Build Bicycle Wheels Faster With a Driver Bit

[@JimLangley1]

★ WATCH this video next for great setups & tools for bicycle wheel lacing kzbin.info/www/bejne/goO2Y5KKrZ2Zi5Y

[@sprocketandwheel]

A great tool to use us an old fashioned Stanley Yankee push screw driver.. grind or file the edges of a flat screw driver bit. leaving a 1/16" protrusion in the middle.. I have used this tool for 30+ years... Eldi a German tool brand used to make one just like it.. Yankee ) push screwdrivers) can be found at a garage sales.. They were the cordless drills of the past..

[@JimLangley1]

Thanks a lot for sharing this great tip, sprocketand wheel. I used to work with a guy who liked his. Here's a link to a modern version sold on Amazon: amzn.to/3O59NBb With this tool no batteries are required and it's lighter to hold and handle than most drill drivers. It just takes a little work to make the bit just the right shape to drive the nipples to the right depth. Thanks again - great tip!

[@masterjefftkd]

omg. I never realized the "spike" in the middle of a nipple driver is actually a depth gauge! Now I have a use for the 10,000 blade driver bits I've saved up over the years.

[@JimLangley1]

Thanks for watching and the great comment. I’m happy the video was helpful and you can now use your tool!

[@jffydavy5509]

Jim this is a superb presentation. No wizardry! No technical jargon, just the facts.

[@JimLangley1]

Thanks a lot for watching and the kind words, Jeff, appreciate it. Really nice to hear from you!

[@puro52]

I need to build/rebuild a couple of wheels now that winter is upon us, there videos are well times. Hands down the most rewarding and meditative part of working on bike. Well chasing/cleaning threads might be on par with building a wheel when everything works out right

[@JimLangley1]

Thanks for watching and commenting, Puro! Winter is a great time to get those wheels built! Have fun!

[@millea8]

Incredibly helpful, thanks! Being able to have a clear “zero” starting point takes out so much anxiety from this process.

[@JimLangley1]

@@millea8 thanks a lot for watching and the great comment. Happy you found the video helpful! 🙏

[@--onewheelskyward--]

Thanks for including the spoke wrench drop. It makes me feel better about the 7 or 8 dozen times I do that when I build a wheel. :D

[@JimLangley1]

Ha, ha, I'm glad you appreciated that, Andrew. My best tip for that is to have a pile of other spoke wrenches so you can just quickly pick up another. Then after you get done, you go pick up all the others on the floor. I'm just partly joking. Thanks for watching and the laugh.

[@walthansen6333]

The first nipple driver I ever saw was what appeared to be hand made. Was in use by a renowned wheel builder that was based in the bay area a number of years ago, Steve Aldridge out of the Talbots shop. I asked him a year or so back, through email if he had invented the thing, being the only hand made one I'd ever seen. He stated that he was not the inventor, and that they'd been around for quite awhile.

[@JimLangley1]

Thanks for telling me about that Walt. Steve Aldridge is one of the legendary mechanics from way back. I have never had the honor of meeting him, but I have known of him forever. I know that for some time builders have been using hand drivers such as push drills that look like screwdrivers. I'm sure you've seen these. You push on them and the bit turns just like it does in a drill. I assume they modified the screwdriver blade on the tool to fit slotted nipples and have a tip to bump into the spoke and stop the nipples in the same place. But, I've never actually had one of those tools to see how exactly they did it. It sounds like Steve might have had something different, probably even more interesting!

[@benc8386]

That's a good idea! I'm going to have to make one of those. Agree that maximum consistency at the start is the way to make a good wheel. When everything is new and if the components are well-made the wheel comes up almost true right at the start.

[@JimLangley1]

Thanks for watching and the comment, Ben. I put some notes in my reply to Tobias above on how I made my driver bit in case you're interested.

[@benc8386]

@@JimLangley1 Thanks! That sounded like an interesting project. I only use nipples with regular slot heads so it's a much easier tool to make. Can probably just grind an old screwdriver or a bit of steel. What's the ideal length for the spike would you say? Maybe 3mm?

[@JimLangley1]

@@benc8386 Yes, 3mm would be pretty good , Ben. The Unior I have is 2.5mm. The only issue would be if you ended up with too short spokes. But that will cause problems with any tool for pretensioning. It only works if your spoke lengths are spot-on. But lets say if you didn't know like on a wheel you had never built before or you didn't trust the calculator... then if you have a longer/deeper spike, then you could still be able to pretension with spokes that were a little short and you'd discover afterward that you couldn't tighten the nipples fully. So, I think there's a use for a longer spike version and I think that's why tools like the Problem Solvers WheelFanatyk sells, has an adjustable spike you can make as long as you want. Fun stuff!

[@olegpetelevitch4443]

I just bought the same stand and am going to build and service my own ! Just need your lessons ! Thank you !

[@JimLangley1]

You're welcome, Oleg and thanks for watching and the comment. You'll love your Park truing stand. Great choice.

[@paulomarques1795]

This was a great video! I just made my own speed bit from an old flat bit I had lying around. Thanks :)

[@JimLangley1]

Thanks for watching, Paulo. I'm happy to hear you enjoyed my video. Great job making your own speed bit. I bet you get a lot of use out of it! Thanks for commenting!

[@paulomarques1795]

@@JimLangley1 I'm just building two wheels for my father's bike and I was struggling to get even pretension on some stainless steel spokes... a couple of minutes with the dremmel and now the wheel already looks very good.

[@JimLangley1]

@@paulomarques1795 great job, Paulo!

[@londonpickering8675]

Oddly satisfying. Thanks for posting.

[@JimLangley1]

Thanks for watching, London!

[@rafar2564]

Woow! Many years of experience in the profession. Good idea with this tool 👍 (translated by Google 😉 )

[@JimLangley1]

Thanks for watching and the nice comment, Rafal, I appreciate it!

[@Bikeops2021]

Great work Jim, might not be as fast as you thought but that makes life a lot easier for someone who has difficulty using the PT spoke wrench, arthritis in the fingers can make life difficult using smaller tools... 👍

[@JimLangley1]

That’s an important and excellent point, Graham. Thanks for pointing that out. You are absolutely correct. It can be extremely difficult to turn regular small spoke wrenches with arthritis and or other hand or finger issues.

[@brucelittle1137]

I adapted my "problem solver" to accept a driver bit. It works like a charm.

[@YuoTubeTobi]

Any pictures of that?

[@JimLangley1]

Thanks for watching and the comment, Bruce. I haven't used the Problem Solver but have read about it on WheelFanatyk here: www.wheelfanatyk.com/store/problemsolver-nipple-driver/ It sounds like a nice tool

[@brucelittle1137]

@@YuoTubeTobi I do have a few pictures but not sure how to post to KZbin

[@YuoTubeTobi]

@@brucelittle1137 upload somewhere and post link here?

[@UnivegaSuperSport]

I had one and it worked great once I filed down the sharp corners. The perfectly square angle where the flat bottom meets the curved sides would cause it to release inconsistently. I filed the bottom just a bit to create a curve on each side and I believe it helped. I stuck with Wheelsmith nipples because cheaper nipples would often have slots machined roughly, contributing to a inconsistent release. In the end, it might not have made a huge difference, but it made me feel better.

[@dynoshane2651]

Yep this helped me out thanks mate👍😄

[@JimLangley1]

You're welcome, Dynoshane. Thanks for watching!

[@pdbike43]

Happy new year, Jim. Thanks for demonstrating three ways to pretension! It's great to have all these options to chose from.

[@JimLangley1]

Happy New Year to you, pdbike! Thanks for watching!!

[@ScrubsIsee]

-> Name of the Song/Band in the background, please? Sounds great. Thank you ;-)!

[@JimLangley1]

Thanks for asking, Christian - I'm happy you like it. It's called "1973" by Bruno E. It's a track from KZbin's selection for use when you're editing your YT video.

[@manrod4871]

Nice video. Whats the cost for the 32 aluminum or stainless steel spokes nipples included?

[@JimLangley1]

Glad you enjoyed the video, thank you for watching. I don't know of any nipples made of stainless steel. Brass and aluminum are the common metals bicycle spoke nipples are made of because those materials work well with rims and spokes. Right now you can get Brass DT Swiss nipples for about $11 for a box of 100 amzn.to/3yzb3Hf For Aluminum DT Swiss nipples the cost is a lot more, about $47 for a box of 100 amzn.to/3ZwVhZf For a 32 spoke wheel aluminum nipples save about 30 grams over brass for the whole wheel. Aluminum nipples do not last as long as brass and aluminum corrode over time. So brass is usually the best choice. Hope this helps and thanks again!

[@JimLangley1]

Hello wheel builders! I have great news for you if you ever build with DSN Double Square Nipples - the type that have a square head. In the video I mention that a driver bit for these has been difficult to find. So much so that I made my own. Well, as of this week, one is available from the company BSC in Wales and it looks like a very nice tool. They make 3 types actually, the square drive and a hex plus a slotted. Here's a link: wheelfanatyk.com/collections/lacing/products/nipple-drivers I hope this is helpful.

[@adZHARRISON]

just clicked on the link June 2023 - It didnt work

[@JimLangley1]

@@adZHARRISON hey thanks for watching the video and for letting me know that WheelFantyk changed the link to the driver bits. Here's their new link: wheelfanatyk.com/collections/lacing/products/nipple-drivers

[@findtherightbeat]

Thanks for posting interesting videos on wheel building! Are you using blue Loctite on 9:00?

[@findtherightbeat]

My bad it's literally another product wheelbuilder.com/spokeprep-by-wheelsmith/

[@JimLangley1]

@@findtherightbeat thanks for watching and the comment. You found it and I have a link in my description below. It's Wheelsmith Spoke Prep. It goes on wet and dries leaving a layer that helps keep the spokes tight and lets you true the wheel for a lot longer.

[@findtherightbeat]

@@JimLangley1 Thanks, will be going through your videos and hope I get to try and build my own wheels.

[@RadioSnivins]

@@JimLangley1 I'm glad I found this comment. I see alotta dudes pooh-pooh spokeprep. They reckon correct spoke tension is all you need, but it occurred to me recently that when double wall rims replaced single wall we lost the tire pressure on the nipples. So, in conclusion, how tight does spokeprep set? Does it leave gunk? Can you use weak Loctite? I've got a loose spoke linseed oil experiment on the go at the moment, but I think it's gunna take a few weeks to set. Love your channel, Jim. Cooee!

[@JimLangley1]

@@RadioSnivins thanks for watching and the questions! Spoke Prep dries in about 30 minutes - depending on the temperature in the room. It leaves sort of a tough plastic coating on the threads kind of like nylok if you’ve seen that. It has impressive holding power. If you use too thick a layer of Spoke Prep the nipple will be hard to turn on the spoke and the whole spoke will turn. You can still build wheels that way but you end up holding the spoke with spoke pliers while you turn the nipples since the Spoke Prep wants to hold the nipples in place. So, it really holds well and keeps nipples from loosening. It doesn’t leave any gunk behind unless you get it on the spoke when putting it on the threads. If you do that you can end up with blue or tan Spoke Prep “stains,” on the spokes where you can see them if you look close. You can wash it off with hot water or scratch it off with your fingernail. But, the best thing is to coat ONLY the threads and don’t let it get on the spokes. I dip about 16 max spokes into the Spoke Prep container and get just the bottom 8th of the threads wet. Then I hold the spoke upright with the J bend ends on a table/workbench. That keeps the threaded ends all lined up perfect. Then I roll the spokes against each other and watch as the Spoke Prep works its way down the threads coating them evenly all the way down to the last couple of threads. That way you get an even coat and not a too thick coat. You only need enough to cover the metal, not a thick layer. I hope these tips help Radio! Thanks a lot for watching and the great comments!

[@dieterjosef]

Yiu could further improve maybe not on time but on comfort by using a cordless drill that weighs less or even an electric screwdriver.

[@JimLangley1]

@@dieterjosef thanks so much for watching and the excellent comment Dieter. Yes, a great setup would be having a light torque-settable electric screwdriver hung overhead on some king of retractable cord. That would certainly save time. Great thinking. Thank you🙏

[@nick37781]

make sure to do smaller turns around the wheel early on after lacing or else the hub will move to 1 side and mess up the build!

[@JimLangley1]

Thanks for watching and for the comment, Nick. If the spoke length is correct, as you pretension, the hub will stay centered in relationship to the rim. But, if the spoke lengths are incorrect, then yes, the hub can move. So, getting the spoke length calculation correct is important ;-)

[@nick37781]

@@JimLangley1 well when building wheels for cheap Russians, I always had to recycle spokes from old wheels so that they could get free parts 😂 so I guess thats where I learned that "rule"

[@JimLangley1]

@@nick37781 ha, ha, thanks for the laugh.. yes, I totally understand about recycling spokes and not always ending up with the perfect spoke lengths. In that case you definitely need to use smaller turns and also keep your fingers crossed the old spokes aren't the completely wrong size ;-)

[@nick37781]

@@JimLangley1 the best part is when some are so long they stick out the frame, dremel go BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR