L112 Afterlife

[RLock]

Finished myfirst restoration.

Attached are before and after pics I think they will be self evident.

After purchasing a set of cabinets with water damage to the veneer and bezel.

1) I recapped the crossovers with metalized polypropylene capacitors and installed Dayton binding post terminals.

2) Sanded flush blistered bezel.

3) Sealed, applied primer, painted gloss black.

4) Sanded edge banding and reapplied fresh melamine edge band.

5) Sanded veneer and applied tung oil.

6) Purchased a set of restored grills from Huntley Audio (Great job Steve! Thanks!).

[svollmer]

Nice looking work! I too have a pair of L112s waiting in the wings for some very minor restoration; I'll steal some of your ideas!

The Goodwill store mine came from wrote the price of the speakers on their sides in black crayon. I'm going to try to use some wax and grease remover typically used for cars to get the crayon out.

Did you need to do anything to the pots or remove the foilcals?

[RLock]

Thanks!
I really need to get out in the Thrift Stores and garage sales more often.
I taped off the veneered surfaces in prep to spray paint the bezel. Bare MDF will swell up if not sealed, so it is necessary to seal the grains; I used drywall spackel and applied it with my finger to the bare MDF and sanded . There are helpful websites if you google "paint MDF high gloss". When they say use primer, then use primer, primer is your friend on all the surfaces. I made a lot of extra work for myself by skimping on the primer.

I would not use harsh chemicals on the veneer. Crayon, I would think would not be too deep. I had good luck with 100 grit sand paper with a sanding block to get rid of the water stains, I would not be too aggressive with the rough sanding, then 220 grit to finish. The veneer is thin and I used the bottom of the speaker to test out the sanding / finishing technique. It is my understanding all tung oils are not created equal, I used Formby's Tung Oil. The sanded surface will look like it is beyond hope, but the fun part is applying the tung oil and watching the wood grain come back to life. After applying tung oil, allow to cure for a day, then buff with fine steel wool and apply another coat (or two or three).

The foilcals come off with a little heat from a heat gun (or a hair dryer) to soften the glue and a 3" putty knife under the foilcal (go slow! as the glue gets warm the knife will slide under). The foilcals go back on with a thin coat of contact cement. Once the foilcals are off there are 4 screws underneath for the L-pad assembly (pots).

Good luck with your project and post pics.

Rick

[gsb001]

Hi Rick,
Real nice job on the fronts / baffles.

Good posting.
HuntleyAudio.com

[DavidF]

Ditto to above. Very nice work. The quality of the product is again so evident. Seeing a reconditioned pair reminds me of how unobtainable these seemed (when new) in my college days.

[RLock]

I remember drooling over L112's and L150's in 1980 in the Navy while on Deployment. I settled for L110's which I still have to this day, but I prefer the L112's after A/B'ing them for a while. Now, I find myself drooling over L250ti's.