<Snip> Cold setting alignment, use a table
I have never used a table. In the past I have used the string and long steel bar method. And lately a Park Stand
You might be (or not) surprised at how many LBS's use the time honored spreading method of using a rear axel assembly. You lock on one of the dropouts and then threading onto the other side a washer and bolt on the inside of the other dropout if you want to go out . . . or on the outside if you want to go in. The idea is to keep on turning until desired width is obtained. . . No String. Dropout alignment? Never heard of it. Two years ago I got to use a Frame Straightening stand from Park. It belongs to the Bicycleman (Peter Stull) in Alfred NY. Peter and I are friends, and I have done wrenching there in the past before I moved 5 hours away. You were to face the BB and then put in the BB clamp. You used a sliding straight edge with sliding depth gauges to find the troubles. I had a Peugeot carbolite 103 that the previous owner parked in the front of a garage against a wall . . . and well you know what a inattentive driver in a Buick station wagon can do. The frame was twisted into a kind of "V" shape that matched the front bumper. We cold set the head tube, seat tube, down tube, rear triangle, and while we were at it we spread the rear triangle from 126 to 135. For one who had never done this before it was about 2 hours and a whole lot of fun learning and bending things. The Fork was bent, I did not repair it because I had just read Sheldon Browns articles about replacement forks with canti brakes on French bikes.
Carbolite moves pretty scary easy. But it is a great daily rider that is comfortable, steering is good, and the brakes inspire confidence. I would be curious in a couple or so years to put it back on the stand and see if it is still true.
Howard Darr
Clymer Pa