Wheel Truing: Getting Rid Of Hop?

I guess I've been lucky with all my wheel builds to date bc I've
never had do deal with hop.

But now I've got about 1/8" of hop in a wheel I just laced up.

Not having a lot of luck getting it out.

Is there a methodology beyond the obvious?
--
PeteCresswell

On Mar 19, 9:24 am, "(PeteCresswell)" wrote:
I guess I've been lucky with all my wheel builds to date bc I've
never had do deal with hop.

But now I've got about 1/8" of hop in a wheel I just laced up.

Not having a lot of luck getting it out.

Is there a methodology beyond the obvious?
--
PeteCresswell

Gah - 1/8" is pretty big. Is it a larger area (like 1/3 of the rim,
peaking at 1/8") or a smaller area (like at the weld, like a poor
junction of the hoop)?

Cuz the possible solutions vary based on that answer.

Regards,

Peter

On Mar 19, 9:41*am, "D'ohBoy" wrote:
On Mar 19, 9:24 am, "(PeteCresswell)" wrote:

I guess I've been lucky with all my wheel builds to date bc I've
never had do deal with hop.

But now I've got about 1/8" of hop in a wheel I just laced up.

Not having a lot of luck getting it out.

Is there a methodology beyond the obvious?
--
PeteCresswell

Gah - 1/8" is pretty big. *Is it a larger area (like 1/3 of the rim,
peaking at 1/8") or a smaller area (like at the weld, like a poor
junction of the hoop)?

Cuz the possible solutions vary based on that answer.

True, and be comforted that a hop can be resolved a lot more easily
than a dip.

Do you have very light tension at the moment? If so then adjust spoke
tension the obvious way. If not then loosen the spokes first. If the
hop is truly in the rim and not caused by tension variations, then
take care to minimize the tension variations necessary to keep it true
as you bring the tension up.

The spokes at both ends of the hop are tighter than the rest, and one
or more spokes in the middle of the hop are looser than the rest.
Reduce the tension on all the spokes somewhat, by the same number of
turns. Then squeeze pairs of spokes together near where they cross.
This will permit you to easily ascertain which spokes are tighter, and
which are looser, than the rest. Equalize the tension of all the
spokes until all the pairs feel the same when you squeeze them. Then
true, while not exceeding 1/4 turn at a time on any spoke. As you true
and find runout and out-of-round, squeeze spoke pairs again,
tightening the ones that are looser than the others and loosening the
ones that are tighter than the others, again not exceeding 1/4 turn at
a time, until they are all at the same tension. Then true again. I
have found that squeezing pairs together is a very accurate way of
determining the spokes' relative tension.

On 19 Mar, 14:24, "(PeteCresswell)" wrote:
I guess I've been lucky with all my wheel builds to date bc I've
never had do deal with hop.

But now I've got about 1/8" of hop in a wheel I just laced up.

Not having a lot of luck getting it out.

Is there a methodology beyond the obvious?
--
PeteCresswell

Yes. Set all nipples showing the same amount of spoke thread, then
when tightening up, work around wheel by tightening every 7th spoke
(on 36 or 32, every 5th for 28). Done this way, the tension can be
brought up quickly without problems using the same number of turns
(usually 3 or 4) for each spoke, finishing with 1/4 turns.

On Fri, 19 Mar 2010 10:24:51 -0400, (PeteCresswell) wrote:

I guess I've been lucky with all my wheel builds to date bc I've never
had do deal with hop.

But now I've got about 1/8" of hop in a wheel I just laced up.

Not having a lot of luck getting it out.

Is there a methodology beyond the obvious?

You're going to have to go back and rebuild the wheel. Assuming that all
spokes and nipples are identical go back to where all the nipples are
threaded equally on the spokes (1 or more threads showing). The wheel has
some rigidity - spin it. Did the hop disappear? If not, then you have a
bad rim. Most likely if the problem is at the joint.

If there are no hops, then the trick is to tighten the spokes without
introducing a hop. If you have to tighten each spoke several turns, go
one turn at a time and go several turns of the wheel to get the spoke
tension you want. As tension increases, you may want to make that half
and then a quarter turn and go around several times.

Stephen Bauman

On 20 Mar, 00:09, thirty-six wrote:
On 19 Mar, 14:24, "(PeteCresswell)" wrote:

I guess I've been lucky with all my wheel builds to date bc I've
never had do deal with hop.

But now I've got about 1/8" of hop in a wheel I just laced up.

Not having a lot of luck getting it out.

Is there a methodology beyond the obvious?
--
PeteCresswell

Yes. *Set all nipples showing the same amount of spoke thread, then
when tightening up, work around wheel by tightening every 7th spoke
(on 36 or 32, every 5th for 28). *Done this way, the tension can be
brought up quickly without problems using the same number of turns
(usually 3 or 4) for each spoke, finishing with 1/4 turns.

Even when the rim is supplied distorted.

VISUALIZE the wheel as an egg not circle. The hop is the longer egg
side. idea is bringing the long side back toward the hub while
allowing longer spoke lengths on the opposite side.
draw this shape(s) play with the idea in head and paper.
procedure here is marking hop with felt pen.
hold pentip against cleaned (thinner then CHOH) rim brake surface,
brace hand then spin rim.
see a circular felt tip mark against an egg shaped rim/hop.
mark thehop's outside-outside points then add a coupla spokes both
ways.
do the same for opposite side.
use the tape and count method.
divide number of tobe adjusted spokes in halh count to middle.
loosen/tighten-on the hop side from =middle spoke then two adjacent
spokes then 3-4 adjacent spokes...keep count/use magic tape from WAL
do the opposite side.
obviuosly, there are refinements to this eg tightening more in the
middle then less as you tighten to the sides.
loosen some first-the tightening needs room right ?

on the beach
La Paz

Per thirty-six:
work around wheel by tightening every 7th spoke
(on 36 or 32, every 5th for 28).

That one's a "keeper".... never thought of that before, but it
makes perfect sense: once one knows that all the spokes are the
same length, minimize the number of spokes involved until the
number of turns is known.
--
PeteCresswell