Speaker restoration
 

Hi new to this forum and I hope this is the correct place to post my problem or may not be relevant at all but can do with the help/advice. I'm looking to paint my speakers, so I've strip them down but come across a problem where the tweeter that's in the middle is glued, is there anyway to remove the glue around it? or would I be better to leave it as is? I haven't got a clue what type of glue this is and although I'm a novice to all this I'm not new to DIY. Hope the picture helps thanks in advance.

Re: Speaker restoration
 

Welcome nazzyUK,
Looking at the pic I think you will be limited to masking the tweeter as carefully as you can, then paint around as best you can. Using a low pressure spray gun may help.

Joe

Re: Speaker restoration
 

Hi And welcome to the forum! You could try warming the glue with a hairdryer. be careful not to get the tweeter too hot though. Try warming one clip at a time and see if you can then work your way around until the tweeter becomes free.

Otherwise maybe the glue could be carefully cut through or picked away with a sharp blade?

Re: Speaker restoration
 

Welcome Nazzy,

The designers obviously designed it not to be removed.

Maybe you should just carefully mask it instead.

Nick.

Re: Speaker restoration
 

If you are unable to remove the glue, find or make a thick paper (thin card) cylindrical 'mask' of the diameter you require and use it to avoid getting paint on to the edge of the tweeter eg toilet or kitchen roll former, Pringles box, paper coffee cup, plastic plumbing pipe etc. TBH, a photo of the front of the speaker baffle would also help us. Best of luck.

Re: Speaker restoration
 

Personally I wouldn't let a hairdryer anywhere near a tweeter. Depending on the type, they often have low-mass plastic diaphragms that could deform at the first hint of hot air. There's great scope for doing some irretrievable damage if the tweeter doesn't come out easily, so my vote goes to leaving it well alone and masking it up.

Re: Speaker restoration
 

Hi guys firstly sorry for not replying back I did not getting any notifications and I've just logged on, secondly thank you for your thoughts and advice its greatly appreciated from experience members.
To answer a couple of the responses, regarding hair dryer I have read a bit about this technique but to be honest I agree with Dickie I'm too scared I might damage the internals, the consensus seems to be leave it as it is but I'm wondering is there not a certain type of glue remover that may do this safely??
I will add a picture of the front of the speaker, to be honest I'm not too fussed about the back but more the front which is the bit everyone will see, but the front is really challenging I'm not sure i'd be able to cover it effectively. I'll add a picture of front so you guys can make some judgements.

Re: Speaker restoration
 

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Re: Speaker restoration
 

Just make a snug fitting paper disc that will mask the tweeter while you're painting or spraying the front baffle. I personally don't see it as a challenging task?

Re: Speaker restoration
 

I've just done that thanks AC

Re: Speaker restoration
 

The reason I say challenging is when you look at the close up its very hard to get any sort of paper under the frame, I think this may be because there is a rubber seal that stops you trying to wedge anything between the gap, if I just put paper on top of the tweeter this is bound to leave a white line at the bottom where the spray won't reach, hope that makes sense

Re: Speaker restoration
 

The challenge might be to get a nice crisp edge between the painted surface and the tweeter.
You could investigate what type of glue is used. Test some of the dribbles on the back to see if they are flexible and will peel off the surface. Or is it dry and solid and will only come off in scraping. Glue removers tend to be solvents of one form or another so you would have to try a few to see if any one softened the glue but not the panel! It may be possible to slowly go round the joint with a sharp blade and gradually ease things apart. But the back plate looks fairly flimsy and might distort with too much abuse. Also its not clear how the tweeter leadouts connect to the tags so you need to be especially careful around them.

Re: Speaker restoration
 

I will try some test cut out pieces but I worry the gap between the tweeter and frame is just not deep enough to get enough material to stop paint seeping onto the tweeter, the bar across the middle doesn't help and the cone of the tweeter is fragile can easily make a dent in it but this maybe my only option so may have to tackle this carefully... The glue I've tried to find out what type it is but no one so far knows, the glue is really hard and I have tried a blade of some sort it just does not cut through, the only way I can describe the glue is it has very similar thickness like caramel but 10/20 times stronger, if you make a cut it just doesn't snap right through it just makes a dent, even tried a dremel on one side (I don't recommend this method but I got a bit desperate and frustrated), I gave up this method straight away as it just didn't make any progress. I've added another close hopefully you can see that I have attempted to cut into the glue with a blade with no success.

Re: Speaker restoration
 

Is there a slight gap between the white cabinet and the black edges of the face of the tweeter? If so, you should be able to tuck any masking material into the gap, to make a halfway decent protection against overpray.

Maybe make a disc of thin card (e.g cut from an old greeting card), slightly bigger in diameter than the opening, so that its edges extend slightly under the white plastic's edges. Then cut it in half across its diameter, insert one half, insert the other half, then gently tack the two bits together with a bit of Sellotape to lock your protective mask in place.

N.

Re: Speaker restoration
 

To be honest low tack hobby masking tape and some fine tissue paper which you can tease in the surround with something small and blunt and tape. Neither will damage the tweeter. Simple.
Don't try removing the glue you will end up breaking the surround it's not meant to come off. Unfortunately that's the way things are made these days if it's broke throw it and buy another.

Re: Speaker restoration
 

That looks like a metal dome tweeter to me. If if is, I would be very wary about trying to feed anything under the protective bar. The dome is extremely easy to dent and it will be impossible to pull the dent out once dented. Metal domes are much less forgiving than fabric or plastic domes. I speak from experience :-(

I'm afraid I don't have a good idea as to how to solve your problem. I'm just warning you to be ultra-careful.

Re: Speaker restoration
 

Yep I hear you Mark and I do agree as I did gently press it by accident and it felt it would easily dent/bend, I appreciate the heads up :thumbsup: