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FredEmmerich
04-28-2005, 08:48 PM
I have picked up a pair of 4425's and the cabinets are banged up and I need some advice. I searched the forums with no luck on this, how would you go about fixing smashed corners on the cabinets? I assume these are veneered so I am not sure how this would be properly repaired.

Any help/guidance is appreciated.

Fred

Titanium Dome
04-28-2005, 09:16 PM
I think Steve Gonzales covered this in his L220 thread?

http://audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=4263&highlight=l220

evans224
04-28-2005, 09:16 PM
Post some pictures, and I bet there will be suggestions. It depends on how badly mashed they are. Steve G, care to weigh in?

JBL Dog
04-28-2005, 09:32 PM
I have picked up a pair of 4425's and the cabinets are banged up and I need some advice. I searched the forums with no luck on this, how would you go about fixing smashed corners on the cabinets? I assume these are veneered so I am not sure how this would be properly repaired.

Any help/guidance is appreciated.

Fred

Forum member audiobeer is the man you need to talk to.

Steve Gonzales
04-28-2005, 10:31 PM
Audiobeer is an excellent enclosure repair guy and I do a bit of it myself. Here is my 2 cents. Here is a before and after of a recent L110 resto:

Steve Gonzales
04-28-2005, 10:32 PM
Presto!

Steve Gonzales
04-28-2005, 11:09 PM
Member DMMD is responsible for finding the EXACT artists pens you'll need to blend in the FAMOWOOD lacquer putty, here is what he found:

Quote from L-96 restoration thread, Member DMMD:
"My touch-up ink discovery I want to share. It is as close to an exact brown match as you can possibly find.... in ink that is.

* Farber Castell - Pitt Artist Pens, Sepia.
They come in a four pack - S, F, M, B widths. $9 at Aaron Brothers
It's india ink, so its waterproof permanent, and will penetrate wood. The "s" is so fine you can duplicate just about any grain. The "F" matches the JBL grain width pretty well. The "B" is a small brush, so you can stain an area... or (what I discovered) produce uneven slightly varying widths in a single stroke with no overlap.

* Primacolor PM-61 Dark Umber. $3 This has a honey like tone in the brown that will blend in with the lighter areas of the veneer.

Together for $12, this set and single marker will be a huge asset to anyone's project toolbox. Ink is top quality and very rich. It goes on and stays where you want it. With the india ink, you have about 2 minutes to futz with it before ist penetrates. Smugge it a little and you can almost get a transitional grain effect. It's not dull and cheap looking like a lot of the products in the low-end retail market".
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is my method Fred: Go to Home Depot, Lowe's or any place that sells refinishing products and find FAMOWOOD lacquer putty. This product is made with real walnut dust and takes the stain very nicely. Prep the area by making a steep transition where the veneer and the bare particle board meet, with an Exacto knife. Make sure that the particle board is free of crumbling pieces. Take the FAMOWOOD walnut filler and apply it first to fill the large voids and then with a "pinching" action with your thumb and forefinger, "build" up the corner, making sure that you put a little extra material. This product shrinks very little, but you want more than you need. Let it dry over night in a fairly warm room. Next, load a palm sander with #150 grit . This is where you MUST BE CAUTIOUS. The FAMOWOOD putty sands VERY easily. You need VERY LITTLE PRESSURE. Get the enclosure up at close to eye level and begin sanding at the proper ANGLE to roughly "shape" the corner. Don't take it all the way with the #150, just get it close, REMEMBER, EXTREMELY LIGHT SANDING PRESSURE. Next, load #220 grit and do the same thing, leaving just a tad to use a hand powered sanding block W/#220 to "fine tune" the corner. I assume you will be refinishing the whole thing right?. Next, BEFORE you apply the WATCO of whatever stain product you want, take the above mentioned pens and carefully "fake or "faux" the grain in. I would start with a black inkpen of .05 mm. for the actual grain "veins" or "figuring", then using a combination of the other pens, "color in" the patch over the fake graining, being careful not to get the patch too dark. Practice a bit, test to see what and how much you need. The patch should be a medium shade, in between the finish shade and the dry putty shade BEFORE it is stained. You can always go darker with the pens AFTER you stain, but it is impossible to go lighter without starting from scratch again. I have a good, step by step finishing instuction that I've sent to quite a few members and they have taken it and put their own unique talents and twists to it and achieved EXCELLENT results. If you want this info, send me a PM and I'll be glad to help you further. This is just one way to do it. It works for me and I hope it helps you too, Steve G


BTW: To get a good grain match, look at the figuring and take the .05mm pen and "sketch" in the grain, take your time , little by little, until you've got a good continuation.

DMMD
04-29-2005, 08:18 AM
Without knowing the extent of the damage... it's hard to say.

Indeed, the pens do work pretty well. NB: anything containing wax will seal the pores of the smaller size sepia pens. This is useful info when you are doing the final touch-ups after staining. The pens will unclog though... The brush pen (my favorite) is unaffected and is the easiest/hardest to work with depending upon how well you can control the instrument in your hands.

Here's a few additional comments:

Don't forget the power of the steam iron for fixing bubbles, deep scratches, uneven rolling surfaces, etc... the key is to get the surfaces as flat and even as possible to give the sander as much material as possible to refinish. Rowenta makes a portable steam brush/iron that is the perfect size for this sort of thing. Using a wet towel sometimes works better than applying water directly to the problem areas.

The veneer, although thin, is fairly forgiving. You need to "feel" for the right time to stop sanding. There are always one or two flaws SOMEWHERE in that veneer that you can't control or predict.

Damage to the underlying MDF? Before filling, create stability as much as possible. I have also had some success sealing damaged/weakened particle board by injecting superglue into holes that have been micro-drilled into the weakened areas. The glue (non-gel) will run into those little cracks and crevices inside and fill them up-creating a new bond. If there is surface damage, there's probably some you can't see. This works well on the protruding decorative front trim edges of many studio monitors as well as on grilles.

Good luck and be shure to share anything you discover.

:bouncy:

Regis
04-29-2005, 09:22 AM
I picked up my free L-112 cabs from my bud yesterday. While there's no major damage, there's plenty to work over. There are some medium-sized water stains on the top of the one cab that have actually turned black! They're about index finger length and 3/4 inch wide. Makes me wonder if the black stain worked itself all the way down to the bottom or not. Anybody have any experience with removing these, short of replacing the veneer?

Steve Gonzales
04-29-2005, 11:22 AM
Regis, you would be amazed at some of the stains from flower pots that I've sanded out!. The whole process revolves around your PATIENCE when tackling this problem. Take the stain down with #150 grit SLOWLY!!!! Doing these restorations is like the difference between the Water Company digging a trench for a new water main with a BACKHOE and an ARCHEOLOGIST carefully taking minute layers off of a prized buried object. Once you've got the top layer of the stain sanded out, go to #220 with a hand powered sanding block. JBL used VERY HIGH QUALITY veneer at that point in time, all of the "pure L " series use this HQ veneer. Call me if you need me, Steve G

Regis
04-29-2005, 12:19 PM
I appreciate the add'l advice. I contemplated the cabs last night and I'll give it a shot soon. Picking up my fourth pair of JBL's Sunday morning. Boy, are we sick or not. If it ain't enough to own a pair of L-110's, L-150's (soon to be L-112's), now I need another pair! And I'm probably one of the lightweights on this sitet:D

B&KMan
05-02-2005, 06:11 PM
I have picked up a pair of 4425's and the cabinets are banged up and I need some advice. I searched the forums with no luck on this, how would you go about fixing smashed corners on the cabinets? I assume these are veneered so I am not sure how this would be properly repaired.

Any help/guidance is appreciated.

Fred


WOW !!!

You have a ton of technic here and some is produce a funtastic result...


I'm study one year in industry of wood.

Well, the presswood is extremeny delicate after smash; the particules is vented and multi-hidden brokend...

I buy a 4343 monitor and the film of finish wood is extremely scrap and to tin for refresh, corner scrap and big hole on side for bolt spearker in upper wall in bar.

Personnally I pass a metal brush where particules wood is broken and try to out any fine parts
for big crack put wood carpenter glue and put firmly with mecanical system.

And sand with 100
put epoxy white-grey filler putty car on corner sand for perfect finish and re-put tin auto-glue venner in all surface... (the style JBL is wallnut) personnally I put a red cachew style... (I send pic If you want)

just finish with oil style, better mat but the nature of wood is higher grade level finish (wax is beautiful too)

the r-venneer It is trouble but better long ride finish.... (and becasue is auto-heat glue , all the time it is possibe to pull out for re-start if you bad touch...)

The sun is altered all pigment: paint, tinted, pen, ink, or any other type finish is react in the time...

If you not artist and if you give a really long term intigrity, just wood equal wood... Look at you local librairy for method of insert new piece of tin veneer but is it a art and if you have not a heart of audioBeer, well choose little tecnical approach...

I hope other point of view help you in job.

Jean.

FredEmmerich
05-02-2005, 07:47 PM
How would you remove and replace the veneer if you wanted to change the look?

thanks
Fred

Steve Gonzales
05-02-2005, 08:30 PM
Fred, PM member WOODY BANKS. Do a member search and also look at his posts. He is one hell of a good craftsman.

B&KMan
05-03-2005, 07:00 AM
How would you remove and replace the veneer if you wanted to change the look?

thanks
Fred

WHO ?? me ??

If you choose the pre-glued venneer it is easy to heat with clothe iron put put and pull.

If you run with glue, choose a glue contat, it is more easy to pull but little higher to work, I scrap my first shot in water contat because the water in glue is expense (by absorbtion of water) the tin venneer...

So, after dry, my venneer is shrink and open crack.... ( I verified with home depot and I blast the guy is recommand water glue so is refound material and I reglue with blue contact..
My speaker is round corner with interior overlap -- delicate process -- but with blade of cutter and little time, the result is professionnal venneer process...)



perfect result...

Bill Ding
05-05-2005, 11:06 AM
Does the Famowood lacquer putty get hard like a wood filler? I tried the precolored Miniwax putty and it stayed soft and would only work on wall panelling or something not move or touched.

Bill

DMMD
05-05-2005, 12:25 PM
Yes it does. PL Brand Walnut Dust Fill also works well. Famowood is not always avail.