Gale GS401 Re-foam Project

[Rare Bird]

Getting very close to refoaming the drivers out in the garden (you don't want all that tar-like mess in the house).

Aye don't drop a ballerk like i did, i changed the gooey idler wheels & pinch roller in my Ferrograph Reel + Reel machine, i only went & dropped the pinch roller on the carpet whilst cleaning the dinner table off. Absolutly destroyed the carpet. That little job cost me £100.00 for the new wheels + £500.00 for a new carpet

[Barry]

The idler wheels of my Ferrograph 632 machine have also gone 'gooey'. I have a new set, but can't see how to change them. Do you know of a web site that can provide instructions on how to do this?

[Rare Bird]

PM

[MartinT]

What the heck are you going to use Martin?

Yes, I'll be using the Aleene's alright. Have you ever done a refoam? The crap that the old foam surrounds turns into over the years is so horrible, rubbery and sticky that it behaves like tar and you do NOT want to get it on your carpet!

[walpurgis]

Have you ever done a refoam? The crap that the old foam surrounds turns into over the years is so horrible, rubbery and sticky that it behaves like tar and you do NOT want to get it on your carpet!

Yes, I've done a number of surround replacements, using contact adhesives sometimes, particularly when it's a plastic cone bonding to a rubber surround. But Aleene's seems best for paper/pulp cones. The sticky old surround residue just takes a lot of patient scraping to remove. And yes, I did get a couple of little bits on the carpet. I just plucked them off and cleaned up with paint brush cleaner, followed by soapy water.

[MartinT]

A quick update as I've been away for a while so not a great deal of progress to report, however all four bass drivers are pretty much prepared and ready to take the replacement roll surrounds. All your warnings were heeded and the work was done in the garden, which was wise as the nasty tar-like stuff that came off really did stick to everything, as well as continually fouling my chisel.



I'll be mounting the surrounds shortly and completing the second crossover soon. Not long to go now before firing them up. I'm getting pretty excited!

[istari_knight]

You must have been busy ! I'd have died of anticipation by now

How did you clean the old foam off ? I find nail varnish remover brings the baskets up like new.

[MartinT]

I used pure acetone, but even with that it was pretty hard. Will give them a final going over before the new surrounds go on.

[istari_knight]

Ah even better

Having sat there & done 4, one after the other myself I can sympathise ! First one's interesting, second one's fun, third one's boring & the fourth is tedious ...Aching fingers just make it harder

[MartinT]

2nd crossover completed and both tested fine. Just the four bass drivers to re-foam now and a repair to one tweeter. Should be about a day's work left.