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(Topic ID: 111208)

DIY speaker grills

By koen12344

9 years ago



Topic Stats

  • 10 posts
  • 4 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 4 years ago by JeffZee
  • Topic is favorited by 2 Pinsiders

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#1 9 years ago
OP
 
K R

koen12344

Pinside member

NL Schagen

10y 56,650 324 8

Its not a particularly special project and pretty straightforward, but I really like the end result. My F14 didnt have the original speaker grills, so I decided to recreate them properly. Someone actually took the time to trace out that Williams logoSomeone actually took the time to trace out that Williams logo

I bought an electronic air filter at the thrift shop for $3, which had a grill with almost the same "grill-pattern"
The grill from the air filterThe grill from the air filter

Then I cut out the grills to size, sanded them and spraypainted them in semi-gloss black

Cut the grill to sizeCut the grill to size

After paintingAfter painting

I then printed the Williams logo and glued it to a piece of thin cardboard, and traced it out with an x-acto knife. Then I attached the template to the grills and sprayed on the red paint.
After spraying the red paint.After spraying the red paint.

The end result:
WP_20141201_001.jpgWP_20141201_001.jpg

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#2 9 years ago
 
CHD

Cheddar

GoldenStatePin

US Lodi, CA

11y 117K 5,181 17 10

nice looking result. I am shocked that these aren't for sale somewhere

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#3 9 years ago
OP
 
K R

koen12344

Pinside member

NL Schagen

10y 56,650 324 8

Quoted from Cheddar:

I am shocked that these aren't for sale somewhere

Indeed, I was surprised by that too. I expected the bezel to be harder to find than the grills

5 years later
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#4 4 years ago
 
JSZ

JeffZee

Pinside+ Frequent

US Warrenton, VA

12y 68,650 620 13 1

How did you reassemble your project? Glue? Double sided tape? I have a NOS pair of grills I'm looking to put in my Cyclone.

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#5 4 years ago
OP
 
K R

koen12344

Pinside member

NL Schagen

10y 56,650 324 8

Hi Jeff, I glued it on, but in hindsight I'm not sure it should be glued. I think there's supposed to be a different trim on top of the assembly to hold it in place.

I'll check on one of my other sys11's tomorrow how they're assembled

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#6 4 years ago
 
JSZ

JeffZee

Pinside+ Frequent

US Warrenton, VA

12y 68,650 620 13 1

Thanks!

Mine seems like it's about ready to fall apart by itself. So I'm not too worried about the disassembly part. Just looking for ideas about what I'm going to find when I do get it apart. It looks to me like the top trim holds the top together and the bottom channel holds the bottom together. But the bottom channel stays with the head. The panel assembly isn't held together well once it's pulled up and out from the channel.

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#7 4 years ago
 
DJC

Don_C

Pinside member

US Milwaukee, WI

12y 46,850 550 21

Just reattached the front plexi to the speaker panel on our SoF. Foam mounting tape, you know the stuff they've been putting cars together with for the last 30 years. Easy peasy, no mess.

Don C

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#8 4 years ago
OP
 
K R

koen12344

Pinside member

NL Schagen

10y 56,650 324 8

So I checked on my Space Station, it has a channel along the top, unlike the F14. The bezel is loose, but it looks like it was glued on at some point.

I think carpet tape would work really well to keep it in place!

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#9 4 years ago
 
JSZ

JeffZee

Pinside+ Frequent

US Warrenton, VA

12y 68,650 620 13 1

Thanks for the replies!

2 weeks later
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#10 4 years ago
 
JSZ

JeffZee

Pinside+ Frequent

US Warrenton, VA

12y 68,650 620 13 1

Following up on my project...

I made a scan of one of my new speaker grills which could be used to make a painting stencil. Let me know if you want it (the scan, not the grill).

The speaker panel was attached to the backboard with top and bottom strips of what may have been transfer tape. The tape was long dead and the panel came right off. The grills were attached to the backboard by a small brad nail in each corner. These popped right out. The backboard had shallow recesses to accommodate the thickness of the grills.

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I used a small dab of clear silicone caulk at each former nail location to attach the new grills to the backboard. I let the caulk cure for a day before proceeding.

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To reattach the speaker panel to the backboard I used ½" strips of 3M 468MP transfer tape (which is thicker than the 3M 467MP). I peeled back an end of the backing for each strip and folded the backing over itself at a 45 degree angle such that the end formed a short "pull-tab" extending out from the work. In this way I was able to carefully align the speaker panel over the backboard without exposing all the adhesive all at once. When I had the speaker panel properly positioned on the backboard I pulled away the tape backings without having to lift or shift the speaker panel.

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