Adhesive choices.
 

Hi.

What would be considered the best choice of adhesive to use in attaching a new loudspeaker fabric to a wooden baffle board?

I was thinking an impact adhesive in order to stop it relaxing and losing tension while setting...

It does, of course need to end up taut and straight (ideally ;D)

Thanks in advance.

Re: Adhesive choices.
 

Would that dry too quickly though? Not sure.
Dave

Re: Adhesive choices.
 

Would the material water shrink? If so a spray with a water mist might be a way to tighten it.

Re: Adhesive choices.
 

I used to use the spray carpet glue not sure if it's the make but I have noticed on certain jobs it seems to be letting go , I now use Bostic in a tube a lot cheaper than a tin of Evo-Stik which goes hard in the tin after a while even when the lid is on. Mick.

Re: Adhesive choices.
 

I'd try a spray adhesive on the baffle board, and lay the baffle down on a flat surface covered with slightly stretched fabric. Press down, allow to set, then turn over and staple around the edges with a staple gun.

Re: Adhesive choices.
 

Remember that many speaker fabrics are designed to shrink slightly when heated, meaning that a quick waft with a hairdryer once the glue has hardened will remove any wrinkles and leave the fabric nice and taut.

As to the best glue, I used to use Copydex, the White stuff beloved of craft type people.

Is it still available I wonder???

Re: Adhesive choices.
 

Copydex is still made and is readily available but I've no idea whether or not the formulation is still the same.

Alan

Re: Adhesive choices.
 

Thanks for your input folks.
I used Copydex in the end.
Dries quite quickly and grips like iron once set.

It is (of course) still readily available, and as far as my nose is concerned, the formula is unchanged - it still stinks!

Re: Adhesive choices.
 

SORRY IF THIS IS TOO LATE...
Do NOT use copydex - it is a rubber latex base and has a short life. convenient for a quick stick but not for anything you want to last more than a couple of years

John

Re: Adhesive choices.
 

Noted.
Time will tell.
The baffle board in question is from a 1930's Murphy radio.
It is separate from the cabinet and screwed in place.
The glue only tacks the fabric around the border of the board.
It is then screwed back into the cabinet once set.
I doubt it would move, even if the glue did deteriorate...

Re: Adhesive choices.
 

Short life was my experience the last time I used Copydex to join pieces of fitted carpet using heavy webbing. I would use solvent-based Evostik. Wooden stuff I glued with Evostik more than 30 years ago, and some paperback books whose spines I re-glued more than 50 years ago, are still sound, I just hope they don't go and change the formulation.

Re: Adhesive choices.
 

I have tried various glues including spray carpet glue, copydex, PVA etc.

Last year I came across 'Mod Podge' which the wife bought for some craft projects. I gave it a go on speaker cloth and have never looked back. I would not use anything else now. I use a paint brush to apply to the baffle and then apply the cloth; stretch taught and clamp. I use lots of little craft clamps which are almost like plastic bulldog clips. Use the Mod Podge sparingly, it works really well and you don't want it bleeding through the fabric.

It is available in many craft type stores and places like the Range.

Re: Adhesive choices.
 

Something I've often pondered - surely speaker fabric is by it's nature fairly permeable. So, if you apply clamps to the fabric while glue is curing, don't you end up with clamps stuck to the workpiece?
Mike

Re: Adhesive choices.
 

I certainly haven't had this as a problem. My clamps are small plastic craft clamps. I use lots around the edge of the fabric. I don't use them to hold the fabric on the glue so to speak, but to keep it taught while drying.

Re: Adhesive choices.
 

I use the backing paper from sheets of Avery self-adhesive labels to stop glue sticking where it is not wanted when clamping-up. They seem to have some sort of silicone layer on the label side that nothing will stick to (not even the lables after they have been pulled off).

Re: Adhesive choices.
 

Thanks. Very useful tip for general use of glue.
Mike

Re: Adhesive choices.
 

-My other half's hairdryer came apart last night, the bristly bit is hard plastic and the handle soft plastic.....Hmm!

I chose hot-melt as the best chance for success, and what did impress me was it's superb gap filling properties on a rather loose fitting handle. You have to work quickly, and if i did it again i would probably pre-warm the workpiece, but so far so good. I've also sent a recessed screw through the handle at 45 degrees, but even without this i think it would have been fine.

Dave