Spokes both too long and too short on same side of wheel I'm attempting my second wheel build. My first build went pretty smoothly, but this time I've messed something up badly.

I calculated that both drive and non drive side could take 300mm spokes ( slightly too long on one side, too short the other but both within &lt; 1mm).

It looks like I mismeasured/ miscalculated something as I have spokes that are both too long and too short.

Some start to tighten with threads still showing, others protrude from the hole and would only tighten with spoke sticking past the nipple.

What I don't understand is how I have spokes on the same side that are both too short and too long.

I'd expect to be consistently over or under length on one side.

How can this happen?

When I rechecking my calcs I'm not sure if I should expect higher or lower numbers.
It turned out that the problem here was grossly over long spokes. I'd managed to miscalculate so they were 4mm overlong.

It appears that this allows the hub to move further than it should so that some spokes cannot reach while others protrude past the rim.

Although mislacing the wheel may cause the same symptoms this was not the cause in this case.