Yellow Beast

Good afternoon,

That's an inspired test rig. I hope my previously voiced doubts regarding the Park meter's accuracy haven't made you question it. If it's any consolation I usually assume that if your fingers feel slightly painful on the spoke key but you aren't rounding off the nipple, it's probably tight enough.

I do not recommend that method.
With that technique what you are actually judging is the torque require to turn the nipple. That value does not make a nice graph when compared to spoke tension. A well lubricated nipple can be quite easy to turn and you will over tension the spoke; a poorly/un-lubricated one will become difficult to turn early and the spoke will be slack.

Actually, machine built wheels use this, because it's simpler to build a machine that measures this torque whilst turning the nipples than one that measures spoke deflection.
Machine built wheels>>>>>>>>>>

wow. that was rather poorly calibrated to begin with. was the meter straight out the box or has it been used a lot?

Quite. I've had the meter for a while and used it for several wheels, but I take great care of all my tools, so it might as well be new. It's easy to feel how much more pressure I need to apply to squeeze the grips together. I'm pleased about this really because it means I now know I can add more tension to the wheels, which will make them stronger.

Very uplifting test indeed !
Vaseline for me is less appropriate than linseed oil for healing power and dimensional stability.
I have build almost much more than a hundred wheels but my tension meters is taking dust...
(I must say that I have perfect pitch)
Nice project.

I use Vaseline because that's what Rob Van der Plas says to use. When I built my first wheel I had two guides; like most people here, one of them was Sheldon Brown. The other was The Penguin Bicycle Handbook. I've used Vaseline since then with consistently good results, although linseed oil does sound like it might work well too. I suspect linseed oil may be better at keeping the nipples from turning once the wheel is finished and the oil 'goes off', but I don't mind putting my wheels in the stand now and then and I believe if the tension is well balanced the nipples will not undo anyway.
I agree that decent relative tension can be achieved by ear, but you don't need perfect pitch.

Wow, that's an impressive quest for accuracy. Were you tempted to investigate the manufacturer's maximum load figures for the spoke? Testing one to destruction would be interesting but possibly foolhardy.

I'm sure part of the rig would have broken before the spoke...

So park tension meters (or this one at least) = polka dot approved? (Could this become a thing, then you and tester can argue it out over things like chains and aero! ;)

...

Now I want to say a little about balancing spoke tension, because I think there is a lack of information about it.

When I built my first wheel a few years ago I didn't know about balancing the tension, but I did get the thing very straight and very round. Since then I have slowly picked up bits of information and techniques. I remember going to a bike show and being very keen to learn more by watching the wheel truing display, but by this time I knew most of what the mechanic taught. I remember asking afterwards about how to balance spoke tension, because I knew that was the next level I needed to get to, but he couldn't help me.
It's not difficult to understand that if the rim touches one side of the truing stand/brakes tightening the spoke opposite that point will correct the error, but it is possible to make a wheel very true without having similar tension in the spokes. Like this the wheel will not stay true for as long as if the tensions are made similar.

The way I do it is: After lacing all the spokes and putting a bit of tension on so the spokes aren't completely slack and correcting the spoke line, I start truing the wheel. Once I've got it fairly true (less than 1mm variation in any direction) I measure the tension in each of the spokes and write it down like this:

A glance at this list shows a few anomalies in tension. Spoke 22 is high and spoke 20 is low. The rim is straight because these two are making up for each other. With something like this start by taking some of the tension off of the higher one and adding the same amount to the other spoke. In this case try something like half a turn of the nipple off 22 and half a turn onto 20 and then take new readings.
Later you will adjust more than two at a time, here we could because 24 could be a bit higher too.
So, we could try a 3/4 turn off of 22, 1/2 on 20 and a 1/4 on 24. What tension you take off or put on one spoke you should put back, or take off somewhere else. After the adjustments take new tension measurements and check truth. Update your recordings.Gradually, like this you will achieve a true and round wheel and the tension will be even.

It is possible to do this by ear; that is, plucking the spokes and judging the relative tension from the varying pitch of the the notes that the spokes make.

Park-Tool does actually have a little program into which you enter the values and produce a sort of round graph to illustrate the anomalies. There is even an electronic tension meter out there that will transmit the values directly, via usb cable to your computer for this. This is quite unnecessary.

With these wheels it was the first time that I felt it sensible to check the tension limit with the rim manufacturer. After that it became necessary to check the calibration of the tool. Prior to this build, the tool was helpful for balancing, but I was never too concerned with the absolute value.