One of casters tore out and left a hole in the bottom of the cabinet. What is the best way to repair this? Can I use some real strong wood putty then reattach the caster after the putty cures? The cabinet is made out of MDF
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Repair MDF speaker cabinet hole
- Thread starter BassLife77
- Start date
I’ve had this happen many years ago. I repaired mine by cutting two matched discs of aluminum with 4 holes around the perimeter of each, both slightly larger than the broken spot at the bottom of the cab. I “sandwiched” the damaged area of the cab with the two discs, then screwed it all together with machine screws.
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Seems like a great reason to upgrade to a better cab.
I was thinking just stuff and mold everything with wood putty. I see videos on youtube where people repaired furniture made out of MDF this way. I was wondering could this be done with a speaker cabinet
Um, no. Certainly, not in an area of great stress as at a caster.
I'd do something like this. And consider doing the rest of them while you're at it, since if one went the rest can too. Never have to worry about them again. That is if the cab is worth it to you.
At the very least I wouldn't fix the hole with putty. At the least, I'd make an MDF plug to match what's broken from the MDF, and glue it in with wood glue and a piece of backer board.
If you have a good tablesaw, set the fence the height of the box, and saw the entire bottom off. Make a new bottom panel out of 18mm Baltic Birch, re-fasten with PL glue and brad nails. Paint the bottom to match the rest of the cabinet. Re-install the casters with T nuts and bolts.
This repair will far outlast the rest of the cabinet.
This repair will far outlast the rest of the cabinet.
- Feb 12, 2006
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- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
Just watch out for nails & screws
Good point! Use an expendable blade that you or the saw's owner doesn't mind sacrificing, should a nail or screw be encountered.Just watch out for nails & screws
Spin on the above fix that may be simpler. Remove casters. Cut a piece of plywood the size of the bottom of your cab. Paint it black. Screw it to your existing cab bottom with a dozen drywall screws. Reattach casters. Done.
+1 this. Put a layer of fabric, felt, rat fur in between so as to diminish the chance of the 2 surfaces buzzing against each other.
Works great I have done this.
Other option, take out the speaker and slap a plywood plate over the hole. Then a rough enough shaped plywood filling plug. All PL glued in.
I’ve been there, same sort of issue. Depending on the extent of the damage, an epoxy will work. The problem is, eventually, the wood around the epoxy gives way, the punch through just gets bigger.
The easiest solution is to glue large rectangular pieces of plywood under each caster inside the cabinet. This won’t change the internal dimensions by that much. PL construction adhesive expands as it cures so you need to screw down the wood to hold it in place while the adhesive dries. Some people use steel plates to do the same thing and bolt the casters to that. If the hole is larger, a patch can be cut and glued in to fill the void. This isn’t intended to be structural, it just provides a platform for the caster to sit on. The reinforcing pieces inside the cabinet should still be used.
The easiest solution is to glue large rectangular pieces of plywood under each caster inside the cabinet. This won’t change the internal dimensions by that much. PL construction adhesive expands as it cures so you need to screw down the wood to hold it in place while the adhesive dries. Some people use steel plates to do the same thing and bolt the casters to that. If the hole is larger, a patch can be cut and glued in to fill the void. This isn’t intended to be structural, it just provides a platform for the caster to sit on. The reinforcing pieces inside the cabinet should still be used.
Depending on the severity you may be able to just use bolts with washers. If the screws just stripped out the mdf, I would drill out the holes and run bolts through the bottom with decent sized washers on the inside of the cab. This would work well if it is easy to remove speaker and access inside and if the damage to the MDF isn't too bad.
Slightly off topic, but any cutting of MDF should be done wearing a mask. MDF dust is nasty!
