Hoping you might be able to help guide me through a speaker repair. I have an 8" woofer from a Vandersteen 2CE speaker that recently started to make some unusual noises at only moderate volumes. Disassembling the speaker is a bit of a pain, but I now have the woofer out.
Turns out the rubber surround has completely separated from the poly cone. The surround is still perfectly well attached to the basket. There is no damage at all and there isn't even much of a trace of the old adhesive. So it would seem that re-gluing should work out OK.
Do you think it would work to simply glue the surround back to the cone? Centering would be more challenging I think since usually the surround is glued to the cone first, then the surround is glued to the basket. I'm thinking that using a glue that dries slowly, using a 50Hz tone to check for rubbing, and slightly adjusting position should do the job.
Or should I take the surround off the basket first?
Thanks for the insight!
Turns out the rubber surround has completely separated from the poly cone. The surround is still perfectly well attached to the basket. There is no damage at all and there isn't even much of a trace of the old adhesive. So it would seem that re-gluing should work out OK.
Do you think it would work to simply glue the surround back to the cone? Centering would be more challenging I think since usually the surround is glued to the cone first, then the surround is glued to the basket. I'm thinking that using a glue that dries slowly, using a 50Hz tone to check for rubbing, and slightly adjusting position should do the job.
Or should I take the surround off the basket first?
Thanks for the insight!
The 'proper' way to do it would be to remove the dust cap and place shims in the gap to keep the voicecoil centered while you glue the surround back on. Then you glue the dust cap back on.
With some luck you may be able to reattach the surround without shimming the coil but without being able to see the coil in the gap you don't really know how close you are the rubbing though. If it doesn't rub immediately after the repair you will probably be OK.
I would try to remove all the old glue from the cone and the surround otherwise the old layers of glue left over may further fail and it comes apart again. The surround may come off the basket in the future if the glue fails in the same way, that would be the only motivation for removing the surround from the basket. Personally i'd just leave it on there and deal with it in the future if it becomes an issue. Leaving the surround on the basket also keeps it round.
With some luck you may be able to reattach the surround without shimming the coil but without being able to see the coil in the gap you don't really know how close you are the rubbing though. If it doesn't rub immediately after the repair you will probably be OK.
I would try to remove all the old glue from the cone and the surround otherwise the old layers of glue left over may further fail and it comes apart again. The surround may come off the basket in the future if the glue fails in the same way, that would be the only motivation for removing the surround from the basket. Personally i'd just leave it on there and deal with it in the future if it becomes an issue. Leaving the surround on the basket also keeps it round.
I was able to glue up the surround to the cone this weekend. It wasn't very difficult to get it centered. By pushing on only one side of the cone at a time I could feel how far off the centering was. There was glue residue to remove prior to gluing, it was all on the back of the rubber surround, and none on the poly cone. No surprise there since not many adhesives bond very well with plastic. I used a fairly agressive grit sandpaper on the rubber to cut through the adhesive, and a light grit sandpaper on the cone to rough up the surface for better adhesion.
I decided to use a PVA craft glue for a few reasons:
- setup time is long so I could easily move the cone around and check for centering
- if the process doesn't work well the glue is relatively easy to remove
- easy to clean up since applying a consistent bead wasn't that easy - awkward location
So far it seems like a good strong bond, but time will tell. At least I have some experience in the process now and if I need to use a more aggressive adhesive in the future I can feel confident!
I decided to use a PVA craft glue for a few reasons:
- setup time is long so I could easily move the cone around and check for centering
- if the process doesn't work well the glue is relatively easy to remove
- easy to clean up since applying a consistent bead wasn't that easy - awkward location
So far it seems like a good strong bond, but time will tell. At least I have some experience in the process now and if I need to use a more aggressive adhesive in the future I can feel confident!
I am repairing some small garage test speakers (Visonik ) and will be gluing rubber (original foam ) surrounds to paper (cone material) dont care about any FS changes here..
I will remove the dust cap and do it properly centered.
Is there anything locally you can get simply over the counter instead of ordering and waiting for specific glue for the job?
Regards
David
I will remove the dust cap and do it properly centered.
Is there anything locally you can get simply over the counter instead of ordering and waiting for specific glue for the job?
Regards
David
PVA might work for foam and its porious nature, but not rubber like I will use.
I do have spray 90 that is used for laminate bonding of counter tops..
Could just thin it down and brush both surfaces
Someone mentioned some kind of windshield glue that is long lasting and pliable, but cant find where I originally searched ��
I do have spray 90 that is used for laminate bonding of counter tops..
Could just thin it down and brush both surfaces
Someone mentioned some kind of windshield glue that is long lasting and pliable, but cant find where I originally searched ��
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