keithdunlop

In the last two wheels I've built, the spoke hole to the left of the valve is drilled closer to the right edge of the rim. On my new DT Swiss 540db rims it's opposite. Is this a disc brake specific drilling or are my rims misdrilled? I'm not able to get the lacing to work out with the key spoke going to the right of the valve instead of the left.

Dan Burkhart 

Look across the rim to the valve hole and you will see that the first hole to the left is angled up. This makes the hole on the inner wall closer to the other side. This is the most common configuration.

Bill Kapaun

Start the key spoke in the 2nd hole from the valve.
The 1st spoke of the 2nd set will go in the hole next to the valve.
Don't forget to "index" the 2nd set in the opposite direction of "normal".
IOW, like the image on the right, not the "normal" left.

keithdunlop

I think I see what you're saying. If I look straight down the hole just below the valve hole, the larger outer hole appears to be aligned to the left, but the inner hole where the spokes seat is actually angled to the right? so, the drilling actually angles to the correct direction? So, as shown in the image below, even though the large hole appears to be drilled for the non-drive side, it actually angles to the drive side? This would make so much sense!

The spoke hole is angling to the drive side?

keithdunlop

This is a disc brake wheelset, so I'm lacing symmetrical in the front and asymmetrical in the rear per Shimano guidelines.

Bill Kapaun

Look for correct exit at the exit.
The accuracy of the nipple access hole doesn't matter one whit to spoke exit angle.
Maybe the Monday morning crew installed the pre punched inner wall backwards?

IF your pics were from the other side, they might actually be useful.

keithdunlop

Noted. In this pic the left side hole is oriented down, right side is oriented up. This jives with the angling of the drilling and why it looked backwards when viewing from the outer rim wall. Things were so much simpler with my C&V bikes! Re-lacing now for the third time -- thank you all!

sweeks

Roger Musson's book on wheelbuilding talks about two rim drilling patterns, which he calls "Type 1" and "Type 2". The relevant page is attached (third edition). As Dan said above, Type 1 is the more common. It's easier to differentiate between these types looking at the rim from the hub side, as Bill suggested ^^.

Type 1 vs Type 2 rims (Roger Musson, "A Practical Guide to Wheel Building")

keithdunlop

Thank you all - problem solved!

seedsbelize 

I've been building wheels with Musson's method for ten years, and just this week ran across my first Type 2 rim.