Ok i have just purchased a Park Tool spoke tension meter. The chart inside shows the type of spoke the thickness of the spoke of which mine are DTs comps double butted centre section being 1.7mm, this gets me into a column then I am not sure what the numbers are? I am suspecting spoke lenght? anyone confirm. 🙂
Doc where the conversion table is approx halfway down.
http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/wheel-tension-measurement
The numbers down the column are the tension in the spoke listed in kg. This is needed as rims have a maximum tension that they can be built to.
The tension then converts to a reading on the tensiometer which is the number in the left hand column.
eg, if you have a 1.8mm round spoke on a rim with 90kg tension limit then you want to take the tensiometer to just over 20
Ahh with you, thanks for your reply.
How well do tension meters work when your building wheels?
Do you use them to get the whole wheel roughly to a correct tension as a whole?
Or can you tension each spoke to an exact tension and it will guarantee the whole wheel is true?
You iterate the tension and the trueness to get to the point where the tensions are equal and the wheel is true. Just getting the tensions even won't automatically mean a true wheel though
Agree Matthew h its a real balancing act that will test anyone’s patience that is of course dependant on how perfect you want it 🙂
In my experience, the park tool is not very good for an accurate tension read. It is good for comparing spokes though. I bench marked a pair of factory build hope hoops and build to that. It reads high but seems to work if that makes sense. With time, I can get the tension to plus/minus 5% and lateral 0.1mm, vertical 0.25mm.