left behind adhesive after removing rat fur

[rantbot]

On sticky stuff I always try paint thinner (or turpentine, or maybe xylene) first. Acetone (or lacquer thinner) is the next thing to try, then denatured alcohol. If those don't work, heat and scraping are probably the only options. In my experience modern strippers are useless.

 

[HardNHeavy]

yeh not worth the effort...My old ratfur SWR 15" combo now resides on my screenporch with no speaker and the cats sleep in there..Guess they finally got their wish

 

[byacey]

Again, much less miserable labor to simply build a new cabinet.

Year ago we had some community boxes that we wanted to get rid of the ratty fur. We stripped it down and used acetone and a scraper to get rid of as much of the contact cement as possible. We then proceeded to paint it with a fairly thick fiberglass paint. It looked good until they started getting bashed around a bit, as the fiberglass paint would show any scuffs and scratches as a white mark.

Stripping the glue was highly laborious, and the acetone is no joy either. I wouldn't do this again.

 

[GreyBeard]

Rat fur gets a bad rap these days. Every cab I've ever bought, I got a matching cover even if I had to have it made. Rat fur stays nice as long as you keep a cover on it during transport and storage. If not, it starts looking like an elderly house cat in no time.

 

[agedhorse]

I stripped rat fur off a small 60w cube combo amp, then sanded, and sanded, and sanded…
It took a lot of time and 60 grit but I finally got it down to just wood.
Never again. I’m in the “burn it” camp these days.

Most folks who have gone down this road have come to the same conclusion. It only took me one cabinet to say never again.

Rat fur gets a bad rap these days. Every cab I've ever bought, I got a matching cover even if I had to have it made. Rat fur stays nice as long as you keep a cover on it during transport and storage. If not, it starts looking like an elderly house cat in no time.

Agreed. There are high quality coverings and low quality coverings, they look the same when new but age very differently. The high quality materials and adhesives are 3 or 4 times the cost and are harder to work with, but last 3 or 4 times as long a look much better as they age.

 

[byacey]

Rat fur gets a bad rap these days. Every cab I've ever bought, I got a matching cover even if I had to have it made. Rat fur stays nice as long as you keep a cover on it during transport and storage. If not, it starts looking like an elderly house cat in no time.

I'm not a fan. It's like a velcro magnet that attracts wood slivers, dust, lint, metal shavings, and anything else that is loose nearby. Once these things get woven into the fabric, you can't even vacuum them out.

 

[Yellow Bang66]

Talking about messy!!!

Whew! I guess I dodged a gooey bullet! I remember discussing with a co worker before I ordered my cab,Avatar 2-12, I wondered if spending the extra$$ was worth it for the Duraliner coat, my co worker an audiophile, he built bass tubes for cars, advised against rat fur, Pay up & get the liner! I spoke with the builder & he agreed! but it would take a little longer! I relented & ordered with the Duraliner! I really liked the finish! it made it look more modern & stylish.I havent regreted it at all!
I 'd try an organic Paint stripper, found in the local Home Depot. I used on a stubborn finish once. It made quick work of it, but I m not sure of the chemical reaction with glue, so be sure to ask & read the label& ask the salesman! GL!

 

[deff]

So there are plenty of solvent guides available on the interwebs. The problem has been stated multiple times, you don't know what the adhesive is, although you can probably be assured that it is likely an acrylic of some sort. Acetone wouldn't really be a great solvent for that and grinding it flat is really your best option. Also I could probably grind off a cabinet in a couple of hours. While it's messy, I think it takes a little longer to build a new cab. And before you question this, I have recovered a few cabs and have an upholstery background.

 

[Plain Old Barry]

Rat fur gets a bad rap these days. Every cab I've ever bought, I got a matching cover even if I had to have it made. Rat fur stays nice as long as you keep a cover on it during transport and storage. If not, it starts looking like an elderly house cat in no time.

All hail Tuki.

 

[electracoyote]

I would go straight for the orbital sander. Forget melting and scraping. Take 'er outside, mask up, and get 'er dun.

 

[BassNugget]

yeh not worth the effort...My old ratfur SWR 15" combo now resides on my screenporch with no speaker and the cats sleep in there..Guess they finally got their wish

I went the other way once; I turned a sonotube cat condo into a 2x8 subwoofer. Performed surprisingly well

 

[Blues Bass 2]

I did this once with an Epifani 115 cab my drummer gifted me after blowing the woofer using it as a drum monitor in his sound system . He used it for years but got too carried away one night . I heated the carpet and it peeled off fairly easy but it did leave a lot of yellow glue on the wood . I tried scraping it but that didn't work so I used my belt sander on it . Took forever and a few sanding belts and a lot of labor . Like the others say , it's much easier to just build another cabinet and also , never again !

Not a very good picture but you get the idea . I tried this speaker in it but it didn't sound right . I left the carpet on the baffle .

 

[byacey]

After reading the thread "When goods cats go bad"
It made me think that cats being the cause of the problem, may also be the solution. Give them enough time, and they might remove the glue entirely.

 

[spatters]

Tolex is another option if you can get the cabinet down to "mostly" smooth.

My recommendation is an orbital palm sander...the kind you can use with cut-up regular sheets of sandpaper. You'll go through a lot of sandpaper because the adhesive will gum it up quickly, and regular sheets are the cheapest way to buy lots of it. You'll want the coarsest grit possible to get the adhesive patches off, after which you'll switch to a finer grit to clean up the surface.

Please wear a respirator while sanding! Paint respirators are cheap. Dust masks are better than nothing, but they don't seal nearly as well as a respirator.

 

[Plain Old Barry]

After reading the thread "When goods cats go bad"
It made me think that cats being the cause of the problem, may also be the solution. Give them enough time, and they might remove the glue entirely.

I love my cats. They're cool and great hangs. Maybe more than humans...

 

[agedhorse]

I love my cats. They're cool and great hangs. Maybe more than humans...

All Subway amps/cabs are designed with supervision by my (semi) feral shop/office cats.

 

[Jonathan C]

All Subway amps/cabs are designed with supervision by my (semi) feral shop/office cats.

How do you avoid the cat hair from getting into the hardware? I have a young cat who not only supervises but assists in the kitchen, I figure the day is coming that I cough up a hairball.

 

[beans-on-toast]

The Eveready cat has been helping to power portable amplifiers since the early tube days.

 

[Eilif]

Like others, I think an orbital sander is your best bet. Its fairly easy to fill and smooth any mistakes if that bothers you.

If you do use chemicals, covering the area with a thin rag and then soaking the the rag with the chemicals and letting it sit a while can sometimes speed up the time necessary to loosen the goop while using less chemical.

I learned to dislike rat fur early on so when I had my Avatar B410 Neo done it was beautiful blonde tolex.

 

[Crater]

I went through this process with a Crate bass combo.

IME cats are good at starting the job, but nobody's good at finishing it

Yes, this is what happened with mine. Stripped off the rat fur to find particle board. I did a mix of really coarse sanding with a belt sander, and some scraping with a big paint scraper, and didn't worry about getting every bit of adhesive off. There were a couple of dings and craters in the particleboard that I filled with some kind of wood filler putty. Then I applied Tolex using liquid contact cement, it's the stuff sold at home improvement stores to glue down laminate counter tops. Cutting and applying the tolex without wrinkles and bubbles is tricky, but it can be done. Watch a Youtube video or something.

It looked pretty good when it was finished, but then I sold the amp a couple of weeks later to a drummer for his at-home jam room.