# Truing stand out of calibration?



## deviousalex (Aug 18, 2010)

I bought a brand new Park Tool TS-2.2 stand. When I put wheels in it I notice that the left caliper never touches the rim before the right one does. If I change the direction of the wheel (i.e. put the drive side on the right instead of left) it's similar. In addition I've tried multiple wheels and used a dishing gauge to check teh wheels and they seem okay. Also, when the calipers are fairly close to each other the knob seems to be loose. Should I attempt a calibration myself or call up Park Tool and see what they can do?


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## Zen Cyclery (Mar 10, 2009)

Never rely on a truing stand to dish a wheel. That's what a dish tool is for.


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## ergott (Feb 26, 2006)

A TS-2 can be calibrated to be centered better, but it's always more reliable to use a dish gauge. Most professional truing stands use a gauge that measures one side of the rim and allows you to center the dial once you know the dish is correct with a separate gauge.


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## coachboyd (Jan 13, 2008)

You can adjust it to re-center it
Park Tool Co. » ParkTool Blog » TS-2.2-and-TS-2-Centering

If you have a wheel that you know is true, you can use it to help guide the centering process.


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## coachboyd (Jan 13, 2008)

I think Eric and I have our alarm clocks set for the same time.


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## Peter P. (Dec 30, 2006)

As mentioned in the Park Tech article, I have the older truing stand, and experience what deviousalex is seeing; a stand that's slightly out of alignment.

I use a dishing tool to verify my wheels. I noticed that depending on how tight I turn the knob which holds the hub axle in the stand, I can shift the wheel slightly left or right, throwing the wheel out of its position relative to the calipers. No big deal.

To compensate, I'll either change how tight I turn the knob or I'll rap or pull on the end of the knob to shift the wheel left/right a smidge as needed. Works for me.


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## looigi (Nov 24, 2010)

Agree you can recenter it, but I find it still doesn't work all that well. I dish by flipping the wheel.


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## changingleaf (Aug 20, 2009)

With the Park Truing stand, even if you adjust the truing stand with a perfect wheel it will not necessarily stay on center when you insert a hub of a different width.

Always use a dishing tool to check the wheel.


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## deviousalex (Aug 18, 2010)

Zen Cyclery said:


> Never rely on a truing stand to dish a wheel. That's what a dish tool is for.


I think you're misunderstanding me. I was not trying to dish the wheel using the stand. My point is that the left caliper never touches the wheel on any of my wheelsets, and the wheel dish is not to blame. If I can only use one caliper I might as well have bought the park tool TS-25 and saved myself hundreds of dollars.


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## deviousalex (Aug 18, 2010)

mtbpete said:


> With the Park Truing stand, even if you adjust the truing stand with a perfect wheel it will not necessarily stay on center when you insert a hub of a different width.
> 
> Always use a dishing tool to check the wheel.


Shouldn't the arms that move together take care of that problem? I.e. when you move the knob to adjust for hub width the arms move the same amount left and right.


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## coachboyd (Jan 13, 2008)

deviousalex said:


> Shouldn't the arms that move together take care of that problem? I.e. when you move the knob to adjust for hub width the arms move the same amount left and right.


yes, otherwise a front and rear would be way off when you swapped between the two.


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## ergott (Feb 26, 2006)

In theory, the TS-2 is great, but in reality they never stay parallel. You can throw off the center just by how much you clamp the hub. 

"If I can only use one caliper I might as well have bought the park tool TS-25 and saved myself hundreds of dollars."

This unfortunately is true. If you want your wheel trued to within 1mm or so the TS-2 just isn't reliable enough from wheel to wheel.


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## deviousalex (Aug 18, 2010)

I called Park Tool. They said they will send me a new knob so hopefully that will fix that. As far as fixing the caliper issue they told me to use a wheel that I know has perfect dish to calibrate it.


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## mikerp (Jul 24, 2011)

deviousalex said:


> I called Park Tool. They said they will send me a new knob so hopefully that will fix that. As far as fixing the caliper issue they told me to use a wheel that I know has perfect dish to calibrate it.


I've found it best not to clamp down, just touching without play.
Park does make a centering gauge, chunk of machined aluminum that you can put in a stand and check the gauges.


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## deviousalex (Aug 18, 2010)

mikerp said:


> I've found it best not to clamp down, just touching without play.
> Park does make a centering gauge, chunk of machined aluminum that you can put in a stand and check the gauges.


I refuse to pay $60 to fix a problem that is their fault. It's just ridiculous.


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## mikerp (Jul 24, 2011)

deviousalex said:


> I called Park Tool. They said they will send me a new knob so hopefully that will fix that. As far as fixing the caliper issue they told me to use a wheel that I know has perfect dish to calibrate it.


Just so we are on the same page.
How large is the gap between the left caliper when the right caliper is touching the wheel?


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## deviousalex (Aug 18, 2010)

mikerp said:


> Just so we are on the same page.
> How large is the gap between the left caliper when the right caliper is touching the wheel?


I haven't attempted to measure it but I think it's around 3-5mm.


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## grandsalmon (Jan 18, 2009)

deviousalex- Can you say you tried what the Park site suggested?
"Move caliper arm laterally at base with (pivot) nuts"

Take any decent wheel and continually flip until whatever difference is shared? 
Congruent with a truing, the differences can be eliminated. You don't need to buy that "block of aluminum".


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## deviousalex (Aug 18, 2010)

grandsalmon said:


> deviousalex- Can you say you tried what the Park site suggested?
> "Move caliper arm laterally at base with (pivot) nuts"
> 
> Take any decent wheel and continually flip until whatever difference is shared?
> Congruent with a truing, the differences can be eliminated. You don't need to buy that "block of aluminum".


I haven't tried it yet. I'm just a bit dismayed that a very expensive brand new stand was delivered out of calibration from a company like Park Tool. They claim it's calibrated at the factory, and I'm sure they would have noticed this.


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## grandsalmon (Jan 18, 2009)

deviousalex said:


> I haven't tried it yet. I'm just a bit dismayed that a very expensive brand new stand was delivered out of calibration from a company like Park Tool. They claim it's calibrated at the factory, and I'm sure they would have noticed this.


That's alright. I sort of expect to have to "dial them in". I did my last two.


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## mcmanuco (Oct 13, 2009)

deviousalex said:


> I haven't tried it yet. I'm just a bit dismayed that a very expensive brand new stand was delivered out of calibration from a company like Park Tool. They claim it's calibrated at the factory, and I'm sure they would have noticed this.


I've been annoyed with this same problem of receiving a "calibrated" tool that is inaccurate with different hub widths. I haven't gone through the calibration process yet, but flip the wheel and adjust the arm position to get the correct dish.


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