Best way to remove old Tolex glue?

[Laurent Brondel]

The glue is most likely contact cement, not latex.

 

[jay42]

I think Jeff is talking about the white neoprene stuff. I wish I'd never fallen for that hype. DAP gel contact cement for me.

 

[rockometeramp]

Unless I’m mistaken, all or most of the latex based tolex glues sold by the big guys are contact cements, both pieces should be dry before attaching. Some have no stinky solvents, some do.

 

[jcs]

I solved the tolex issue by pulling the tolex off, sanding lightly with a sanding disc on a hand buffer and refinishing with bedliner coating.

I'm done messing with tolex, it just does not standup......but then i coated my Blues Deluxe tweed with clear poly....i like things durable....some of this modern tolex is an absolute joke, because its so easily torn.

I wouldnt do this to a collectible old amp or cabinet though....ymmv.

 

[Mattyc]

Heat gun and scrapers are the cleanest, quickest way. There’s a narrow temperature where the glue removes easily. Too hot and it cooks in, not hot enough and it just smears around. Remove as much as possible then hit it with 120 paper. You’ll know if you didn’t scrape well enough if the paper just loads up with boogers. Then a quick 220 and wipe with cheesecloth or denatured alcohol. Now it’s ready for fresh glue! It’s kinda fun once you get the workflow dialed in. View media item 87258

 

[Jeff Gehring]

I was reading along and then boom!

It’s kinda fun once you get the workflow dialed in.

Coffee all over the monitor, again...

I'm down to the home stretch on the box here, just pushing it with thumbs. Might revisit heat and scrapers on the two back panels, though.

 

[Mattyc]

=)

 

[JJman]

Could there be a Duct Tape solution here?

 

[Baxtercat]

^ another good idea.
[not the hair, I mean for glue boogers]

 

[Jeff Gehring]

At last, it is over! The amp is all cleaned off and ready for recovering.

Lesson: there is no easy road getting this stuff off. As was mentioned, building a new cab would be less work, and way more fun. I did the last remaining bits yesterday (the two back panels). One of them I had chased most of the goop off with the thumb-pushing method, the other was just as it was when the Tolex was peeled. I loaded a palm sander with very aggressive paper (40 grit) and went to town on them. The best attack seemed to be to work from a cleared area, pushing into a gummy zone. The sander heated up the gum and coming in from a clear zone seemed to mix sawdust with the gum, reducing its tack to where it was easier to get rid of.

If I was capable of making a straight cut with power tools, building a new cab would have won the toss. Also, this is one of those cabs that my Dad built for me, so I had other reasons for the rehab too. Thanks for all the ideas!