T
Travis
Guest
For students, the very cheap, or just those who feel like making
something for fun, I designed and built a perfectly functional wheel
truing stand over the weekend in about two hours out of scrap wood from
my shed and about $10 worth of springs, wingnuts and bolts.
I'd looked online for designs of home made truing stands, but most
seemed to be overcomplicated and/or made from welded or machined metal.
I have neither the tools nor the time for metalwork, and I've got
plenty of old wood offcuts and some chipboard in my shed which I wanted
to use.
I don't have a digital camera, so you'll just have to see this in your
mind's eye from my description...
For the base I used a sheet of heavy chipboard I had laying around the
shed. MDF would have been fine, or an old sheet of melamime etc.
The wheel sits on the end of a U I made by joining two 40cm long and
one short piece of 2x4 pine. I made it wide enough to handle the back
wheel. Front wheels can be mounted in it also, you just need to use a
skewer from a back wheel and put spacers in. I wanted to make this as
simple but effective as possible, so decided against making it
adjustable to the different sizes. Similarly, since I only ride road
bikes, I didn't need to make it fit BMX or mountain bike or child sized
tyres. So its nice and simple. If I ever want to make a mountain bike
stand, I'll either spend $100 on a commercial stand, or another $10
making a second home made one...
The skewer ends sit in a groove I made by first drilling almost all the
way through the 2x4 with a 19mm spade bit and then drilled the rest of
the way with a 4mm drill bit. I cut right through the middle of this
hole, creating a perfectly shaped recess which holds the wheel securely
enough.
Lateral trueness is checked with feelers I made from spring loaded
bolts. I bought some 10cm long bolts with round ends from Bunnings. I
put a hex nut about half way along the bolt, then a washer, then a
compression spring, then another washer, then it passed through the
wood it was mounted on, then another washer, then a wingnut.
Tightening the wingnut compresses the spring, pulling the round bolt
ends away from the wheel. Loosening it lets it expand inwards. Large
adjustments are possible by repositioning the hex nut.
These bolts are mounted on another U I made out of thinner wood, which
was made of appropriate dimensions and placed in an appropriate place
for the feeler bolts to scrape the braking area of the rim at about a
45 degree angle to horizontal.
A third such spring loaded bolt was mounted on a vertical piece of wood
and positioned to touch the edge of the rim at 90 degrees (when fully
extended, otherwise it can be pulled right back out of the way with a
hex nut adjustment) to check radial trueness.
Total cost was a couple of hours of time on a saturday morning, bolts
were 3 x 55c, 9 washers were 6c each, wingnuts were $3 for a pack of 6,
springs were $5 for two and I had a third one laying around anyway, and
scrap wood from the shed plus screws and glue. My design only used 90
degree cuts, required minimal skill to make and only basic tools.
The nut and spring system allow quick but highly precise extension or
retraction of the bolts over a wide range. I was able to true the
wheel to a very high degree of precision, spinning it on its mount with
barely any light between the rim and the bolts and no scraping. I
can't see what advantages in either precision or speed would be offered
by an expensive commercial one.
I hope this description is useful to someone...
Travis
something for fun, I designed and built a perfectly functional wheel
truing stand over the weekend in about two hours out of scrap wood from
my shed and about $10 worth of springs, wingnuts and bolts.
I'd looked online for designs of home made truing stands, but most
seemed to be overcomplicated and/or made from welded or machined metal.
I have neither the tools nor the time for metalwork, and I've got
plenty of old wood offcuts and some chipboard in my shed which I wanted
to use.
I don't have a digital camera, so you'll just have to see this in your
mind's eye from my description...
For the base I used a sheet of heavy chipboard I had laying around the
shed. MDF would have been fine, or an old sheet of melamime etc.
The wheel sits on the end of a U I made by joining two 40cm long and
one short piece of 2x4 pine. I made it wide enough to handle the back
wheel. Front wheels can be mounted in it also, you just need to use a
skewer from a back wheel and put spacers in. I wanted to make this as
simple but effective as possible, so decided against making it
adjustable to the different sizes. Similarly, since I only ride road
bikes, I didn't need to make it fit BMX or mountain bike or child sized
tyres. So its nice and simple. If I ever want to make a mountain bike
stand, I'll either spend $100 on a commercial stand, or another $10
making a second home made one...
The skewer ends sit in a groove I made by first drilling almost all the
way through the 2x4 with a 19mm spade bit and then drilled the rest of
the way with a 4mm drill bit. I cut right through the middle of this
hole, creating a perfectly shaped recess which holds the wheel securely
enough.
Lateral trueness is checked with feelers I made from spring loaded
bolts. I bought some 10cm long bolts with round ends from Bunnings. I
put a hex nut about half way along the bolt, then a washer, then a
compression spring, then another washer, then it passed through the
wood it was mounted on, then another washer, then a wingnut.
Tightening the wingnut compresses the spring, pulling the round bolt
ends away from the wheel. Loosening it lets it expand inwards. Large
adjustments are possible by repositioning the hex nut.
These bolts are mounted on another U I made out of thinner wood, which
was made of appropriate dimensions and placed in an appropriate place
for the feeler bolts to scrape the braking area of the rim at about a
45 degree angle to horizontal.
A third such spring loaded bolt was mounted on a vertical piece of wood
and positioned to touch the edge of the rim at 90 degrees (when fully
extended, otherwise it can be pulled right back out of the way with a
hex nut adjustment) to check radial trueness.
Total cost was a couple of hours of time on a saturday morning, bolts
were 3 x 55c, 9 washers were 6c each, wingnuts were $3 for a pack of 6,
springs were $5 for two and I had a third one laying around anyway, and
scrap wood from the shed plus screws and glue. My design only used 90
degree cuts, required minimal skill to make and only basic tools.
The nut and spring system allow quick but highly precise extension or
retraction of the bolts over a wide range. I was able to true the
wheel to a very high degree of precision, spinning it on its mount with
barely any light between the rim and the bolts and no scraping. I
can't see what advantages in either precision or speed would be offered
by an expensive commercial one.
I hope this description is useful to someone...
Travis
