Having built the wheel using the magazine instructions that were supplied,i found using double sided tape to hold the spokes in worked well as did the tweezers supplied for pressing the spokes in. I agree that with the tension that there is movement but i found it was beneficial to use thumb and second finger to hold the rim and forefinger to keep the hub in place on the jig.

Al

Hi Steve, if you resize your pics to 600 x 450 pixels and ensure they are no larger than 140kb when being uploaded then they'll appear on your posts. This will save members having to download them to view....

Regards

Alan

Hi,

Just a thought but I'm starting to wonder if there has been two different batches of spokes or hubs sent out? it seems as though some people are having a lot of trouble with this 3 x pattern and suggesting that the spokes are incorrect while others seem to preform this task in a fairly straight forward manor surly if they were the same then it would be the same experience for all?

just thinking out loud

May.

Hi Roy

I'm a bit unclear on a couple of your points. What do you mean, when the assembly is turned over? surely it remains on the jig for all the spokes in part 4, it's just that the second set point the opposite way and have to cross three spokes?

Cheers, Alec

Hi All

I have just assembled the test wheel spokes on the jig provided and found that when the first layer of spokes has been fitted on the jig the wheel will lay flat on the outer ring but as you add the second row the outer rim will lift.

This is what I did, I placed the first set of spokes in position and turned the outer rim slightly to tension the spokes making sure the heads in the hub are flush with the hub rim.

I then started to add the second row and here's where it gets tricky to keep the spokes in position the outer rim will want to lift by a couple of millimetres. I did not need to push on the centre hub but found that holding the outer rim in the position it wants to lift too all the spokes dropped in there correct positions and I then added the holding rim fixing it with the screws provided.

If your unlucky enough to have a couple move it is possible to loosen off the screw by a couple of turns on the area concerned and use the tweezers to reset the spokes.

Hope this helps.

Andy

no more waffle good luck all

I don't understand this thing about the outer rim rising from the jig. My hub was firmly secured on the jig, and the rim was then taped to it. I had no such problems. I reckon the whole thing took about two hours to complete.

Thanks Al, will look again when I get my issue 5 spokes. Thanks to this forum and reading other trials and tribulations, I do not think I would ever have got it right.

Ohhh boy. That was a right weekend. Don't really know what happened, but I am one of those who had been having trouble with spoking the wheel. Every time I tried I ended up with only two crossover points.

Then last Saturday the package with parts 5 and 6 arrived. I was going to give it another go before regretfully cancelling my subscription.

Started with the lower layer of main spokes from issue 4, 3 in a row covering the area above one of the 'legs' on the jig, turn the jig 90° do the same for the new 'leg. Repeat until I had all 4 'legs' done.

Then start with a single in the upper layer covering all 3 lower spokes. First one went in quite easily, but the hub centre was obviously pulling in that direction.

Went to the opposite side to even out the stress, couldn't get anywhere near. Went to take out the first and noticed something for the first time. The spoke I had installed in the upper layer was not sitting correctly. The only point it made contact was at the very end, the angle was too tight.

Took it and the remaining spokes, set the angle nearer to 90° with a pair of pliers, and they all went in.

All part 4 spokes are now in the correct pattern and the hub doesn't move. Great, now I can move on to part 5. So that is what I decided to do Sunday morning.

Fast forward to Sunday lunchtime. 140m3 of Blue Air, Blood, Sweat, and yes even Tears later and I can't get any of the new spokes to go in. Tried it all ways. First one's good, but can't get the second in for love nor money. Never sure if I was doing it right as that part of my hub rotates 360°, so I could never be sure the first one I was putting in was going to the right hole. Ended up tipping my work box over. Screwdrivers, screws, decals, and small parts from R2-D2, the Delorean, and the Jag, all over the floor!

Was ready to call it a day. Nothing done all day, migraine coming on, feeling sick. Got it all tidied away, watched some of season 2 of "Arrow" again.

But I really can't stand giving up on anything. so 10PM last night, tried again. Quarter of an hour later, had quarter of the wheel done. Can't explain what changed, why everything went wrong during the day, but was fairly easy at that time of night. (Yes I can, I'm a Vampire )

Used every spoke I could find - and will admit there may be an 'A' and a 'B' which I have temporarily mislaid - but am still two of each short. Looks like I am going to have to call CS at lunchtime after all, but at least it's to ask for more spokes now, not cancel the sub.

In my case, Roy, I'm pleading ignorance. This is the first time I have ever had to do anything like this. I'm not a car modeller in the main, and although I have bought one or two in the past, I can't recall finishing even one.

But I must say that the end results are well worth it, and now I have one under my belt, the other 4 will be much easier now I have the confidence of knowing I have done one already.