Dishing Tool

IMO, you don't need a dishing tool UNLESS you are building wheels with someone else & they are using your truing stand, or vice-versa ...

kdelong said:

I had a salesman at a newer LBS trying to sell me a dishing tool. I have never used one and never needed to. My truing stand self centers on the hub bearing locknuts, not on the flanges, so when I build a rear wheel I just adjust and true the rim to be in the center of the truing stand. I have never had a problem with this. Now this salesman tells me that I am doing it wrong without a dishing tool. I don't even know how to use a dishing tool so I don't know if he is correct or not. Is my current method OK or do I really need a dishing tool to get the rear wheels correctly dished? As I said, I have never had a problem with the dish of a wheel when I build one, as far as I know.

Picture is worth a thousand words:

http://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=82

You will get the picture(s) and thousand (or so) words, both better than I can give. However, it sounds like you were doing it right from the start. I like my dishing tool, even though I have a TS-2 + centering gauge. I find the dish tool easy to use and quite fast.

kdelong said:

I had a salesman at a newer LBS trying to sell me a dishing tool. I have never used one and never needed to. My truing stand self centers on the hub bearing locknuts, not on the flanges, so when I build a rear wheel I just adjust and true the rim to be in the center of the truing stand. I have never had a problem with this. Now this salesman tells me that I am doing it wrong without a dishing tool. I don't even know how to use a dishing tool so I don't know if he is correct or not. Is my current method OK or do I really need a dishing tool to get the rear wheels correctly dished? As I said, I have never had a problem with the dish of a wheel when I build one, as far as I know.

Well you aren't doing it 'wrong' when the goal is to center the rim between the axle ends and your wheels are that. Even truing stands that center/dish when you use them, like the TS-2, still get unadjusted and ideally you should check the stand with a dishing tool(checking the wheel you built and adjusting the stand, not using the dishing tool on the truing stand) every once in a while. If you have a TS-2, Park makes a centering gauge.

Thanks Alfeng, Dave, and Peter. Now I know exactly what a dishing tool is for and realize that I don't need one. I don't have a Park Trueing Stand but the one that I do have came with a centering gauge so I should be OK. Maybe if I start building wheels for other people I'll reconsider getting one, but for now, as long as my wheels keep coming out good, I'll continue to do what I have been doing.

kdelong said:

Thanks Alfeng, Dave, and Peter. Now I know exactly what a dishing tool is for and realize that I don't need one. I don't have a Park Trueing Stand but the one that I do have came with a centering gauge so I should be OK. Maybe if I start building wheels for other people I'll reconsider getting one, but for now, as long as my wheels keep coming out good, I'll continue to do what I have been doing.

That's the goal, good wheels.