[morzh]

Howdy guys,

I have this.
   
   


As you can see, a beam is separated, one is cracked and is about to separate, and the rest has the creases though is not breaking off just yet.

So,

1. Do I even care of those, do they do anything at all?
2. If I do, what do I do to secure the existing ones and to re-attach the fallen-off piece?

[Warren]

I think crazy glue would work well with that...see if anyone else thinks so too.

[OldRestorer]

Those cross beams are what give the grill cloth its taught look. They are necessary. Crazy glue is not going to work on fibered thin board that has resistance on it in my opinion. If you were to use a thicker glue like elmers or even wood glue with a cross brace of a piece of scrap backer board that would make it stronger than just glue.

   

Then glue it all and put it between something flat and weigh it down for a day. Make sure you glue the scrap piece on the inside so it does not mess with the grill cloth. the speaker will cover it so no one will notice.

   

Thats how I have done it. If you don't have scrap board you could use whatever is around as long as it is thin and strong.

[morzh]

Thanks guys.

Kirk

Yes, I think just gluing the joints won't even hold the pressure, I need to overlay pieces over. In fact because I see creases in every joint maybe it is not a bad idea to overlay every single one of them.

I will need a safety sheet of paper between the cloth and the beams so the glue does not seep through.

[Eliot Ness]

Wax paper is a good material to keep glue off the grille cloth. Material for backing board replacements or repairs can often be found at a craft store like Michaels in the form of matting material for large prints.

If the existing backing board is stiff and in good shape those cross pieces are probably not needed. There is certainly no harm in repairing them, but there are a lot of consoles with larger speakers that did not use cross braces. Depending on how tight the speaker presses up to the backing board it will also be adding some rigidity. If the cloth looks taut now with the braces creased and broken, you could probably get by w/o them. Just depends on what you want to do, I'd probably repair them just to keep things original.

[morzh]

John

I have Michaels 2 miles from my place.
Yes in fact when I looked at the backing board I was not sure how these beams can add much rigidity to the whole board as it is a square with a circle cut inside and the remainder of material is pretty wide as you can see from the photos.

I thought maybe the beams are there just to support the cloth in the middle a little.

I will try to repair it. I have baking parchment paper, will use it for keeping glue out.

What is the "matting material for large prints"? Oh, do you mean that piece of cardboard that is put against the photo in the fram to keep it flat against the glass?

[Eliot Ness]

What is the "matting material for large prints"? Oh, do you mean that piece of cardboard that is put against the photo in the fram to keep it flat against the glass?

I think that is what it's used for. I forgot to add that, like Kirk mentioned, wood glue would be my glue of choice.

[morzh]

Yep, I got Elmer's.

[Warren]

Yea, they are right.... it should have a backing piece on it to give it a bit more strength. Im sure using the crazy glue would work, they have different kinds nowadays but wood glue is fine. It is the old stand by and you know you shouldnt have a problem with it as long as you have a way to hold the pieces together for a bit while it dries. Good Luck.

[morzh]

Warren

Many times I saw Crazy glue when cured it gave me that impression of being...brittle. I am not sure it is the best choice for gluing paper (or wood for that matter). I could be mistaken, of course but to me the single point of the crazy glue is it is quick. If you need something tacked right there and then and have no time to wait, this is your choice. Like when a rework is done on a PCB and some green wires are ran across,, they often tack them with CG.
I just never saw paper or wood glued with it.

Again I am talking about this classic CG in a green-capped vial with a dropper, smelling like dill weed.
I don't know what they have today - have not been using it much.

Do they have different kinds for wood, plastic etc?

[codefox1]

Why not get a piece of thin masonite and cut a new frame. Paint it black and use rubber cement spaingly to mount grille cloth. Shouldn't rattle or sag.

[morzh]

Yes, but then I need to take off the grillcloth off of the existing frame, which might damage it as it is glued.
Considering the cloth is rare, original and in great shape, and the existing frame still is OK even if I do not reinforce it, the risk outweighs the benefit.

[jerryhawthorne]

Mike, the "elmers" with a thin backing for stiffing is the best way to go. That frame helps the grill cloth from flexing with the air pressure from the speaker.
Your moving right along on that radio.
Good luck, Jerry

[Warren]

Mike, actually yes they do have cg for wood, some for plastic, etc now, they have thin , they have thick stuff, depends on what you want/need. We use crazy glue all the time in radio control building and repairing the wooden planes, etc. which gets alot more stress than this will. But, as I said it doesnt hurt at all to use the wood glue it is a good choice, as you said it just doesnt dry very fast so you only need to make sure you clamp it together while it dries and it will work great.

[Jamie]

I have used wooden tongue depressors (popsicle sticks) to reinforce grill backing. I used regular old wood glue. You should be able to buy a bag of the wooden sticks for a couple of bucks. They are easy to trim. Smear some glue on the stick and press it on the cardboard. Just be sure the new wood doesn't interfere with speaker installation.