Drilling Hub for more holes?

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abjra
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Jul 21, 2014 5:02 pm

by abjra

Long time reader first time caller, I was wondering if anyone has ever taken a hub and drilled it to make more spoke holes, or is that an incredibly stupid idea? I am contemplating buying a 20-hole powertap hub off a friend for super cheap but I'm not confident that a 20 wheel would hold up well for me (cat1, 173lb) on anything but a super deep rim.

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mike
Resident Pro
Posts: 2994
Joined: Tue Mar 18, 2003 9:42 pm

by mike

use 14 g spokes on a deep rim

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LouisN
Posts: 3510
Joined: Mon Feb 19, 2007 3:44 am
Location: Canada

by LouisN

+1.

I used a (friend's) Powertap 20 holes on a kinlin 30 mm with 14g spokes 2 X each sides. Works perfect. Very solid build.

Louis :)

eric
Posts: 2196
Joined: Tue Nov 11, 2003 9:47 pm
Location: Santa Cruz, California, USA
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by eric

It is a bad idea. The holes would not be evenly placed making spoke length calculations a nightmare and creating a funky unbalanced lacing pattern. With a normal sized hub, the extra holes you drilled would be too close to other holes so the spokes would pull through, ruining the hub. The larger diameter of the PT hub makes that less likely.

You are right about 20h not being enough for your size.

11.4
Posts: 1095
Joined: Tue May 23, 2006 4:33 am

by 11.4

Take away this man's drill.

There are many issues, including precision, finishing of a spoke hole (local honing, removal of any stress risers, etc. etc.), plus why you'd want a 40-hole Powertap wheel? (I don't think Powertaps will even be accurate with extreme drillings, if I remember correctly -- they are calibrated for the spoke count the hub is drilled for.) You have a 20 spoke wheel ahead of you, or you sell the hub and get something else. And I'd agree with others above ... you need to sell the hub.

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