A Tube Amp Doctor Tolex Glue thread (Europe)

[timrobertson100]

Hi all,

TLDR; Ignore the 15 minutes and leave it some hours before starting

There's not much about the Tube Amp Doctor Tolex glue I could find on the net, so I thought I'd share my experience with the hope of helping others.

I've used this glue several times using Fender and typical Marshall Tolex with great success. Last night I was using a tin that had been open for 3 years and on Mesa style Tolex which is a thicker fabric.
I was worried the glue may have gone off, but a quick test on a scrap of Fender Tolex first seemed fine.

I applied a decent amount to the Tolex first which wicked more than previous types I've used, then the cab in a room that was around 25 degrees. 30 minutes later, they were touch dry and set about trying to be like Taylor. It just did not stick - not at all - not even the slightest, despite a lot of rubbing and pressing. My first thought was that there wasn't enough (i.e. the wicking), so a second coat on both, wait 30 minutes and then the same thing... Now rather worried I had let it dry too long (tin says 15 minutes) I got the hairdryer out and tried some heat. Fooled into thinking I had a bit of sticking I set about the invisible seam. Alas, the fabric really wasn't sticking enough, and my rushing things at this point ended up with a ruined Tolex. Somewhere along the line, I cut my finger pretty bad and decided to call it a night disappointed.

So, this morning (12 hours later) I find that the Tolex sticks perfectly when applied to the cabinet! Annoyingly I had already tried a few solvents to see if anything would take off the glue from the cabinet (it doesn't really) and I pretty much have a ruined cabinet. I can peel off the glue slowly, but I think it'll be quicker to build a new shell than try and remove this stuff.

The takeaway lesson for the future is to totally ignore the 15 minutes drying time on the tin, leave it for some hours, and apply glue to a few pieces of scrap wood and Tolex to test the state of the glue before starting.

Anyone else with some tips or experience to share for this glue?

[Synchu]

I used it with great success in the past while fresh, but haven’t tolexed a cab in the past year or so, hence that’s great info.
Thanks a bunch!
Niki

[timrobertson100]

Just to close this thread off, in the hope it saves someone else pain.

The glue here really never set properly - it remained a bit like chewing gum or after some weeks but never hardened. I opened a new tin, and it all worked as normal on a new cabinet I built.
My conclusion is that the glue goes off after a while once opened. I read on a forum that other brands go off after 9 months or so...

Lesson to self: don't use old glue

[Aurora]

I have feeling that those "Tolex purpose" glues are just rebranded water based contact glues..... Any quality brand contact glue will probably do the job just as well.....

[JimR]

old thread... I have build several cabinets now with Tube Town tolex glue and I like it a lot!

https://www.tube-town.net/ttstore/tolex ... anguage=en

It's waterbased, really easy to apply and sticks very well when dry. The minor downside is that it takes a while to dry up, at least 1 hour and maybe even 2.

/Jim