Cabinet Repair

[jackfish]

I have a pair of Utility New Large Advents that had the front upper right corners smashed in shipment. They aren't too bad, about a 1/16-1/8" inch on one and about 1/8-3/16" on the other. Is there a way to peel back the vinyl, repair the corner with epoxy, wood filler or something and then glue the vinyl back over the repair? Thanks.

[Doug G.]

I have the same thing with one of my utility pairs from poor packaging except that part of the vinyl is missing too.

I guess you could try to either peel away all of the surrounding vinyl with the aid of a hair dryer or just slit it near the damage so less is disturbed.

Heck, you could even remove all of the vinyl and replace with some aftermarket stuff.

I would think you should be able to replace the missing pieces of board with any of the substances you mentioned. Just fill and sand to shape. I eventually intend to do this with my damaged pair. Maybe epoxy woud be the best as it would be tougher than filler or the like.

Doug

[Guest russwollman]

If you want to make them beautiful, you can apply a wood veneer over the vinyl. I veneered some Smaller Advents that way, roughing up the vinyl with sandpaper and using contact cement to fasten the veneer. Once the veneer is in place, you can easily fill the dented corners, since the veneer will lie flat. Even a low cost material like white birch will have a great look.

[justw]

>If you want to make them beautiful, you can apply a wood

>veneer over the vinyl. I veneered some Smaller Advents that

>way, roughing up the vinyl with sandpaper and using contact

>cement to fasten the veneer. Once the veneer is in place, you

>can easily fill the dented corners, since the veneer will lie

>flat. Even a low cost material like white birch will have a

>great look.

How do the corners and edges look? What did you use to trim the edges? I have considered doing this using the Band-It line of veneer products but a bad job could totally destroy the appearance of my speakers!

[real1shepherd]

Russ, on the surface that sounds like a great idea, however I'm not sure how much you could trust the adhesiveness of the original vinyl just to laminate over? I like the idea of epoxy (more than like a plastic-wood product) and reshaping to get the corner perfect again-hopefully peeling back the vinyl enough to reglue-or, ripping all the vinyl off and reapplying new vinyl. If I were going to that much trouble though, I'd go for the walnut veneer like the other Advent had. Back in the day, we were just kidding ourselves when we said it didn't matter and went with the 'utility' cabinets-I think most of us longed for the walnut veneer but didn't (or couldn't ) pay the extra.

I'm at a point where I like the look of my restored ebay walnuts so much, that I'm going to do another to match and replace my original utility pair....or do the 'triple system'....;-)

[Guest russwollman]

I have successfully fastened veneer to two pair of vinyl-clad Smaller Advents. I like light-colored wood very much—and I did not like the vinyl at all. Later I made a pair of stands from birch plywood to match the veneered speakers. Also I veneered a pair of Boston A40s with oak directly over the black whatever-it-was that the factory used as cladding.

Whatever is your choice, dear shepherd, I will honor it, and I will not think wrongly of you if you choose not to take my superb suggestion. We all have to pass the time somehow. ;-)

Should you tire of hauling old speakers up and down the stairs and making trips to the lumber yard, settle back with "Harpo Speaks", a wonderful autobiography from the man who never spoke on stage or on camera. It's a great story about the wonderful life of an angel of a man...

[Guest russwollman]

Regarding the corners and edges:

I trimmed the edges with a simple utility knife (making sure to always use a sharp blade) using the edge of the cabinet as a guide. It's easier than you might imagine.

On the Smaller Advents, I covered the thin edges at the speaker front first, so they'd look more seamless in the straight-on view. And I miter-cut the edges where they meet, which took a bit of fuss to get right.

If you try this, you could practice cutting a piece of the veneer first, so you get the feel of doing it, how much force and pressure are needed. You could even glue a piece of veneer to something and see how to cut the veneer off the edge.

I used Weldwood Gel Formula contact cement rather than the regular formula. Gel formula flows on rather more smoothly.

The final thing is, you won't get a perfect factory-like job, but you can come so close that it won't matter. And using a veneer you like, you'll have it to your taste, though do remember—nothing you'll use in this operation is edible ;-)

[Guest russwollman]

Shepherd, I think you'd have a helluva time ripping that vinyl off. And it would never lie flat again if you tried to glue it back. It's exceedingly thin material and it's really stuck on tight, no foolin' whatsoever. It would probably take some of the wood substrate off with it.

Let us know what you do...

[real1shepherd]

Russ, lest you misunderstand me again and have more fun at my expense...I was never claiming that you couldn't veneer over the vinyl clad original Advents, I was asking at the prudence of it all. Since you claim that the original vinyl is there for the 'duration' and veneer can gleefully be applied over it, bully for you. I have no experience with veneering and I would probably just dump my old utilities on ebay rather than make them guinea pigs, as I'm not really too anxious for yet another 'project' of that magnitude. Rather, I'd much prefer to start with a clean original walnut pair and redo the woofers, crossovers and the tweeters. Perhaps you don't consider that enough 'challenge/fun'....

Ummmm…and about “Harpo Speaks”….I really don’t have an interest in reading that. From what I’ve been told, his voice in reality was mouse-squeaky and so rather than upset ‘the act’ he was relegated to silence in public by his brothers. And further it has been said in many circles that he was a gross womanizer and philanderer, which doesn't make him an "angel of a man"....

[Guest russwollman]

Everybody's gotta be someplace...

[Doug G.]

Sheperd, it sounds like you think Russ was making fun of you but when I read his post, I thought it more of a teasing tone like many of us on the different forums use all the time. I hope I'm correct.

Regarding Harpo Marx (I love the Marx brothers), I think you have him confused with Chico (originally pronounced "Chick-O" but the public insisted on "Cheek-O"). Chico was the big womanizer and gambler whereas Harpo was a real family man and adored his wife. They were married for many years.

Doug

[real1shepherd]

"Sheperd, it sounds like you think Russ was making fun of you but when I read his post, I thought it more of a teasing tone like many of us on the different forums use all the time. I hope I'm correct."

Perhaps, although I then reserve the right to recognize decent humor.;-)

"Regarding Harpo Marx (I love the Marx brothers), I think you have him confused with Chico (originally pronounced "Chick-O" but the public insisted on "Cheek-O"). Chico was the big womanizer and gambler whereas Harpo was a real family man and adored his wife. They were married for many years."

No, actually most of the Marx brothers were suspect in Hollywood starlet-wannabe scandal trysts at one time or another, whether they were married or not. Groucho was probably one of the most mean-spirited men in show biz. His TV show "You Bet Your Life" was a supreme farce in which you got to see him insult his guests for laughs. What you didn't see, were the edited takes where he had them in tears-mostly females...or the males who wanted to punch his lights out. They made great comedy movies however, but they were no pillars of virtue in the community or role models-but maybe that was the attraction for many.

[Guest russwollman]

Yes, Doug, you are right. I intended no harm at all. Spring has come here in full force, and for some reason I feel buoyant after many months of a deadly seriousness. I am sometimes misunderstood, so I don't fault the shepherd...and I myself got really weary of hauling heavy old speaker back and forth from my apartment to the basement shop and then to the car, pant, pant, which is why sitting with a book began to seem so nice.

Harpo's story was marvelous. He did seem a wonderful man. He wanted to adopt enough children so that there'd be one in every window of his house to greet him when he came home from work. He did just that.

As for Grouch and Chico, I love them. Comedians have to be someplace else to do what they do. Myron Cohen attributed this classic remark to the man found hiding in the shower by the bona fide head of the household: "Everybody's gotta be someplace".

And so must we all...

[real1shepherd]

>Myron Cohen attributed this classic remark to the man found hiding in the shower by the bona fide head of the household: "Everybody's gotta be someplace".<

Now THAT is humor at its finest, as were many of the lines in the Marx Brothers movies. "Viaduct" (why a duck, why not a goose?) comes to mind. For the most part, they were four times the fun and mayhem of Abbott & Costello.

[JKent]

My 2 cents:

I veneered my VMPS subwoofer years ago. The cabinet was walnut veneer but I wanted rosewood to match my furniture. Found an iron-on product that worked great! May not be so good over vinyl tho.

If you do decide to use veneer, I would fill the banged up corner with Plastic Wood FIRST, then sand it smooth and apply the veneer. A word about contact cement: You don't get a second chance. Read the instructions, apply the glue and let it dry, then stick the veneer down. If you want, you can put a sheet of paper (or was it wax paper?) down, position the veneer, then slide the paper out. The iron-on veneer banding works well on the front of the speakers (the edge of the cabinet)

When you trim the veneer, first use a very sharp utility knife, but trim it a little big (1/32"). Then use a sanding block and carefully sand in one direction only, at a slight angle, so you do not lift and splinter the edge.