Wood conditioning of your speaker cabinet

[moves]

I have the Totem Winds and as you can see, they have a lot of angles in their cabinet. Over time, the paint starts to crack and shows wear around some of the bends.

http://www.ultrahighendreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/totem_wind.jpg



Do you condition your cabinets? What do you use?

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Depends on the finish I guess. Have you contacted totem? Although there are a zillion products on the market, they’ll know for sure what to use on their cabs.

 

[lovinthehd]

Conditioning for paint? Cracking paint sounds like a poor finish or something has damaged it?

 

[TLS Guy]

I have the Totem Winds and as you can see, they have a lot of angles in their cabinet. Over time, the paint starts to crack and shows wear around some of the bends.

http://www.ultrahighendreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/totem_wind.jpg



Do you condition your cabinets? What do you use?

What you describe is almost always a winter/summer humidity change problem. In the summer humidity is high and the wood swells. In the winter once the heating season starts humidity drops and the wood contracts.

I have this problem in Norther Minnesota in spades. I fill any opening cracks with the original color putty. My finish is a simple non gloss latex varnish over an oil sealer.

This is something you do need to stay on top of, or your speakers will fall apart.

 

[moves]

What you describe is almost always a winter/summer humidity change problem. In the summer humidity is high and the wood swells. In the winter once the heating season starts humidity drops and the wood contracts.

I have this problem in Norther Minnesota in spades. I fill any opening cracks with the original color putty. My finish is a simple non gloss latex varnish over an oil sealer.

This is something you do need to stay on top of, or your speakers will fall apart.

Interesting hypothesis! I never thought of the humidity change... and here in Ottawa it does vary a lot throughout the seasons.

 

[mtrycrafts]

As mentioned, the speaker company is your first line of answers on the finish. They may have small cans of touch up paint of the exact color and if there is a clear finish as well they will or should let you know how to do it properly.

 

[TLS Guy]

As mentioned, the speaker company is your first line of answers on the finish. They may have small cans of touch up paint of the exact color and if there is a clear finish as well they will or should let you know how to do it properly.

If this is what I suspect it is, then unless he is experienced in body shop work, he will not be able repair it.

Since he lives in Ottawa, I can guarantee this is climate related. Having lived about 50 years in Southern Manitoba, Grand Forks ND, and now Northern Minnesota, I'm very familiar with this problem. Around here you hardly ever find a piano without a cracked sound board, unless it has been kept under strict climate control.

It is unfortunate that these speakers have a paint finish.

His best option is the body shop.

The drivers need to be removed.

The cracked areas need sanding back to the wood. Then the area needs to be made perfectly smooth with fiber glass filler, and sanded perfectly smooth. This is the most labor intensive and skilled part of the restoration.

He needs the paint codes from Totem.

All of the repaired panels will have to be spray painted, as time will have altered the original color.

This will not be inexpensive endeavor.

I have pro spray equipment in my shop and those are the jobs I hate the most. The slightest blemish shows. Nothing short of perfection will do.

I have done enough of it that I never begrudge body repair men their fee.

 

[moves]

I mentioned that it is paint but it is stain. I've owned a pair of Totems for 6 years prior to these and they had the same issue but the sound never changed. I don't think it's the cabinet but rather more that paint slowly starting to crack. The joints are lock mitered for extra strength. Just my prediction.

 

[lovinthehd]

Is it the finish that is cracked or the veneer itself?

 

[TLS Guy]

I mentioned that it is paint but it is stain. I've owned a pair of Totems for 6 years prior to these and they had the same issue but the sound never changed. I don't think it's the cabinet but rather more that paint slowly starting to crack. The joints are lock mitered for extra strength. Just my prediction.

Good news it is not paint. Stains do not crack. If it truly is stain then the veneer is cracking. That is the same issue I deal with.

You need to find out from Totem exactly what their finishing process is. In particular you want to know if this is stain, or some type of varnish, and if the product is generally available.

If this is a spray product it may be difficult to get the product from the, as a lot of spray products need hardeners added and you only get about 20 min to work with it.

 

[TLS Guy]

Good news it is not paint. Stains do not crack. If it truly is stain then the veneer is cracking. That is the same issue I deal with.

You need to find out from Totem exactly what their finishing process is. In particular you want to know if this is stain, or some type of varnish, and if the product is generally available.

If this is a spray product it may be difficult to get the product from the, as a lot of spray products need hardeners added and you only get about 20 min to work with it.

Can you give us some good close up pictures of the problem?

 

[moves]

I'll give it a try.. stay tuned..

 

[MrBoat]

And people wonder why I seal plywood and MDF with penetrating epoxy. I'll even go as far as using glass veil cloth set in epoxy on plywood edge grains and past the joint. Of course, here in Florida, the humidity can go from 99 to 40% in a day. Still, in marine use, I have managed to prove how even alkyd based paints last 7-10 times longer over an epoxy sealed surface on exterior use. Interior, it would possibly be decades longer.

On the Continuums I just finished, the cabs were sealed with epoxy inside and out, and the veneer was adhered and sealed with it. The best part is, any finish can be applied over it without so much as a hint to it's existence under the finish. A hand rubbed oil finish would have to be faked at worst but is doable.

MDF you can get away with just polyester putty on the joints and perhaps be ok, but I prefer to make about a .0625 rebate where the corners are to about 1.5" out and fill flush with glass tape and epoxy. Seems like a lot of work initially, which it is, but one strip/resurfacing job in the future would easily surpass such efforts. I've seen MDF and plywood edge joints telegraph through paint and veneer over time, but if it's glassed, not very likely if everything is allowed to cure completely.

Otherwise, you would have to use miters on all visible corners, anyway and those can present their own challenges.