Best method to restore M17 cabinets

After I saw the ad the other day with the reveneered 620 cabs it got me to thinking about my 620 cabs. I got them a couple years ago for 25$ from eBay. They were stripped of the drivers and covers of course. The grills need to be recovered, and one of the grill frames is broken.

I kept them in storage for a while until I bought my Urei 604G pair. I filled the xover hole in the front with gutted 809 xovers since I run external Markwart xovers. Besides changing out the interior wiring for the drivers, I haven?t done anything to the cabinets.

The problem is the veneer is very dry on some sides. Like so dry that it?s rough. A couple bottom corners have been smashed slightly also. And there are some veneer chips here and there. I?m not sure how thick the veneer is, and I?m not sure it can be made to look nice again. Like sanded down and restained etc.

I?m not a huge fan of the oak veneer. I?m not a big oak fan at all, except that I love the way red oak firewood smells when I cut it.

I was thinking about reveneering then in birch or something of a similar grain. I have limited veneering experience, and that was all over plywood. With these cabs being particle board, should I bondo the bad corners and once everything is smooth just put the new veneer over the old veneer? Could I cleanly strip the old veneer off even if I wanted to without taking chunks of particle board up with it?

I?m getting the Urei woofers in these reconed, and I?ll fix and recover the grills. I just want the cabs to in better shape also. They have worked out well for my man cave speakers, but I think they can be much nicer.

if the old veneer is mostly solid and smooth, it would seem best to work on smoothing the corners and edges. then cover it.

If you are going to veneer over the old veneer make sure you sand it down to remove all the old finish and that the veneering glue has raw wood to adhere to. Also I would suggest you take the opportunity to add any extra bracing necessary by glueing on the inside and securing with screws from the outside. Add a little glue to the screw as you screw them in to assure they don't back out. Countersink the screws a bit and fill the countersink with bondo and smooth. I used this method on a set of 825's about 20 yrs ago and the veneer is still looks as good as it did the day they were finished.

I think the sides that are rough could be sanded smooth enough for the new veneer to stick. It looks like the cabs were stored with that side facing a window or something.

A while after I got these cabs I contacted the seller for more info on them. It turns out his family bought two pair of M17 new (he mentioned the approx date but I forgot). One pair went to his sister and he kept the other pair. Finally he decided he wanted to keep the 604G to put in smaller cabinets and he had the 620a cabinets in his warehouse.
I was in upstate NY for the summer and saw them come up on eBay for local pickup. He wanted a couple hundred dollars for them, but when I contacted him we settled on 25$ (maybe it was 20$?). My uncle went down to SYR to get a keg and picked them up for me:D

I’m hoping the guy will decide to sell me the 604s that came out of the cabs eventually. Until then I have the only M17 that I know of with Urei 604G. Lol

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That’s good advice Endeeinn. I do need to cover some screw holes in the front where someone experimented with the port size. I’ll sand off he finish down to bare veneer before gluing on the new stuff.

The cabs are original Hill-craft, and have some internal bracing already. Being mdf, they seem pretty dead already. I did have success bracing my 828 cabs when I had them. That made a huge difference

Best method to restore M17 cabinets. The M17 cabinet is a kitchen and bathroom cabinet that has been produced by Elkay since 1960. The M17 cabinet is made of sturdy pressed steel with a white polyurethane coating. The polyurethane coating provides a bright, non-toxic surface that is easy to clean. The M17 cabinet comes in various colors, including white, black, brown, and grey. The M17 cabinet comes in a variety of sizes to fit any kitchen or bathroom.

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Originally Posted by lucashenry

Best method to restore M17 cabinets. The M17 cabinet is a kitchen and bathroom cabinet that has been produced by Elkay since 1960. The M17 cabinet is made of sturdy pressed steel with a white polyurethane coating. The polyurethane coating provides a bright, non-toxic surface that is easy to clean. The M17 cabinet comes in various colors, including white, black, brown, and grey. The M17 cabinet comes in a variety of sizes to fit any kitchen or bathroom.

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Is this chatGPT ?

Instead of restoring these cabinets, you need to buy Cognac cabinets. You can use these cabinets in your kitchen and they will look more attractive.

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Originally Posted by liamjames

Instead of restoring these cabinets, you need to buy Cognac cabinets. You can use these cabinets in your kitchen and they will look more attractive.

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Somebody needs to put an end to these doosh bags and their spam.

They're back.

FWIW/YMMV, etc., I was taught to steam out dents, corner dings and use block, hammer to (re) shape as required.

Altecs in the kitchen? Sounds good to me! My wife would kill me.

These cabs have been in storage since I moved to NY. All my big speakers and cabs are in storage.

I need to build a barn/shop so I have room! And maybe find a mate for that single 210 cab.

Well, we use(d) a hand held steamer (iron) for taking wrinkles out of clothing. ;)

Hi. M17 cabinets, a classic choice! I would like to stress the importance of retaining the original features of the cabinets. If there are any unique parts or hardware, try to salvage and restore them. But if the cabinets cannot be restored, consider replacing worn or damaged parts with quality substitutes to ensure the longevity of the cabinets, see mainecabinetcompany.com/ for some options. Remember to take proper measurements when ordering new cabinets or replacing fronts. With dedication and attention to detail, your M17 cabinets will shine again!

All things considered, especially since these are PB, this is a good time to screw/laminate some void free plywood to increase mass/rigidity and finish to 'taste'.