advice on repairing speaker connector "plate" that fell off

[metalmania408]

Cool and extremely helpful/insightful site this is.  My first post  :dbtu:

Problem:

I'm in the process of repairing a princeton chorus amp.  Both speakers in this amp had their wiring plate (correct terminology?) fall off.    Any advice on how I should go about affixing these plates back onto the speaker for a more permanent solution?   I attempted using a tad bit of Krazy Glue which didn't work (i anticipated this).  Solder maybe?  More hardcore adhesive (recommendations?)?  Pics attached.

Thanks in advance.

~Darren

[Enzo]

Just above the dangling terminal strip on your photos, you can see the silver rivet that held it in place.  The rivet head has pulled through the hole on the fiber board terminal strip.   You will want to remove the old rivet.   Between cutting it off and drilling it out, you should be able to remove it.  Then you can mount the strip back where it came from with a new pop-rivet or screw and nut.   Make sure the washer used with the pop rivet does not short the terminals together.

A screw could be used, but the speaker is a high vibration environment, so if the screw is your only choice, I would select a "nylock" nut.   That is a brand name for a nylon locking nut. a regular nut with an added band of plastic around the thread hole to grip the screw threads and prevent the threads from moving.

Fahey makes speakers, so if he shows up he can tell you where I went wrong here.

[metalmania408]

Just above the dangling terminal strip on your photos, you can see the silver rivet that held it in place.  The rivet head has pulled through the hole on the fiber board terminal strip.   You will want to remove the old rivet.   Between cutting it off and drilling it out, you should be able to remove it.  Then you can mount the strip back where it came from with a new pop-rivet or screw and nut.   Make sure the washer used with the pop rivet does not short the terminals together.

A screw could be used, but the speaker is a high vibration environment, so if the screw is your only choice, I would select a "nylock" nut.   That is a brand name for a nylon locking nut. a regular nut with an added band of plastic around the thread hole to grip the screw threads and prevent the threads from moving.

Fahey makes speakers, so if he shows up he can tell you where I went wrong here.

Thanks for the details Enzo.   Just saw a youtube vid on how the pop rivets are installed.  Pretty neat.  I'll grab some rivets in the next day or two and see how I do.

Thanks again.  Much appreciated.

~Darren

[J M Fahey]

Fully agree with Enzo and add 1 small detail:
that silver rivet you must remove, maybe iron , or even if aluminum, the drill tip may (will) bite the iron speaker frame.
In any case you will be making small iron filings which will magnetically jump straight to the worst possible place, the voice coil gap.
Yes, *there is* a treated cloth piece in the middle .... but it's porous and the tiniest junk in the VC gap will make a mess.
So go slow, stick a crushed newspaper ball to "the other side" of the hole you are drilling with some masking tape , the idea is to catch any iron filings .
Carefully remove the paper ball, clean surfaces with a piece of tape.
After that, yes, use a Pop rivet or bolt and nut, but cover it afterwards with glue or nail enamel, the idea is for it to never self unscrew under vibration.

[metalmania408]

Fully agree with Enzo and add 1 small detail:
that silver rivet you must remove, maybe iron , or even if aluminum, the drill tip may (will) bite the iron speaker frame.
In any case you will be making small iron filings which will magnetically jump straight to the worst possible place, the voice coil gap.
Yes, *there is* a treated cloth piece in the middle .... but it's porous and the tiniest junk in the VC gap will make a mess.
So go slow, stick a crushed newspaper ball to "the other side" of the hole you are drilling with some masking tape , the idea is to catch any iron filings .
Carefully remove the paper ball, clean surfaces with a piece of tape.
After that, yes, use a Pop rivet or bolt and nut, but cover it afterwards with glue or nail enamel, the idea is for it to never self unscrew under vibration.

Thanks J M for the sometimes overlooked details.  I hadn't thought about the removal of the old rivet portion just yet, so I'm glad you beat me to it.  I would have ended up asking another question about it or not, and learned the hard way.   Thanks again.  I really appreciate the heads-up.    :tu:

I did end up picking up an Arrow rivet "toolkit" earlier today (attachment below).



I'll have to eyeball rivet size I'll be using, once I open up the package.   At first glance, looks like the 3/16" rivet may be the right fit.   

[Enzo]

Well, start with the 1/8" first, as it is the most common size.   Note they also come in lengths so you can rivet thin things or thick things.  You don;t want to use a long rivet intended for a 3/8" stack of stuff when all it is is one thin sheet metal surface and a piece of fiberboard.

[metalmania408]

The connector pad is repaired.  Thanks for all the input/help guys.

Enzo - you were right on with the 1/8" rivet.