Stripped screw holes

[Guest crusty]

I've stripped many screw holes on loudspeaker baffles over the years, the best remedy is to take your little hot melt glue gun and little wood blocks aprox 1x1x1/2 inches and glue them on the backside of the baffle (inside of the cabinet) over the existing screw holes. Then using a drill bit slightly smaller then the screws you intend to use, re drill the existing holes. If necessary, go to the nearest hardware store and buy new philips round head wood screws that are about a 1/2 inch longer the the originals to securely mount the woofers. Your new screws should be 1/2 inch longer then the thickness of the baffle.

[JKent]

Sounds good. I'm not familiar with the Advents, but the ARs used T-nuts. Seems to me you could use them on any speaker baffle. They take machine screws (bolts), not wood screws. And you have to be careful not to over-tighten them.

[dynaco_dan]

>Sounds good. I'm not familiar with the Advents, but the ARs

>used T-nuts. Seems to me you could use them on any speaker

>baffle. They take machine screws (bolts), not wood screws. And

>you have to be careful not to over-tighten them.

Hi Jeff;

A very good suggestion, Jeff.

I believe that AR used the T-NUTS with all of their classic speakers from day one.

This little detail added a small amount of labour, drilling the pilot holes, mounting the T-Nuts on the baffle boards.

Not really any extra time tightening the machine screws in, but, it certainly made for a secure and repeatable mounting.

It also meant that for the serviceperson, not having to fiddle with woodscrews stripping in the various wood configurations.

At todays costs of about $.15 per nut/bolt combination times about 16 units per 3 way speaker, the cost per year to a factory was quite enormous.

The Advent did not have a large ledge to screw into as well.

Wooden matchsticks with glue may be another alternative.

Our local Lee Valley catalog has small, but valuable tips in my opinion, here and there throughout their catalog.

One that does come to mind, coincidentily, within the last month or so, sharpen a small pencil size dowel with a pencil sharpener, glue and tap it into the hole, let the glue dry, flush cut and viola.

Good topic, good luck.

[Guest One-Shot Scot]

>I've stripped many screw holes on loudspeaker baffles over

>the years, the best remedy is to take your little hot melt

>glue gun and little wood blocks aprox 1x1x1/2 inches and glue

>them on the backside of the baffle (inside of the cabinet)

>over the existing screw holes. Then using a drill bit slightly

>smaller then the screws you intend to use, re drill the

>existing holes. If necessary, go to the nearest hardware store

>and buy new philips round head wood screws that are about a

>1/2 inch longer the the originals to securely mount the

>woofers. Your new screws should be 1/2 inch longer then the

>thickness of the baffle.

Here is another easy fix for stripped speaker screw holes that I originally posted under a topic dealing with an Advent woofer re-foam issue:

The New Advent loudspeaker has an Achilles' heel. If you turn the four woofer attachment screws enough, you will invariably find that one or more of the screw holes becomes stripped. The mounting board of the New Advent is made of particle board and the centers of the screw holes average a distance of 1/2" to 5/8" from the edge. I am assuming that this problem with stripped screw holes is just as bad, if not worse, in the original Advent, because it appears that the screw holes for the Masonite woofer are about 1/4" from the edge.

One solution that has been offered is to rotate the woofer in either direction and drill all new holes. This method compromises interior esthetics, and if this procedure is repeated often enough, the edge of the woofer mounting hole will look like Swiss cheese. While it might be possible to rotate the Masonite woofer 360°, the mounting hole flares on the New Advent woofer basket will be blocked by the cabinet and a complete rotation will not be possible.

Whenever I encounter a stripped speaker mounting hole, I continue to turn the screw clockwise until all of the loose particle board comes to the surface. (So far, I have not had a tweeter screw hole become stripped). The original screw holes were pre-drilled, so the holes go completely through the mounting board. After removing the screw, I fill the hole with Minwax Wood Filler and thoroughly tamp it down with a small Phillips screwdriver until the filler comes out the back end of the hole. Then I pack in as much filler as the hole will allow and let it dry for at least 8 hours. Next, I take a 3/32" drill bit and drill completely through the filler, before re-installing the screw. So far, I have not had a repaired screw hole strip out.

Usually, the tweeter is secured with four smaller Phillips screws and the woofer is secured by four larger Phillips screws. However, I did find two A4 cabinets which used the smaller tweeter screws to secure both the tweeter and the woofer. Apparently, the Advent factory ran out of the larger screws and used the smaller screws on the woofer.