Old cabinets need repair... any ideas?

mdaudioguy

I've been on a mini vintage buying spree lately... Picked up a pair of Klipsch Heresy II's on the cheap. Always had an interest in hearing these. I'm already pretty impressed, but it seems the cabinets are no longer sealed as well as they should be... I think they might have spent some time in a damp environment, because the outer panels seem to be warped outward at the edges. The finish is kind of rough, but I'm certainly capable of refinishing.

Any ideas how I might go about correcting the gaps that have developed in each corner? Glue and clamps? Think they're beyond repair? Should I perhaps consider rebuilding them and just keep the front baffle and the back?

Btw, every corner is like this to a certain extent - front and back, top and bottom.

Thoughts and suggestions appreciated - TIA!

F1nut

Ed, will the gaps close up under clamping?

mdaudioguy

I don't know, because I don't have any big enough! Think I might pick up some threaded rod and make my own.

TennMan

You can get a clamp like this at harbor freight for about 9 bucks plus the cost of a piece of pipe. Doubt you could build them yourself as cheap.

http://www.harborfreight.com/2-piece-3-4-quarter-inch-heavy-duty-cast-iron-pipe-clamp-31255.html

F1nut

mdaudioguy wrote: »

I don't know, because I don't have any big enough! Think I might pick up some threaded rod and make my own.

I see. Well, if you want to run them down one day, let me know. If they will clamp up, they can be fixed. If not, it's time to make new cabinets or junk the speakers.

gdb

Get some Jorgenson "Pony" 18" bar clamps at Lowes or Home D. (or longer) Always use scraps/blocks of wood between the clamps and the cabinets to prevent denting and to better distribute clamping forces.

Mr. Bubbles

I would use something like I have pictured here

You can purchase them pretty cheap or make your own using long ratchet straps and old wood scraps for blocking on the corners. from the looks of your pictures you should have no difficulty clamping these back together. Just use some good carpenters glue in the joints. If you can apply it from the insides of the cabinets and you will have less to clean up on the outsides of the cabinets when finished.

gdb

The problem w/band clamps is......the band covers the joint and makes cleaning squeeze out difficult if not impossible, plus, they'll never exert a fraction of the force that a bar or pipe clamp will. Great for pic frames though!

mdaudioguy

F1nut wrote: »

I see. Well, if you want to run them down one day, let me know. If they will clamp up, they can be fixed. If not, it's time to make new cabinets or junk the speakers.

Jesse, I'd love to take advantage of your expertise and advice, if you've got the time! I'll shoot you a PM later this week, once I know what my schedule looks like. It would be a fun project for me to be able to restore these into some sort of a presentable state.

Joe08867

I would guess there is some wood swelling on the baffle and that caused the separation. The wood Klipsch uses is good so I would guess they should clamp up fine.

Good luck, I liked my Heresy's a lot.

Mr. Bubbles

gdb wrote: »

The problem w/band clamps is......the band covers the joint and makes cleaning squeeze out difficult if not impossible, plus, they'll never exert a fraction of the force that a bar or pipe clamp will. Great for pic frames though!

I would agree for most straps. A good ratchet strap or strap that uses a wrench or ratchet to tighten, works really well especially if you make your own corner blocks as a single piece but with the area directly in the corner cut away so as to keep the force away from the fragile tips of the cabinet and also allow access for cleanup. I have used both bar clamps and strap clamps and prefer the straps used in the manner i described above as they exhibit equal force on both panel edges that create a single joint instead of the possibility of one bar be tighter than the other creating an alignment issue in the joint, or warping the panel. all forces are applied to the joint and not the panel as with bar clamps.

However if the wood is deformed that is entirely different and neither choice of these clamps would do the job satisfactorily without fairly major refinishing.

mdaudioguy

Joe08867 wrote: »

I would guess there is some wood swelling on the baffle and that caused the separation. The wood Klipsch uses is good so I would guess they should clamp up fine.

Good luck, I liked my Heresy's a lot.

I was thinking about what you said about the baffle swelling. Upon removing all of the components from the cabinet, I studied the problem areas and it seems you're exactly right - the front baffle and rear panel seem to have swelled at a greater rate than the sides, probably due to prolonged exposure to a high moisture environment (a dank basement with insufficient circulation). I no longer think that clamping is going to be the best fix - or even possible, since I'd essentially have to re-compress the front baffle and rear panel.

Interestingly, it seems that the boxes are still effectively sealed on the inside. One possible route I'm thinking of would be to fill the gaps at the corners, square off the panels where they've been pushed outwards, and re-veneer the sides and front edge.

Other option is to tear them apart and re-use the fronts and backs, and build new sides, top and bottom. What do y'all think?

gdb

Carefully router the baffle out of the cabinet's "rabbet" , rejoin cabinet, fit new baffle. (after drivers are removed for safekeeping)

edit: looks like no rabbet is used and a butt joint is what you've got. Even easier!