I am jealous of your "big bottle" of gorilla snot. My syringes would have contained 3 or 4 ml each, and it was only just enough. No room for a stuff-up requiring cleaning up again and reapplying it. Anyone would think it was CV-19 vaccine.

The stuff is also available in 25ml bottles (even though the ad says 250ml).

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/152006831107

My bottle not very large even less now. I rang Toranga zoo today no gorillas with snotty noses "bummer "
Well I finished the filament wiring , took a deep breath and got stuck into the speaker .I have been dreading this exercise. Well to my suprise if nothing else it looks good. I hope the cone won't be too solid or poling. Not game to flex it too much the cone was completely rotten. What were they thinking of 70'years ago I don't suppose there is any warranty on the speaker still !
I am not game to flex it too much I won't know if it works till I complete the radio. Can't test it unless I have a suitable 300 + volts supply to magnetise the field pole which I don't have . I have to make a suitable mounting for it yet.
Regards Jim

STC yes that stuff sounds similar.

One other thing I have done, forgot to mention.
With a cone that is untorn and complete, but showing signs of the material disintergrating I have thinned the snot out with water and carefully painted a wash on both sides of the cone all over.
"Restores" the cone material nicely.
Please note on "radio" speakers only, running a small amount of watts, NOT a 500 watt driver!!!!
Experiment with thinning and number of coats to get the desired effect.

Fred.

"Elmers" do have pressure pack adhesives: Often use them on photo's.

Marc

I recall back in the late '80s and '90s there used to be a Selleys water based contact adhesive that was white and dried clear. I found it useful for repairing the red rubber ends of elelectrolytic caps that were starting to perish, but the cap still testing OK. Also looked better where you did not want the yellow Kwik Grip (though there is now a clear Kwik Grip). Easy clean up too.

I reckon this must be the same as gorilla snot.

It disappeared after a while and I haven't looked for it for a good while but I see they have it again in 50ml tube
https://www.bunnings.com.au/selleys-50ml-kwik-grip-waterbased-contact-adhesive_p1230027
and 500ml tub
https://www.bunnings.com.au/selleys-500ml-kwik-grip-waterbased-strong-contact-adhesive_p1230025

Well you will all be horrified with what I did with the cone after repair. I wish I had thought of a diluted wash however I think what I did was ok. The cone was completely rotten and powdery. I experimented on a piece of coffee filter paper first at it seemed OK . I gave the cone a light spray of the polyurethane oil based varnish I bought to reinsulate the transformers with . I don't know if the speaker is usable or not till I complete the radio. Every thing is a learning curve the speaker looks better than any previous efforts I have done.
Regards Jim

Jim that will be fine and quite appropriate if it helps hold the cone together and the varnish didn't go down the voice coil gap.

Jim, agree with Ian.

The cone will now work better than it did originally!
The cone area is not supposed to flex anyway.

You can read stacks of scientific twaddle BS about propagation of wave fronts, radial dispersions, resonances and heavens knows what else in speaker cone design. Give me a break.
Back in the real world of cheap 5" speakers mounted by two screws on a tin chassis with no baffle, so long as all of the cone vibrates in symphony with the music thats all that matters! It is just a little linear motor after all.

The only bit you need to flex is the outer rim suspension thingy.
If your varnish stuff has made that a bit stiff you may have upset the critical Q and Thiele constants of the assembly, HEAVENS TO BETSY!!
(ok I am being silly).
It may run a bit quieter, but dont worry once the varnish splits a bit the thing will be back to normal.

Yoiu are doing great, keep going.

Fred.

I have been amazed at the good sound that comes out of speakers with large parts of the suspension missing and big holes in the cone. As long as the voice coil assembly is not rubbing. So I agree, don't worry, just push on.

You can paint the inner cone with anything that is not overly rigid as vibration & flexing can rip things its the ripples of the suspension at the top & often around the rim where flexing is important and lots of fatigue cracking appears.

I will send Brad a couple of happy snaps of the HMV 5101's speaker.

Marc

Thank you all for your comments.
Got a little bit further today, had to take BoBo the dog to the vet to have his annual check up and needles . All good . I got them to give me a tranquilliser shot as well, before I paid the bill. The speaker is now mounted and all the leads secured and re insulated . That makes me happy. The cone was so powdery if the gentalman in Fred's supermarket post went by and coughed and sneezed on it I Would have been left to a bare frame.
Regards Jim.

Not a lot of progress today . Found I need some silver mica caps which I now have on order.
I will probably need some help from you to sort out the wave change and switch assembly. The original colour coded wiring as described in the article is all gone . If all else fails I can make it into a BC band only which in reality is all I require. It would be nice if I can get BC and SW bands working just to keep it true to the original 1946 design.
Regards Jim.

Photos uploaded to Post 55.

They look identical.

-- Fixed! Thanks Brad.

All fixed.