Dave Ornee said:Quoted message said:In this case, there's daylight showing through the seam... I
thought that was a little weird, but it wasn't too bad in the
truing stand. I'm assuming this is something to worry about...
BTW, this was a rim hanging around in the shop I work at. $15.
Quoted message said:Daylight showing through the seam doesn't sound good, but depending
how they secured it, there may be a couple of gaps that wouldn't be
a problem.
The rim joint does not need to be secured but only parallel so that
when the wheel is tensioned there is no discontinuity in alignment.
Spoke tension on a 36-spoke wheel puts the joint into about 1000lbs
compression. The joint was another piece of lore formerly passed on
by experienced wheel builders. The spokes adjacent to the joint must
cross each other in the spoke pattern or the rim will separate. No
one seemed to notice that radial spokes didn't cross but maybe they
took the convergence angle toward the hub as sufficient to hold.
Quoted message said:Sometimes the splice doesn't fill all the way around. It sounds like
you are mastering the build issues. It is better to put the " slop"
of rim problems in the radial direction, as long as they are in the
range you are talking about. I would ride the wheel and see how it
goes. Keep watch over tension and irregularities around the joint
and spoke holes.
If the joint is not a parallel cut it will deform and not be easily
trued, if at all, once spoke tension is up. As I have mentioned
often, a rim could be made of 36 segments with unsecured joints at the
midpoints between spokes, with no filler piece, and work properly as a
wheel. No doubt this would make assembly difficult but with a line of
tape around both sides of the rim this could also be done. The joint
is a non functional artifact but attracts much attention from people
who don't understand its function in the wheel. Once built into a
wheel it has no effect. The filler piece is needed for wheel building
and the event of losing all spoke tension, but it has no effect (aka
impact) on wheel performance.
Jobst Brandt
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