Groomlakearea51 Posted September 28, 2008 Share Posted September 28, 2008 Extra "scraps" must be stored properly. In Florida humidity sucks and will change how the veneer accepts stain. I usually will keep these pieces in a plastic tub with these pieces with a sealable cover. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groomlakearea51 Posted September 28, 2008 Share Posted September 28, 2008 The other thing yah' gotta have... is edgebanding strips. I will often cut my own from the edges of a piece of veneer, but it's a handy thing to just use pre-glued edgebanding. It's sold in 25' and 250' rolls. I generally use oak, walnut, birch, and mahogany edgebanding all the time, so I have these rolls handy. See www.joewoodworker.com for species. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groomlakearea51 Posted September 28, 2008 Share Posted September 28, 2008 There are a number of different tools used to apply veneer.... Simple version... The red "scraper" is used to "roll" it out as the PSA backing is removed. The wood piece has a rounded edge that's been sanded to 1000 grit making it extremely smooth. I use that after the veneer is layed on and go over it to smooth it into the glue or PSA befor it sets up hard. That's it for today because the goop has to set up. In a day or two, I will final sand, apply sanding sealer, and apply the veneer to the H-I's, and do the final sanding on the H-II's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nola Posted September 29, 2008 Author Share Posted September 29, 2008 Oh my goodness. I was not prepared for such a detailed reply. I am certain that we all GREATLY appreciate it and you are to be commended ) ) This will serve as a wonderful source of DIY cabinet repair / refinishing information for future readers too. I am going to print this out as a guide for my doings. I think your speakers started off in worse condition than mine. Mine have some deep scratches, some chips, and rough corners for wood damage. The rest is surface stuff. The backs on my HIIs are loose. From the back i can easily pull each board up to about 1 cm (1/3 of an inch) without much trouble, at certain points. Other areas are (semi) solid. Internal bracing with lots of ?staples is only on the bottoms / tops (running front to back), not on the sides (not running up / down nor across). I suspect the cabs were reglued in the past, as some glue globs as visible on / from the back. I think this might be glue and / or brace / screw fix (done from inside). I think I would drill the screw holes first, trying not to go through the wood. Although the glue globs not large, I doubt that Klipsch QC in '86 would have passed the cabs looking like that. I contacted Bob Crites again and will likely buy some X over(s) from him, to fix the bad HII. Last Thursday night, there was a tube amp user get together in New Orleans. I had the wonderful opportunity to hear what I think was a 100k system. I think my non 100k system is still pretty nice. (I may post about bi amping my Klipsh horns with my 2 MC240s, later on. See ref: http://sound.westhost.com/bi-amp.htm Might make a good Holiday project. But if anybody wants to email or PM me about the $$ of and sources for active x over networks, etc, please feel free. I just don't want to start a flame war now...to much repair work still to do.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groomlakearea51 Posted September 29, 2008 Share Posted September 29, 2008 What you can do is try to get the glue in the seams by moving the rear panel as much as possible side to side, back and forth, in and out, etc. After that put the cabinet on it's back, face up with the back edges on 2 pieces of 2x4, but not touching the back itself. Find some "dive weights", about 20 pounds ought to do it.... and put the weights inside laying on the rear panel. I'll be heading to workshop later today to "survey" the goop scene... and will take a photo of what I'm describing. It sounds like the H-II's you have are like another pair I ran across where the only braces are the "front to back" which are really designed to keep the cabinet side panels and top/bottoms from separating. Avoid screwing anything if you can because MDF is not very "screw" friendly... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CECAA850 Posted September 29, 2008 Share Posted September 29, 2008 Marshall, I wish you had taken some nice detailed pics of those ugly spray painted black II's. It'd be quite the contrast to what I'm sure the finished product will look like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groomlakearea51 Posted September 29, 2008 Share Posted September 29, 2008 I tried but they broke the camera.... LOLOL[][] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groomlakearea51 Posted September 29, 2008 Share Posted September 29, 2008 NOLA: still not quite hard yet; that stuff can take up to 48 hours to cure, and it's trying to rain here, humid, etc. so the fans remain on and we'll proceed tomorrow or Wednesday afternoon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groomlakearea51 Posted October 1, 2008 Share Posted October 1, 2008 NOLA:Checked this morning and the resin is a rock; I'll proceed with final sanding, etc, and post additional photos this afternoon. When humidity is real high (as in it's been raining here for several days, everything takes forever to dry properly, even with fans going, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nola Posted October 7, 2008 Author Share Posted October 7, 2008 GLA51, I think you earned some Mardi Gras Beads ) Of all the bloody stupid things, my X over had a broken wire. Oh well, I guess that's why I got them so cheap. A really nice tube head here in New Orleans found the problem and even tought me a bit about reading electrical diagrams. He introuced me to the local tube club and even let me try out his DIY 300B amp! A little solder and putting everything back into the cabinets, the HIIs sound nice. Will still have to fix the cabinets though. You meet some great people this way! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groomlakearea51 Posted October 8, 2008 Share Posted October 8, 2008 Fenderbender was over yesterday swapping out speakers, maintenance and testing a SAE PEQ, etc. We heade out to workshop and "surveyed the scene". As I metioned last week, the "goop" had dried, but I had major problems with the black paint on the H-II pair that I've been showing in the pictures. Seems like they were first varnished, then somebody did not like that and tried to sand them witha belt sander; that did not work, so they hand painted with thick black acrylic enamel. Then when they saw what that looked like... they got out spray cans. The last several days have been spent stripping them down to the bare wood in order to finish filling, etc. In any event, I will try to continue the "how to" here in the next day or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groomlakearea51 Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 Well, got the paint stripped, etc and both pairs are ready for veneer. I'll post a bunch of pictures from the last several days in a few minutes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groomlakearea51 Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 Carl’s (CECAA850) Heresy-II’s... This is what the owner before Carl had done to them.... These "painted speakers" are absolutely the worst problem I have ever run across!!! I started sanding to smooth them for the veneer. The theory was that since I will use a PSA backed veneer, I could use the smooth acrylic enamel surface for the PSA to bond with. Great theory and in practice works perfectly. But.... it seems that the original owner first either shellac'd, varnished, or polyurethaned the raw birch.... Then at some point, he decided that the finish was scratched, etc., and sanded them.... with a belt sander which completely screwed up the wood. Discovering the error of their ways.... they painted them with a brush (first), and on one of them the paint was as thick as a dime... Then now having the mess on their hands, they spray painted them... Reason I know this is because of the layers... I was forced to use paint stripper because every time I tried to simply sand them, the pads would load up in about three seconds with gobs of rubbery black paint residue. I also would have had problems because wherever he did not get the varnish off before painting them, the paint never stuck and because he put it on so thick, it actually never dried properly. I now had to get to the wood in order to prep it. So I am going to sand them and then spray them with a sanding sealer to get the really smooth surface I need to put on the veneer. What a mess.... Oh well... I love a challenge!!! The stripper I use (paint stripper.... not the other kind....) is citrus based and does not have methylene chloride as an ingredient. Much safer, and actually works very well. It will not effectively or easily remove 20 year old varnish, so we’ll handle that by sanding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groomlakearea51 Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 When I apply a paint stripper, I pour it on and use a paper towel to create a "slurry". Just go back and forth until even, and them let it sit for about an hour. Removal is by using a paint scraper (carefully) and just lifting the goop off. When finished, I wash them with mineral spirits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groomlakearea51 Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 Here’s another view of the tops "raw". You can see the belt sanding marks left by the original owner. You can also so the scratches, dents, etc that were covered by the paint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groomlakearea51 Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 Rear panels. These panels are not "fine" sanded from the factory, and thus absorbed more of the pigment in the paint he applied. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groomlakearea51 Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 Now.... Here’s one complete sanded next to the other one. The wood actually came out fine. But for the destroyed corners, the cabinets could actually be stained and look pretty good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groomlakearea51 Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 Another view. You can really see what a belt sander will do to a speaker cabinet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groomlakearea51 Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 Here’s the rear panel sanded. At this point, the sanding is only 120/ 180 grit to level and remove rough spots, etc. Final sanding for the sealer will be 220. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groomlakearea51 Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 This one is the worst one. This one took a whole day to actually get ready just for sealing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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