I have decided I cannot leave the old speaker cloth on the Astor Mickey HPM. It is dirty has rust marks or something similar and a couple of small holes it will generally spoil the appearance of the radio. This is where I am the most vulnerable due to my condition paint ,glue and similar supstances usually end up anywhere than they are supposed to be most likely under my armpits. Can anyone suggest a suitable glue to use .I do not want to use something that has to be coated on both sides . I would ruin the new speaker cloth.
This seems to rule out PVA, and Contact adhesive both according to the directions require it to be applied both sides.
As always your help and guidance will be greatly appreciated . I hope I can remove the old cloth without losing the dial cord. It would be great if I can do it and leave the dial in place , that is being too optermistic I know !
Regards Jimb.

I have always found PVA glue quite successful with speaker cloth on most surfaces, it doesn't set immediately, so you can move the cloth around slightly and it dries clear. You don't have to apply it to both surfaces.
Harold

I use Hide glue for all my grill cloth these days and I'm pretty sure that's what they use to year's ago, Because it's what they built the cabinets with and it dries clear and can easily be removed again buy heating the fabric.
BUT , I can't recomend it too you because you make it up on the stove and this you may find a messy nightmare if you have not done it before.
So my next though that may work for you is fabric glue from spot light which you put on with a roller...They sell the glue and the glue roller.
PVA glue , many people use it too. I use to use PVA glue and it will dry clear.
Heat it with a hair dryer to help it dry Clear. I'm not sure it will stick to metal though?
Perhaps rough it up a bit so It can stick .

Pete

Thanks Harold and Pete.
I remember that hide glue from school it absolutely stank . I think I will go for Harold's suggestion .
I will have a bit of practice first.
Regards Jim

PVA is good.

On the subject of glues, I recently had to glue rubberised cloth to plywood to make bellows and glue leather to plywood to make the bellow's valves. The instructions called for contact adhesive. As I'm not a fan of inhaling solvent-based contact adhesive for hours at a time, I investigated the water-based (and odourless) version of Selleys Kwik Grip and I am happy to report that it worked beautifully.

Selleys claims that it makes stronger bonds than its traditional solvent-based Kwik Grip so I first carried out a side-by-side test to asses that claim and in my case it was found to be true, so I went ahead and used it for the project.

Like PVA the water-based contact adhesive stays workable for a time, so you get the chance to fix errors. And it cleans up with water.

https://www.selleys.com.au/products/adhesives/contact-adhesives/selleys-kwik-grip-waterbased

Thanks GTC

For gluing fabric a contact adhesive doesn't need to be on both sides and left to set. The solvent can escape through the fabric allowing the glue to dry. I've used it to glue carpet to forklift tines and the installers haven't managed to tear it off yet.

PVA is great for timber but it doesn't adhere very well to metal so water based contact adhesive should be better.

Thanks Ian

Having manufactured the stuff (both). PVA stays fairly rigid, so I will not use it on speaker cones & things that flex.

Acrylic is more flexible & does not set rigid: That in conjunction with non woven tape is better for speakers & book binding repairs in conjunction with ribbon.

The solvent base is best where stuff like paper will be damaged, by the water.

In some cases it is actually pays to let / force the stuff like quick grip to dry tacky on both surfaces.

As Acrylic stays tacky, dust it with talc powder: At least it will smell nice.

Marc

These Glues can all come off again if you make a boo boo . Just use water ! I have used all these on Veneer and Cloth .

PVA
Water base Selleys Kwik Grip
Hide gule ...


Pete

When you are using contact adhesive to glue large, non-porous surfaces together, smoothly coat both sides and let the glue DRY (not just tacky, completely dry) before pressing the surfaces together.

Careful, once you do this, you won't get them apart again and there is no chance of fine adjustment. When we did this a lot in the factory we used a positioning frame jig.

This is the ONLY way to glue non-woven, "meltable" plastics like polyethylene and vinyl ether to themselves or to metal, wood or concrete. Do it right, it's very strong. Other glues, even epoxy. will not stick to these plastics. The exception is styrene-based plastics where you can use special solvent based polymerisation glues to glue them to the same type of plastic.

Careful, some of these glues are carcinogenic.

Funny stuff PVA.
When it used with veneers you put it on both sides then let it dry, The you pour water on it and the glue melts again and then you put the 2 parts together.
But for veneers Hide glue is much better, if it's dry even for years heat will make it wet again enough to get veneer off in one piece so that's why I use it with veneers.it comes in a powder form and I boil it up on the stove.
So if your doing veneer work you can buy it at restorers choice on the coast near Gosford.

Pete

I posted here about a great glue (plastic welder) Devcon DS-220 that I found for repairing broken polycarbonate:

https://vintage-radio.com.au/default.asp?f=14&th=45#394