Woofer dust cap repair advice, HELP

Eldartford, I often follow Nrchy's threads and answers; I like Nrchy. I think Nrchy posed the question to us because he wants a nearly perfect repair job. Nrchy may get just one shot to either get it right or wrong with a pin, paper clip, or whatever.

I have personally tried the amateur pin method (and yes, even pro audio dealers suggest the same) about 10 times over the years. About the 9th try, I got lucky and the dent came right out with the pin. The repairs I did on speakers 1-8 and 10 were amateurish and not to my satisfaction. Either end of a pin leaves score lines or pooch marks on the fragile paper dust caps as you try to pull out the dent. The friction fit of the pin in the paper can also cause additional creases in the paper dome.

No, it is not rocket science, and we know that the dented dust cap is trivial in the grand scheme of things. However, I would like for Nrchy to be 100% happy with his repair, because I relate to perfectionism.

Nrchy, have you ever seen anyone "spoon" a dent out of a car? Car dealers use these travelling "artists" to make dents quickly and magically disappear. Think of the curl in your paper clip as your spoon to massage the dent forward and out.

Regards,

Earnestmoney...I guess I must be highly skilled or damn lucky, because the pin always works well for me.

Eldartford how often do you dent your dustcaps??? : )

My primary speakers being Maggies,I have no dust caps to dent! However, in recent memory I found a dented cap on a dynaudio box that I was using for rear channels, and I did the pin thing with perfect results. In the past 50 years I have probably fixed half a dozen drivers for my own and kids speakers.

A suggestion...find an old (perhaps blown out) driver, dent the cap, and try fixing it. This would give you confidence to tackle your good speaker.

Eldartford, I am impressed with your skill and/or luck. Great advice to Nrchy to practice first on some old or blown out drivers.

I tried BOTH the pin and paper clip "thing" last night on an old blown Yamaha woofer obtained from my nephew for free. The funny thing is NEITHER method worked for me. I discovered that the dust cap permanently retained the "memory" of the dent. Every time I popped out the dent, it would just pop back in. LOL. After repeating this a few dozen times, the dust cap started coming off cleanly at the seam. I carefully and completely removed the dust cap. I have had little luck in massaging out the dent with my fingers, let alone the pin and paper clip. Yes, I must be an unlucky klutz ;-)

Yes sir, I agree with Eldartford on the practice before proceeding to your Kharma. Perhaps you can get a lot of free practice at your local junkyard or obtain some cheap junk speakers for experimentation.

Now, I fully understand the speaker manufacturer's response to Cmp.

Best wishes to all,