John the Monkey]

Hi all,

A bit of a niche question, but if any of you built your own truing stands, what did you use for the uprights and axle holders?

I have chipboard and some cut joining plates respectively - not happy with the latter at the moment, so I'd be interested in other people's choices, and what you think of them.

 

[Gravity Aided]

Steel or aluminum would be my choice. Wood tends to bend a bit, and chipboard would be hard to join. Metal seems the most stable. I get along wiith metal. Wood and I can't seem to work things out. Back end of a disused bike can work well. That is what I first used, with electric cable ties as indicators. Didn't like those results, so I brazed a couple of nuts on the chainstay and used the bolts for centering. Not much of a job, but did the trick until I found a wheel truing jig in a sale. I saw a fellow today riding a bicycle with the rear wheel out of true in about 4 places. The back end shook about so much. It was quite a spectacle.

 

[neil_merseyside]

I got a block of wood and drilled a hole for the cut down steerer of a set of old forks - I spread these to 140mm and use equal spacers on a long skewer to allow any size axle. I have drilled and tapped 5mm holes at rim level for the telltale indicator - a simple bolt is all (pair if needed) - a mate is letting me have a pair of DTI (dial test indicator,) guages when they fail calibration but they haven't failed yet...
Flip wheel to confirm rim central - I guess a bit of mounted rear triangle would do instead of forks too!
Dishing tool is an old roofbar with a plain hole for axle and tapped holes for rim level bolts, simply flip rim and see if gap is even - rim either sits on bolts and axle is shy of hole one way, or axle sits in hole and rim touches only one bolt, or it's bob on!

 

[Colin_P]

I used some spare steel angle which I cut and welded. A basic device but it works very well. Pictures say more...

 

[bpsmith]

I put the bike on my stand and adjust the brake blocks until they partially rub, then tru away until the rim clears all the way around. Then adjust and repeat until the blocks are almost rubbing the whole way around on both sides.

Never let me down tbh. Wheels spin forever now and feel ultra smooth on the road.

 

[John the Monkey]

Thanks all.

For now, I've put some spare spacers on the axle of the wheel I'm building, which has taken the looseness out of it.

Unlike most of you (it seems) I'm happier working wood than metal - the chipboard has been fine up to now, although I think I'll use MDF for version two.

Mine;

Front Wheel in Truing Stand by John the Monkey, on Flickr

The upright nearest the camera is in a set of holes spaced from the other for front hubs. Nearer the camera are a couple of slots allowing that to be spaced at 130mm or 135mm for rear wheels. It's very much based on the plans in Roger Musson's wheel building book, along with my dishing gauge (a flat triangle of ply, cut out to allow space for the hub & spokes, against which I hold a steel rule to touch the locknut).