pushed in dust caps

leftwinger57

I did do a search on this and it's been sort of covered before. But there really was not 1 particular way to fix these. I did hear of 3 ways 1 was w/ a vacuum and 2 was to carefully slice a part and try to massage the things out and re glue and the 3rd just get new ones. I know already that it does not affect the sound but the speakers I'm looking at are grilless and need to be at least presentable.

westmassguy

Depends on the type of dust cap Lew. If they're lightweight paper, be very careful, the vacuum method could pull them off, tear or suck a hole in them. If they're the mesh type, I found wetting them with warm water, a drop of dish soap, and an small artist's brush to be the best method to soften them up. Let them sit for a bit, then apply the vacuum. Just turn it on then off immediately.

leftwinger57

Thanks Dave, what about the partial slicing getting in there massaging them and re gluing and would the glue be the same white Elmer's looking stuff for surrounds or something else ? Again I have not seen or heard these yet and I'm waiting for a mail return.

westmassguy

I would not cut a dust cap to straighten it out. If it's that bad, I put new ones on.
The glue will always show. Aleen's Tacky Glue is what I use, not Elmer's.

leftwinger57

I didn't mean Elmer's per se' because you ask all the dudes who sell that white surround glue say it's not Elmer's but it just looks the same and dried clear. Any way cutting and replacing w/ new caps seems the better idea. I still do have a few tubes of the white glue what ever it's name is from my Bose 601 re foam job and clearly enough to do 2 caps if the guy gets back to me w/ a better price.

leftwinger57

This the stuff your talking about. There multiple sites I just went on this one for giggles.

http://www.joann.com/aleene-s-original-tacky-glue-4-oz/2018091.html

westmassguy

You can buy it anywhere Lew.

deucekazoo

I always had good luck with tape. Now it all depends on what the dust cap is made out of. If paper or softer material then tape would/should work. I use electrical tape or AL duct tape. Both of them are pretty sticky and should grab the dust cap and pull it out. Now I just had luck pulling out a dust cap out of a car sub a few days ago. I have had this thing for ever and it drove me nuts that the cap was pushed in. Well I finally got the idea to use hot glue. The dust cap is hard, about the material of a ping pong ball. A vacuum would not touch it or any tape I tried. I hot glued a screw to the dust cap in two spots and pulled on them both at the same time with help. It finally popped back up. Then easily pealed off the hot glue. Worked perfectly.