L110 Grill restoration

[Steve Gonzales]

I recently acquired some L110's and spent some time figuring out how to put new grill cloth on them. As ususal, they were in bad shape. Here is a picture of one before and here is how I did it.

[Steve Gonzales]

I first took off the grill badges and then taped a piece of paper in the corner to use as a template to ensure that the badge goes back in the exact spot.

[Steve Gonzales]

I then poked a hole from the back

[Steve Gonzales]

Yup

[Steve Gonzales]

All set

[Steve Gonzales]

Here is a shot of an EMBEE full elastic,1" wide putty knife. This tool allows you to get between the innner and outer frames with ease

[Steve Gonzales]

Insert the blade between the inner and outer frames and break to bond

[Steve Gonzales]

Cut off the old material and do the same to the inside edge

[Steve Gonzales]

The EMBEE allows you to get right into the corners and break that bond

[Steve Gonzales]

There is still a bond between the face of the inner and outer pieces so, gently pry them apart and insert another blade to keep it apart to enable you to continue. The inner piece is made of flimsy wood so it might get nicked. I use a Sharpie to black-out any of these spots so they don't show through the finished product

[Steve Gonzales]

Gently pry

[Steve Gonzales]

Try to plan your moves so that the flimsy inner piece doesn't take alot of pressure or else it will break!

[Steve Gonzales]

Lay out your new cloth on a good flat surface. Get your tools ready and make sure the inner frame is clean of old adhesive.

[Steve Gonzales]

I use that piece of wood in the last picture to apply even pressure to the frame once a bead of glue has been laid down. I start the bead of glue right at the 45 degree angle cut of the frame. A light bead is all that is needed, don't go too crazy or you'll have a mess.

[Steve Gonzales]

Lay a bead, fold the cloth over and press it down with your block for 10 seconds and move to the next spot.

[Steve Gonzales]

Once you've got the material glued fron 45 to 45, restretch the cloth will a gentle tug to avoid "tweeking" the frame out of square. Glue the cloth the same way as the other end.

[Steve Gonzales]

Now you should see it coming together. The material might look like it is too loose but when you do the sides, it will all come together. If you make a mistake, try it again, it's not hard.

[Steve Gonzales]

Cut the material at a 45 degree angle at the corners after the first two ends are glued and cut the sides BEFORE they are to be glued.

[Steve Gonzales]

Like so..

[Steve Gonzales]

The cut lines on the cloth seem a little sloppy but you will see that it doesn't matter later. Once you get the sides glued down, you will have little open spots at the 45's. stick the glue gun into these spots and give them a little glue and pinch them close

[Steve Gonzales]

Pinch it !

[Steve Gonzales]

What you are left with is a little dog ear. Simply cut this off

[Steve Gonzales]

Like so

[Steve Gonzales]

Now carefully trim the excess material off the frame and place your template to locate the emblem, punch the hole, install the emblem.

[Steve Gonzales]

I cleaned the outer plastic frame but plan to use the new spray paint for plastic on them before final assembly but here is what it looks like so far. I hope this helps someone. I know there may be other methods and I'd like to hear them. This grill was kind of tough because of the way it is constructed, but once I figured it out, it was really a straight forward process that I'm sure you can duplicate. I'm happy with the results. Talk to ya later, Steve G

[Alex Lancaster]

:applaud: Steve: Fortunately You have the know-how, patience and tools, not all of us do, congrats.

Hey, that is a bloody thumb!

Keep on.

[Steve Gonzales]

I think if you are careful and CARE about doing this, you can!. The tools are less than $20.00. I bought the gluegun at the 99 cent store!. Thank you for the compliment. I was intimidated before every one of my projects but after thinking about my plan of attack, doing some research and going slowly, they were pretty easy!. ;)

PS. Yes that is a bloody thumb. No pain, No gain :D

[yggdrasil]

Very nice work. And so well documented. You impress as always.

[2pair]

I started this exact project a couple of days ago. I used the back of a snap-off blade knife (boxcutter?) to do the prying and that seemed to work well (no blood let). I may have had it a little easier though because I had a broken corner of the outer frame I was repairing so I had access to the inside there to get it started. I used model glue to fix this. It seems to have worked well so far, but then I still have the clamps on.http://audioheritage.org/vbulletin/images/smilies/dont-know.gif I was planning to repaint them both with model paint, flat black (can you guess I make models...)
I never thought to make a template for the emblem location but I will when I do the second one, or at least take measurements..http://audioheritage.org/vbulletin/images/smilies/thumbup.gif
I was wondering if hot glue would work for the final assembly, and it seems that it will!

Thanks for the documentation!

[Earl K]

Nice Work Steve

I do love the pictures. :bouncy:

And thanks for taking the time to document all your efforts - it's most appreciated . :yes:

:cheers: Earl K