Cabinet glue?

[Graham56]

Hi guys and gals,

 

On Saturday's gig my cab began to make a nasty rasping noise. "Uh-oh," thought I, "have I blown a driver?".

 

Today I took the grille off as well as the side handles (so I could see inside the box).

 

It's an Ashdown MAG 210, the budget one, which has been handcrafted from plywood and chipboard and glue.

 

The drivers and cones appear to be fine. When I play through it there is a nasty rasp, but by experiment I've found that when I press hard in one spot on the front face, between the two cones but below them, the rasp stops.

 

Fine, but a bit limiting as a workaround...

 

I can't see any obvious damage inside but it seems to me as if the glue in one of the chipboard-to-chipboard joints has cracked or come loose.

 

It's a simple box; the only bracing is a single piece running from the back to the front face of the cab. There is also a crude port under the two speakers, near where the problem area seems to be. It may be that the joint between the back of the front face and the horizontal top edge of the port is loose.

 

What next?

 

Do you guys reckon spreading glue liberally along every internal joint I can reach might help? The cab is glued shut and the only way in is either through the side holes where the handles normally sit or by taking out the speakers and going in through the round holes.

 

And what glue is best? Surely normal wood glue is too rigid and will crack very quickly under the vibrations.

 

I can't afford a new cab so I need to have this sorted in a couple of weeks, before our next gig.

 

Cheers,

 

Graham

 

[moot]

I'm not sure glue is going to be the fix. If I read this right, the baffle is vibrating causing the noise. It will be almost impossible to get glue in that small a crack.

If it were me I would nail it with some 2" finishing nails. These nails have a very small head and can be sunk below the surface with a nail set.

Then use a good caulk around the inside to keep the joint from venting and you should be good to go.

 

BTW - the best wood glue I use is Elmers Pro Bond. Wonderful stuff!

[...]

BTW - the best wood glue I use is Elmers Pro Bond. Wonderful stuff!

 

Yes. Very good wood glue. In fact that will wind up being stronger than the wood itself. I use it exclusively on all my wood projects. It sets fast too. 30 minutes in the clamps and it is going to be done. In 24 hours it will be rock solid.

 

Your problem could be one of two things:

 

1. The front face is failing

2. The sides/top/bottom/whatever the front is screwed into failed at the screw points.

 

Fix for #1:

 

Go get a piece of 13-ply baltic birch plywood and make yourself a new face. Screw it in and better yet use the aforementioned wood glue as well as screws to hold it in place. It will never fail again.

 

Fix for #2:

 

Taking the face off and gluing it in place and putting new screws into the face in a spot about 2" or so from the existing screws to get them well away from the failure points should be good.