I know we’ve all been there… Cabinet needs refinishing, past the point of saving, but the grill cloth looks good, worth reusing. Typical cardboard stapled in (remove the staples) and guess what? The grill cloth is securely GLUED to the cabinet! You very carefully try to slowly peal it off and because of the glue and fragile nature of the cloth, it rips! Gone, no way of saving it, even with an iron on patch. Sad, very sad. Just lost that part of the originality.

Does anyone have a method they’ve been using to soften/release the glue so as to safely remove the original grill cloth for reuse? I imagine a LOT of us would be appreciative to know HOW you do it! Thanks!

I dunno what my old boss did, but in the 80s, he had a knack for getting the grille cloth off without loss. He said he used a tip from a dry cleaner, so presumably some chemical treatment was used.

He sent the cabinets away for a restoration, and guarded his grille cloth as though it was bullion at Ft Knox.

Ask a dry cleaner how to remove glue from fine fabric?

You may want to try pentane or heptane. I've used it to dissolve difficult adhesive in other applications.

On my rogers 10-12 grill cloth, I used 50% water AND 50% vinegar and used a cotton swab.. Just dab on the solution and let it sit for a while, until it loosens the glue and then it should peel off. you have to get the grill cloth and glue wet.
Yours might have a different glue, but that worked for me.
Dan in Calgary

Gee, I know I'm old, but I never heard of either of these, so I googled them... Not something you find at Walmart readily.

Vinegar and water sounds reasonable. Seems to me that most of the glue I see uses is an awful a lot alike to the same glue used in the assembly of the cabinets, hide glue. I'll try the water/vinegar technique, but probably use a small brush to apply and hope that'll work. I've tried lacquer thinner, acetone, alcohol, etc. to no avail. The more glue the manufacturer slopped on the cabinet to hold the speaker cloth on, the harder it is to get off and the more damage the grill cloth sustains during removal

I believe heptane is most easily available to the public as rubber cement glue thinner. One brand name is Bestine.

I ordered the Bestine from Amazon and look forward to giving it a try. Thanks!

David

If veneer glues can be soften with an iron & damp towel...

I suspect a heat gun might work on removing big pieces of cloth safely, if you can get at a test area from the rear of the set.

I got the *musical note* pattern Scott cloth that is unobtainium, hole repair needed. This method is what I'm going to try on mine first.

Good Luck with yours,
Lloyd
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Good Judgment Comes From- EXPERIENCE -Which Comes From Bad Judgment

Well as long as you are experimenting might as well try Xylene. I know it works on speaker cone glue. Although it might dissolve the glue AND the cloth. I dunno.
wd