Over-under-over/over-over-under(3X wheel lacing)

Haaah. Tea, beer, more tea, more beer.... Sounds right. But I don't drink either tea or beer. And ain't got no tv either. Does that mean I'm condemned to build bad wheels? I'll sub all that with youtube and ginger beer and a whole lot of rice and maffé sauce.

Try these.
http://www.ehow.com/videos-on_2070_bicycle-wheel-building.html

also, it seems daft, but dont forget to 'ping' your wheels. When you start to get some tension in your spokes, ever revolution of the wheel where you are doing 1/2 or 1/4 turns etc, put the wheel on the floor and lean on it slightly. do it in 3 or 4 different spots on each side. it lets the spokes 'ping' and find their own place as it were.

also, it seems daft, but dont forget to 'ping' your wheels. When you start to get some tension in your spokes, ever revolution of the wheel where you are doing 1/2 or 1/4 turns etc, put the wheel on the floor and lean on it slightly. do it in 3 or 4 different spots on each side. it lets the spokes 'ping' and find their own place as it were.

Yeah, good point.

The spokes turn slightly together with the nipples, becoming twisted. This means they not tensioned as much as the should for the amount of turning you've done with the spoke key. When the wheel is flexed slightly the spokes untwist. Usually screwing themselves into the nipple.

I built some 29er wheels with DT Revolution spokes (uber thin). The thin nature of the spokes, my generosity with the spoke prep on the threads, and lube on the nipple shoulders. Lead to two spokes winding up so much (yes I should have noticed), that when they pinged, it was more of a ping....BANG!

(Found out its good to do little return turns when tensioning very thin spokes. ie. 1/4 turn tension 1/8 turn back. I also replaced all the disc brake side spokes with super-comps for easier tensioning)

I used a good trick (maybe from the art of wheelbuilding ebook) which is to put little flags of masking tape about 2/3 of the way along the spoke towards the nipple end (leave enough space to get the spoke key on and off the nipple easily). These let you can see when the spoke starts winding up. As the wheel gets up to tension I found the spoke wound up a bit first and then threaded into the nipple. The masking tape lets you see how much wind up you have and so you can loosen it off exactly the right amount each time. Probably too time consuming if you build lots of wheels and I'm sure people learn to get a feel for wind up, but a good trick for beginners.

Lube the nipples! I'ts really important (so I've been told).

I used a good trick (maybe from the art of wheelbuilding ebook) which is to put little flags of masking tape about 2/3 of the way along the spoke towards the nipple end (leave enough space to get the spoke key on and off the nipple easily).

Nice idea that. I actually wrapped some masking tape around some pointed pliers. To grip the spokes while truing/tensioning. This sorted the problem, but was a bit time consuming.

Spoke prep on the threads, and lube on the shoulders of the nipples, gives a better finished wheel (IMHO). But the poke prep can give a false feeling of tension and cause wind-up, so make the building part a little more tricky.

weightweenies have a long thread on wheel building, but reading the whole thread will probably take as long as making the first wheel.

Sheldon is pretty good, though if you can borrow Jobst Brown's book from the local library that's better!