ADS metal grille
- Thread starter Clyde F
- Start date
-
- Tags
- ads 1290/2 ads grilles
darkblue94
The Devil made me do it.
Get some different grills, they should never have been shipped that way but it's too late now. Take a couple of pictures for us and we'll see if we can make any practical suggestions.
Any idea where to locate some new grilles if I can't repair them?
Porkloin
Oscar Heil Groupie
If you want to go whole-hog, @mike0565 one-upped ADS and made his better than original in this thread. They turned out amazing.
As Porkloin noted, go to mikes thread for some references.
In all fairness to ADS, I don't think the L1290 grilles are cheaply made, but they are not made to take much abuse, like most speaker grilles I've seen. They are actually a nice design, they don't vibrate and the fit is secure...unless the speaker does a face plant!
soundmotor
super modified
If the posts punched through and tore the metal you first need to flatten the perf material back so you can see how much damage there is.
Use a nylon or plastic hammer and set the grille on a flat piece of hardwood; then post those pics.
Blue Shadow
Waiting for Vintage Gear from this century
Expanding on soundmotor's advice, if the grilles were not ripped too much, you can just remove the pegs, which aren't cheap hardware and do some bodywork to the metal grille smoothing it back into place. These are easy to work.
If the metal was ripped out, you could find some material and reinforce the holes at all the locations so they look the same, gluing a chunk of metal to hold the pin in place. Maybe a 1" square of aluminum sheet painted black and glued with a black glue (JBWeld is dark gray). If the hole is larger than the bolt from the outside will cover and that cosmetic issue needs to be addressed a thin larger washer could cover that problem.
I found that using metal hammers, hardwood and a smooth piece of vinyl flooring would get the grilles smooth and flat. Obviously, the tools selected will dictate the amount of force needed. I hit the grilles harder with the wood than I did the with metal hammer, finessing the grilles back to like new. The vinyl (I have two layers on a workbench, keeping its surface nice) allowed the metal to move without letting it bend past the correct shape when hit with proper force.
Don't know if this helps compared to what soundmotor said as he worked at ADS, I didn't. Anyway a drag and drop picture of the issue would be great for further comment.
Here is a 1590 grille I put back to right.
If the metal was ripped out, you could find some material and reinforce the holes at all the locations so they look the same, gluing a chunk of metal to hold the pin in place. Maybe a 1" square of aluminum sheet painted black and glued with a black glue (JBWeld is dark gray). If the hole is larger than the bolt from the outside will cover and that cosmetic issue needs to be addressed a thin larger washer could cover that problem.
I found that using metal hammers, hardwood and a smooth piece of vinyl flooring would get the grilles smooth and flat. Obviously, the tools selected will dictate the amount of force needed. I hit the grilles harder with the wood than I did the with metal hammer, finessing the grilles back to like new. The vinyl (I have two layers on a workbench, keeping its surface nice) allowed the metal to move without letting it bend past the correct shape when hit with proper force.
Don't know if this helps compared to what soundmotor said as he worked at ADS, I didn't. Anyway a drag and drop picture of the issue would be great for further comment.
Here is a 1590 grille I put back to right.
We
Ok...thanks...gonna give this a try...here is what my grills look like now
Attachments
Blue Shadow
Waiting for Vintage Gear from this century
Those look like they are in pretty good shape. A bit of metal massaging and you should have something nice to hang on your speaker.
Yeah, flatten the grille where it bent thru and then just use a washer or even a black nylon washer (ACE Hardware) and the old peg should still work fine. Add the same washer to the other pegs to make it match if it alone stands out too much as different. I have come up with some pieces that make up decent replacement pegs if needed.
