VHF81 Speaker baffle repair

With the chassis ready for testing I turned my attention back to the cabinet. The original grille cloth was badly damaged and had to go. It came off easily enough, but left behind hard patches of 50+ year old glue which might have shown through the new, thinner cloth. 

The plywood had also started to de-laminate, and trying to scrape the glue off just made it worse. It did eventually come off with help from a hot air gun, but I had to use automotive cellulose filler to fill the damaged areas of the wood afterwards.

24 hours later I used an electric sander and 320 grit abrasive paper to remove the excess filler, followed by a generous coat of black paint.  It's now ready to receive the new black grille fabric.

I also used some filler on the cabinet, as some scratches were still visible even after several coats of undercoat with light sanding in between them. The first coat of  paint looks good, although I did have momentary doubts over the colour... all will be revealed soon.

Keep listening!