AR3a Surround Replacement Concerns

[FredsBands]

These are the A.3 woofers (I checked the restore guide). I got my surrounds from Vintage AR, which seem to be right. But my first question concerns this: the cone's glue surface is conical and the surround's cone-landing surface is flat. Is that going to be a problem with obtaining an air-tight joint without buckling? (I replaced surrounds on my DQ-10s, but the cones each had a flat surface where the cone meets the surround; it came out great, but that was my only experience )

Second concern is the amount and hardness of glue remaining on the cone for only one woofer. The guide suggested rubbing alcohol, and it is very slowly helping to soften the glue, but it is also softening the paper cone surface, causing me to pull the old glue off very, very slowly, worrying every millimeter. I've spent two hours so far and removed about 4-5 inches of it. Is there a better procedure or a better solvent I can use?

UPDATE

I've got it up to half removed, took 3 hours, cone still ok

[FredsBands]

I've made progress... My glue from Vintage AR dried up, so I'm using Aileen's, but I suspect the adhesion time is more like a half hour. I tested it on some cardboard.

[FredsBands]

I got them both cleaned up and ready for the surrounds. The woofer cone with the hard-to-remove old glue partly delaminated about 1/4" in from the edge and about 1/2"long due to the alcohol softening the cone. I could not avoid that, so I'll need to figure out a way to strrengthen it after thge surrounds are on.

And this is what I was worried about more than removing the glue. I have to wonder if anyone else has had that problem.

[GD70]

When I replaced the surrounds, I removed as much of the original glue as possible with a small plastic putty knife. As I slowly, and gently scrape the glue from the surface, I have a finger on the underside of the cone to support it as I scrape. I do not attempt to completely remove it, so I don't damage the cone edges. After I removed the glue with the scraper, I use my fingers to rub off more if possible, and to smooth the cone surface so the new surround will have a smooth surface to glue to. It's ok if there's a bit of the original glue remaining on the cone surface.

Glenn

[FredsBands]

Thanks Glenn,

I completely did the same as you suggested carefully, but with a box cutter and with isopropyl alcohol to help soften the glue just a bit. That glue was tough on #1 woofer., but I think that was a good job and both surfaces are pretty clean now on both woofers. Surround is done with the 1st woofer.

The Aileen's dried to some degree of adhesion slowly, so I spent sometime holding it down. I also used my fingers to hold the cone just a bit up to give it a parallel surface to stick to, for both the surround-to-cone and surround-to-basket matings. If I held the cone up too far the general area where my fingers were holding it was a bit up too far, so that was a balance and tedious.

I did notice that the removed dust caps were fairly porous, whereas the new ones are completely opaque and leak-free. I have the A.3 woofers, so I'm not going to worry about air leakage. At this point I'm gluing on the last surround to the 2nd basket and then will be ready to glue on the dust caps;t they look like just the right size and shape.

Fred