Strectching grill cloth over a frame!?

[Myth_103]

What's up guys? I've been having a bit of trouble getting the grill cloth I bought to fold neatly around the frame I built for it. I'm using Marshall small weave cane cloth:

http://www.mojotone.com/amp-parts/Gr...ill-Cloth-60-W

and just CANNOT get it to fold and stretch neatly! Any suggestions or methods you've used that worked well?

[rpsands]

Buy it premade,

[Myth_103]

This is what I have so far. I've already experienced one failed attempt.

[mikeddd]

Sorry I can't help with your grillcloth problem, but I'd love to hear more about that cab!

[rpsands]

I can't tell for sure but it looks to me like any attempt you make with how shallow your baffle recess is is going to involve grill flapping against your cone..3015LFs move quite a bit and need to be 3/8" behind any surface in front of them for maximum excursion, 1/4" for normal operation.

I'd recommend cutting your losses and buying the basket models if my judge of depth in those photos is accurate.

[Bassman 100]

Originally Posted by Myth_103

What's up guys? I've been having a bit of trouble getting the grill cloth I bought to fold neatly around the frame I built for it. I'm using Marshall small weave cane cloth:

http://www.mojotone.com/amp-parts/Gr...ill-Cloth-60-W

and just CANNOT get it to fold and stretch neatly! Any suggestions or methods you've used that worked well?

One method is to sew (with unbreakable nylon thread) several equally spaced of aprox' 4" furniture elastic top to bottom of the weave cane & staple to the reverse side of your frame. Then do the same side to side. Staple to the frame & remove the elastic when happy. Keep the tension of the elastic exact.

[BillyB_from_LZ]

Originally Posted by Myth_103

...
and just CANNOT get it to fold and stretch neatly! Any suggestions or methods you've used that worked well?

If it's real cane, I believe that you get it wet first to make it pliable.

Or call Mesa Boogie and ask them how they do it...

[BbbyBld]

This is hard to describe, so I'll give you random bits of information.

Is it real cane? I've never dealt with that, but if it's artificial...

Staple on the edge of the frame, not the back (unless the baffle edge is angled). This is probably good advice for real cane also. Trim off the excess.

Staple it all the way around without leaving much space between the staples.

You really don't want to staple and then stop every time because you'll have to pull it somewhat tight again in spots, which will make it show stretch spots. Stretch it over once, hold it there, and do all the staples on that edge.

Work in corners, not top to bottom or side to side. This avoids stretch marks. Start by stapling a corner (top and side) with the cloth straight. You should be able to check how it will go on from there. If it looks good, staple the top from the start corner (all the way!), and then do the side from the start corner. You want to work your way TO the opposite corner and stop there.

The best way is not to stretch it too tight and CAREFULLY shrink it up with a heat gun. Even if there are slight wrinkles in it, a heat gun will take those out, but you can burn right through it if you get overzealous.

It's not easy to do. The workers we have doing have years of practice. I've never had much luck with it myself, so take this advice with grain of salt (maybe even a whole shaker).

Hopefully, you bought enough to practice with!

[username1]

I have better luck with a hair dryer than a heat gun, i always end up melting it with my heat gun but the hair dryer seems to be a good temperature for this.

[Sartori]

Originally Posted by Myth_103

This is what I have so far. I've already experienced one failed attempt.

With the look of your cab, might it not be better to get individual metal speaker grills?

[Bassmec]

If thats a pair of Eminence 3015LF isn't the grill cloth going to
be very close at X max/X lim, those will chuck out quite far.
The best tool for working with marshall basket weave is one of those household steam cleaner things.
It lets you get it to fold 90 degrees and stay folded far better than a steam iron alone.
Its that first fold that defines the end look of the job.

[Crockettnj]

Quick fix-

take out the 3015's and mount them internally. you'll lose a hair of volume inside but make up at least a baffle's thickness of xmax protection from hitting the grill.

nice touch with the handles & wheels on the bottom, and the oiled/stained cab. Pretty sweet. What mids did you use?

[INTP]

I have a little experience stretching canvas on wood frames (as in oil painting), and I was taught to attach the sides from the middle (with a staple gun), then work my way around the frame, moving toward the corners a little at a time. As you move toward the corner, use the weave of the fabric as a guide to keep it even against the frame edge (this will require a bit of tension with each staple, but not too much). I don't know how much this helps, but I'd also angle the staples slightly so that they weren't both in the same gap of the weave (I hope that makes sense).

Your frame seems to be roughly 2:1 so in this case, you'd do two staples on each of the long side, on either side of the middle, then one staple on the short side, either side of the middle. Then back to the long side, repeating until you get to the corners.

This seemed to work for keeping the tension even around the frame.

I realize that this is pretty much the exact opposite from what BbbyBld suggests, above. I'm sure there's more than one way to do it (TMTOWTDI). This is just the way I've tackled a similar problem in the past.

[BillyB_from_LZ]

I just looked at the photos up close. The frame is awfully thin near the midrange speakers and I suspect that you'll run into trouble trying to stretch grille cloth on that as the frame will likely snap in that area.

Hopefully I'm wrong, but I've made enough grilles in my day to know to worry about very thin frame materials.

Plus...there's nothing there to staple to (and the staple alone will probably crack the frame).