Repairing Vinyl Veneer

stewey

Active Member
Hello,

I was hoping someone could give me some advice on repairing damaged vinyl veneer on my Pioneer HPM 40's.

I've attached a picture of them for you to check out. At this point I'm not really sure what if anything can be done. Obviously I'm most concerned about the first shot. I would settle for simply stabilizing the situation; at this point its very brittle.

Thanks in advance,
Stew.

1.jpg


2.jpg
 
Originally posted by stewey
Hello,

I was hoping someone could give me some advice on repairing damaged vinyl veneer on my Pioneer HPM 40's.

I've attached a picture of them for you to check out. At this point I'm not really sure what if anything can be done. Obviously I'm most concerned about the first shot. I would settle for simply stabilizing the situation; at this point its very brittle.

Thanks in advance,
Stew.

1.jpg


2.jpg

Super glue back what will lay down, fill the rest with a walnut color filler, let dry sand down smooth and coat the whole cabinet with satin quick dry polyurethane....Good luck, DC
 
EDGE GLUE

You can use "Elmers" as well. . .Use a syrenge(?) or toothpick to get glue under the edges. . .A piece of scotch tape should hold untill dry. . .Then fill with a colored putty stick like already mentioned. . .At a few feet away it will disappear. . . .At least it wont be bright white showing. . .
 
Some ideas...

Hi Stew...

I can't really tell from your photo, but it appears that the veneer is thicker than the typical thin, wood-grain vinyl that you can buy as peel-n-stick rolls. Yours appears to be breaking into fairly solid pieces.

If it's thin and flexible, you can get the rolls of wood-grain lookalike stuff at hardware stores. It's usually called contact paper, and is used for covering shelves, etc. There is usually a choice of different colors, etc. You would need to remove the old from the edge, fill in any missing backing material to provide a nice flat surface, and recover with the new material.

If it's thicker and stiffer, like yours appears to be, laminate may be the best option. The brand most likely to jog your memory is Formica. Good building supply stores should carry a good selection. It would probably be better in the long run to remove the entire broken edge or section, and replace with new. I'm guessing it will be much easier than trying to cut and fit a bunch of little repair pieces. The challenge will be that laminate is usually thicker than your veneer.

A final option is one you may not have thought of: real wood veneer. I think this would absolutely be the easiest solution, and give you the best looking final results. I know that Home Depot carries rolls of real wood veneer, usually white oak. They are about an inch wide, thin and easy to use, and unfinished so you can easily stain them to match your existing colors. Best part, they're easy to cut to fit with an exacto knife or other sharp knife, and you could glue two strips side-by-side if they weren't wide enough to cover the damaged front edge of your speaker. Also, do a google search on wood veneers and you'll find several companies that sell walnut veneers in every size imaginable.

Good luck with your little fix-it project, and let us know how it worked out!

Clay
 
Here's another option. Cannibalize the vinyl off another set of speakers/hi fi/furniture .Getting an exact match may be an issue, but you should be able to find tons of walnut vinyl items out there. Just get a chunk that the grain matches reasonably well and remove it from the particle board, and patch it in, just like another piece of wood or veneer.

After looking at your photos again, I'd advise carefully adding some putty and smoothing it flush to restore the surface, then paint it brown to match and finally use an artists' brush to add the black grain line. You actually have a fairly small repair and this method is used quite often by the pros. Like someone said earlier, you'll never notice it from more than 3 feet away.
Good Luck!
 
I am almost positive that the 40's used Real wood veneer and not vinyl. You sure its not hard and brittle cuz its wood ?

Grumpy
 
Great Suggestions...

I've only done a quick patch job so far, but I may do something more thorough later if I'm unhappy with how they look when in their final position. BTW, the HPM 100's have real wood veneer, but unfortunately the 40's and 60's are vinyl. I wish it weren't so, but it is.

My quick job to stabilize the damage involved epoxy and a brown felt marker. Pretty basic, but I tried to use wood filler and it would not adhere to the surrounding vinyl. Here's a picture of them now.

hpm.jpg


Like everyone said, you can't really tell from 3 feet away, but it bothers me just knowing its there. So, when I get some time I'll probably look for a better solution. Until then, only I'll know they're busted up.

Thanks again,
Stew.
 
picking and grinning

Better a little more picking and grinning and you got it. . .BTW I know a few old timers that you call to fix that scratch in your 200 year old Piano. . .Same thing. . . .Basically. . . .
 
Pioneer used an odd, but effective case covering technology (yes, Pioneer and many others used actual wood .. well, plywood, if you go back a ways) However in 70s and on for a while they used slabs of particle board covered in a thick tan vinyl layer, and that is covered with an uber-thin translucent walnut grained top layer. This is what peels off. I try and save the bigger bits and use it to patch areas on "pretty good" slabs. If its crappy I'll peel it all off, fix the edges (if boinked) with bondo, smooth it all down and use real veneer (bonded with a basic contact cement) The real booger I've had is the metal lid. It has a thicker walnut vinyl vacuum bonded to the steel and its a bitch to get loose. (scratch it up a bit and cover with the most caustic paint remover you can manage.Check with a putty knife every day or so....in a few days it will start to loosen. Eventually it will come off.) Then I clean the lid and prime and spray satin black. Looks good with the veneer. Just gearing up a new shop so going to just cut my own slabs from now on though. I'll dig up some pics

used to be a furniture repairman a couple lifetimes ago

I actually found this thread while searching for some of that thin vinyl top layer
 
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