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Voice coil rubbing HOW TO REPAIR


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If the voice coil is rubbing in your Klipsch woofer, don't throw it out yet. Some folks think it means the voice coil is blown or burnt up. It might just be out of alignment. The easy way to tell is look at the spider and see if it has become unglued from the frame. Here is a video showing a detached spider:

 

 


 

I am using a gell type super glue. I had it on the shelf. Slow drying epoxy would work too. Here are some pictures I took as I was doing the repair.

 

Cut the dust cap off, and put a couple thick business cards down into the former. This will center the voice coil, and thereby lign up the spider you are about to glue up.

 

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Make a way to get the glue in between the spyder and the frame. Without some modifications, this will never work:

 

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I used what I had laying around to get that glue in there. Some stirring sticks, some shrink tubing, and some duck tape. What else does a hillbilly need?

 

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I applied some heat to bend the stirring stick. Then I cut it off to make it just the right length. Pretend like the glass isn't there. It was impossible to take a picture with my iphone while operating a lighter and holding a stirring stick.   :)

 

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Now I cut it off to just the right length.

 

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Continued

Edited by mustang guy
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I cut some shrink tubing to build up the stirring stick to the thickness of the super glue tip.

 

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Now I used a little bigger shrink tube to attach the tip of the glue thing to the stirring stick and heated it up with a soldering iron. I avoided the lighter because I think that stuff burns pretty easily.

 

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A bit of duct tape just to keep it firmly on there.

 

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Now I stuffed a couple new microfiber towels between the frame and the cone to hold the spider away from the frame. 

 

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Now just go around and glue it. You need a pen light or something cause it's hard to see what you are doing. Put the glue on the frame. Gell super glue takes a long time to dry. Don't rush this part too much. I didn't take pictures of this. If I had a third hand I would have. 

 

Once you are happy you have the glue all under the spider, remove the microfiber towels or whatever you used. 

 

Turn the speaker face up.

 

Make sure the business cards are all the way down into the former. 

 

Push the cone down and add some weight. I used the duct tape and a cordless drill I had sitting there. I let this dry for a couple hours.

 

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After the glue dries all the way, remove the weights and the business cards and put tape over the former. You don't want anything getting down in there, ESPECIALLY IRON OR STEEL SHAVINGS! That is magnetic in that slot!

 

I trimmed the old dust cap a bit more.

 

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The voice coil does not rub when I push it in and out now. I need to buy a 5" dust cap. the one I took off was 4 1/3" wide. I don't think the extra 1/3" radius is going to affect the sound at all, and it will make for a clean restoration. 

 

After I get a dust cap installed, I will test the speaker with a sine wave low frequency for some time to see if it holds up. I think it will. 

Edited by mustang guy
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I just generally glue the same sized dustcap on top of the 1/8" ridge I left of the old one when I cut it out.

 

You generally can't tell that the woofer has been worked on.

Who sells a 4 1/3" dust cap? I thought about buying the parts-express 4" cap and hoping it is actually a little bigger than 4".

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