A7 cabinets and glue question

[tinpan]

Hello,

What a very nice forum to find. I love vintage speakers

After listening to a buddy's A7s and prodding from another buddy, I ended up getting a pair of A7s last July. I noticed the other day that the glue on the top panels seems to be separating. I really like the original finish on these cabinets and don't really want to have to take them apart for fear of further damaging the finish.

What would be the proper way to fix this or should I leave it alone?


Here is one speaker


Another angle


Here is the other speaker. I'm not really sure if these are coming apart or if I am just noticing this.


I did replace the butchered port boards on the front and replaced the cut up grill cloth with this black cloth


Other than that they are quite nice.

I hope you don't mind lots of pics

Thanks

Tinpan

crud...it looks like we'll have to wait three days for me to post the pics. Anyway...

Edit - 3 days later and pics

[Altec Best]

You can upload your pics to a photo hosting site like Photobucket,Flickr,picassa,image shack,etc... and just copy & paste the [IMG] code into your post and it will post your photos.

[GM]

The plywood is delaminating? Or is it MDF swelling? Or are they the 'Magnifient' furniture version?

GM

[Altec Best]

[QUOTE=tinpan;1828109]Hello,

What a very nice forum to find. I love vintage speakers

Welcome to the board !

I noticed the other day that the glue on the top panels seems to be separating.

Not good ! Seperating, I will guess plywood.Depending on the damage if it is just starting I would try to get a bunch of Titebond wood glue down in between the ply's and clamp it.

However if it is real bad, new cabs would be in order IMHO ! They will resonate like crazy with all the ply's flapping in the breeze !

[westend9]

If it is a seam separating, you could use one of these injectors (or similar) and inject from the inside of the joint. Clamp the heck out of it and, after the glue sets, caulk the joint with a construction adhesive (PL400, etc.). After this treatment, there will be little worry about the joint separating.

[GM]

Holy $%!^ Whatever happened to the $1 plastic syringe?

GM

[tinpan]

That might do the trick. If I can find a long enough clamp I might be able to get enough glue in there to hold it down.

I can't post a hyperlink which is where my pics are.

Let's see if this will work. Page 34 and 35 are where the four pics are

//public.fotki.com/Tagginbac/stuff/page35.html

ok that didn't work, I'm still in the 3 day penalty box

Oh yeah, it's the top seam that is seperating

just add http: to teh above link

[Panomaniac]

Here's the link.

[VolvoHeretic]

That should be easy to glue and reclamp. As has been said here or AK, clean any crap out of the joint using maybe a sheet rock knife (sometimes the blunt back side works best), you can wedge up the joint with door shims to get better access. To glue that up, just squirt carpenters glue in there, using a squeegie (maybe a cake spatula) near where it is still bonded to force into the crack, and find some pipe clamps, and wood standoff blocks to cinch it back together. If you have to buy clamps, they sell 1/2" kits which just require one 10' long "black" pipe which you cut in half for two 5' clamps (you only need one end threaded. They should have them at a hardware super store like Menards. I wonder if the triangular glue blocks inside along that seam have also let go.

[westend9]

That might do the trick. If I can find a long enough clamp I might be able to get enough glue in there to hold it down.

I can't post a hyperlink which is where my pics are.

Let's see if this will work. Page 34 and 35 are where the four pics are

//public.fotki.com/Tagginbac/stuff/page35.html

ok that didn't work, I'm still in the 3 day penalty box

Oh yeah, it's the top seam that is seperating

just add http: to teh above link

I can see your desire for a less intrusive fix, those are in good shape.

Here's the link.

Thanks Pano!

That should be easy to glue and reclamp. As has been said here or AK, clean any crap out of the joint using maybe a sheet rock knife (sometimes the blunt back side works best), you can wedge up the joint with door shims to get better access. To glue that up, just squirt carpenters glue in there, using a squeegie (maybe a cake spatula) near where it is still bonded to force into the crack, and find some pipe clamps, and wood standoff blocks to cinch it back together. If you have to buy clamps, they sell 1/2" kits which just require one 10' long "black" pipe which you cut in half for two 5' clamps (you only need one end threaded. They should have them at a hardware super store like Menards. I wonder if the triangular glue blocks inside along that seam have also let go.

Good advice, still the cheapest clamps to buy for the larger lengths and will do a good job.