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Klipsch KG 3.5 Dumpster Find

Cheeseknot

Cheeseknot

Member
Hello AudioKarma long time lurker first time poster. I found these forsaken gems the other day. The good news is they seem to be working perfectly. The bad news is the cosmetics. Some chips and scrapes. But the main problem and the reason I'm posting this is the dust cap. The tape and vacuum tricks haven't worked which leaves me with 4 options.
Option 1 Do nothing - Not ideal but it is easy.
Option 2 The Hook - Insert a fishing hook into the dust cap, pull and hope pops out. Don't like it leaves a hole.
Option 3 Cut it and replace - What it sounds like cut it off buy and glue in a replacement. Works but it cost money and requires effort. LoL
Option 4 Poke through the vent - I've not taken them apart yet but on photos I've seen the speakers woofers are vented on the back maybe I could stick a rod through the back pop it out. Does anybody see a problem with this. It seems like a decent idea to me. IMG-1472.JPG
 
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Quick update guys I pulled the woofer just wanted to look in side. As you'd might expect there is screen to keep dirt out of the voice coil gap and to make matters worse it's tucked way up there so no easy way to pull it out and put it back. So that's a no on option 4. Santa's idea is still a go though I couldn't source a hair dryer by I can borrow a buddies heat gun he says it's variable so here's hoping it has a low enough setting.

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I'm not a dust-cap-cutter when refoaming so I haven't done it but people say you can cut one off and reattach it with glue. You don't even have to remove it completely - leave a half inch connected as a hinge, straighten it and then it should line up easily. Use clear cement, a thin bead on the edge, to reattach it.
 
you can heat up a section of coat hangar wire and melt a hole in the center of the dust cap remove the wire let cool and clean up the hole with an exact knife then take the wire and bend an "L" on the end insert the "L" end into the hole and pull the cap back out. After you can seal the hole with a small daub of black or gray sealant. The cap will probably never look like new but you will get it pulled back out. You could use an exacto knife cut off the damaged cap and install a fresh and slightly larger paper dust cap over the mounting flange if the old cap and get things looking like new. Use fast tack craft glue to install a new cap. Hope this helps.
 
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I'm back after much effort and a lot of failing. So first I tried heating it up and the poping it out with a vacuum and tape. No luck maybe I gave up on it to soon but I got scared it was getting HOT but not soft. Then I went to poking it. Thank you Moray James for the heating up the rode suggestion that made making the hole easy. Unfortunately the dome was far to strong to be pulled by by a little needle. So I had to enlarge the hole and switched a steel rode part of a knife sharping kit I own. The dome is a dome again it's not pretty up close and I still need to seal the hole (where is my gray silicone glue?) but it's something and I learned a few new tricks. Thank you all. I'll likely end up replacing the dust caps one day but for now I'm happy with them.

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I'd just use a straight pin, if it seems too rough I'd just leave it (doesn't affect sound).
 
Hajidub said:
I'd just use a straight pin, if it seems too rough I'd just leave it (doesn't affect sound).
Click to expand...
you can use a solid straight pin on a thin paper dust cap but these plastic dust caps are substantial and you are not going to move them with a straight pin.
 
moray james said:
you can use a solid straight pin on a thin paper dust cap but these plastic dust caps are substantial and you are not going to move them with a straight pin.
Click to expand...

Figured that, maybe easier to remove dustcover (carefully), pop it out, glue back on?
 
Hey how about an old fashioned Molly bolt? Stick it through, expand the anchor, pull out the wrinkles, reverse to remove.

The real Molly bolt might take a lot of force to spread the wings, but maybe one of these wing anchors:

upload_2019-5-22_11-17-56.jpeg

It does require a rather large hole though. And come to think of it I don't know a way to extract it once it's open. This idea may suck.
 
Hajidub said:
Figured that, maybe easier to remove dustcover (carefully), pop it out, glue back on?
Click to expand...

That would be worth a try and since the cap has been on the cone for a lot of years and the plasticizes in the plastic cone slowly sweat out with time the dust cap may not be too hard to remove. If you get the dust cap off then scrape off the old adhesive and you can then work out the dent and give it a soak in some heated up water (just off boiling) like a tea bag in a pot. That will help the cone to re assume it shape.You can re fit the old dust cap with some craft glue. Here is a tip, with a sharp H2 pencil scribe the circle of the dust cap on the cone and make a line from the cap to the cone so you can easily visually align the cap back in its exact place. You can also use this penciled circle as a guide to use so you can scuff the plastic on the cap and on the cone with some 120 sand paper to provide more surface area for your adhesive to grip when you re affix the cap.
 
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