Seating and Stress Relieving the Spokes

[David White]

I am building a rear wheel and considering trying Sheldon's (RIP)
technique for stress relieving (see the section on this at
<http://www.sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html>) spokes. I have a spare,
old left crank arm. But I am wondering how much force/pressure to use.
Obviously, this technique cannot be calibrated but I am looking for the
experience of others who have done this. Or maybe others have
alternatives... Thanks.

 

[landotter]

On Mar 10, 12:16 pm, David White <[email protected]> wrote:
> I am building a rear wheel and considering trying Sheldon's (RIP)
> technique for stress relieving (see the section on this at
> <http://www.sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html>) spokes. I have a spare,
> old left crank arm. But I am wondering how much force/pressure to use.
> Obviously, this technique cannot be calibrated but I am looking for the
> experience of others who have done this. Or maybe others have
> alternatives... Thanks.

I remove the QR and place the axle on a block of wood and lean on the
rim till the spoke heads seat, working my way around. It's faster.
Don't use so much pressure as to taco the thing.

/puts on nomex underbritches

 

[daveornee]

I am building a rear wheel and considering trying Sheldon's (RIP)
technique for stress relieving (see the section on this at
<http://www.sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html>) spokes. I have a spare,
old left crank arm. But I am wondering how much force/pressure to use.
Obviously, this technique cannot be calibrated but I am looking for the
experience of others who have done this. Or maybe others have
alternatives... Thanks.

The goal is to make sure the spokes are seated and aligned as good as possible. You want to add significan additional tension in each of the two crossing spokes without plastically deforming them (leaving bends in them approximating the shape of the crank). If you look at Sheldon't picture you will see just about how far you should go.
Measure the spoke tension before you do it. Afterward measure again. If there was further seating and aligning the spoke tension will go down. I use a modified version of Sheldon's approach and I do it in several passes, measuring the resulting changes in spoke tension after each pass.... and bringing it back up to 100 kgf each time... until a pass no longer makes any change.
I then use the method that landotter suggest to further stabilize the wheel and check it for true, tension, and centering each pass again until there is no longer any change and the wheel is true, centered, and has good spoke tension balance and proper tension level as per the manufacturer's specification.

 

[still just me]

On Mon, 10 Mar 2008 10:29:36 -0700 (PDT), landotter
<[email protected]> wrote:

>I remove the QR and place the axle on a block of wood and lean on the
>rim till the spoke heads seat, working my way around. It's faster.
>Don't use so much pressure as to taco the thing.

Aren't the spoke heads already seated? Do you push the rim enough to
cause a "bounce and return" ?

 

[landotter]

On Mar 10, 5:40 pm, still just me <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Mon, 10 Mar 2008 10:29:36 -0700 (PDT), landotter
>
> <[email protected]> wrote:
> >I remove the QR and place the axle on a block of wood and lean on the
> >rim till the spoke heads seat, working my way around. It's faster.
> >Don't use so much pressure as to taco the thing.
>
> Aren't the spoke heads already seated? Do you push the rim enough to
> cause a "bounce and return" ?

I push the rim enough so the spoke head pulls flat against the flange.
Works for me. I am not a professional, your miles may vary, texture
may change from lot to lot.

 

[jim beam]

still just me wrote:
> On Mon, 10 Mar 2008 10:29:36 -0700 (PDT), landotter
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> I remove the QR and place the axle on a block of wood and lean on the
>> rim till the spoke heads seat, working my way around. It's faster.
>> Don't use so much pressure as to taco the thing.
>
> Aren't the spoke heads already seated?

you mean the elbow wire into the hub? they seat partially just with
wheel spoke tension, but not fully. as you might expect, increasing
spoke tension above that level seats them further. you want them to be
as fully seated as practicable so they will be as stable as possible and
thus less subject to fatigue bending.


> Do you push the rim enough to
> cause a "bounce and return" ?

yes.