please recommend a good alternative to "Tolex Glue"

[JMFahey]

What you want can be done, but it requires experience, which you'll get by,say, your 5th or 10th cabinet ... so the safe bet is to pay for a tried and true adhesive , extra $30 or 40 is very little compared to the certainty of a good job.

1) solvent type contact cement is the best, period.
Nasty, expensive, but none other can touch it ... except hide glue applied with a $7000 Potdevin machine, which is out of the question.

2) water based adhesive has never worked for me.
Flat surfaces hold, but corners always open, sooner or later.
And even flat surfaces separate, many times I reglued (with solvent type cement) loose internal flaps in modern Marshall and Laney cabinets.

3) the "mixed" mode, which I sometimes used when I was tolexing a lot and wanted to reduce excessive solvent in the air, was to first glue the "easy" part, the wraparound, with carpenter's glue, applied to wood, so Tolex would get wet only where it actually touched wood, and let it dry overnight.
A waste of time, unless you are doing a few at the same time.

Next day, I'd brush solvent type contact cement just on corners and edges, let it dry tacky for 15 minutes and finish the cab.

As you see, not worth it for a single cab, useful if you work in batches.

EDIT: the mythical Potdevin machine, used by the greats since when Leo was young

Pay attention at 1:50

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hRJqwhUCPQ

[tkc58]

JMFahey,

Thanks for your reply to the thread. IF I used the Flooring type of Adhesive on the sides and back panels I was figuring on having to wait over night or even a couple of days. That's NOT a problem as I have the room to let it all set as long as it needs to set. Don't get me wrong, I'd like to do one and be done with it BUT not it's not really that big of a deal. I just don't want to use the flooring Adhesive IF it is NOT going to hold the Tolex/Vinyl to the Pine sides and Plywood backs of the cabs.

I am building 4 large 2x12 Cabs, each about the size of a Marshall 4x12 as well as a 6 space rack cab and a 8 space rack cab. So I have a fair amount of Tolexing ahead of me.

[drew]

I remember reading posts about the Wilsonart stuff, and then some additional posts indicating that the stuff seemed to be disappearing from the store shelves. At one point, I looked for it in several local Home Depots, and couldn't find any trace of it.

Now, as you note, it's apparently back, and it appears from Lowe's website that it's available here in California, where a lot of these kinds of products have had to be reformulated to comply with environmental regulations. I do not know if the Wilsonart product has been reformulated, but I would not want to spend $80 for a gallon of it on the strength of the old positive comments unless I was able to verify either that it is still exactly the same stuff now as it was then, or that whatever is now in the can, people are still finding that it works well for tolexing.

[tkc58]

Yep, $80 a gallon is just too much, I did find a supplier in TN who will sell it for $55.50 plus about $9.98 for shipping so that's not quite as bad but still pretty high as far as I'm concerned.
I was looking around online and I found a tolex thread on a "steel guitar" forum and a guy who builds cabs for a living said he uses the Dap Weldwood Nonflammable Contact Cement will really good outcomes, which is unlike many I've read so I think maybe a lot of the bad reviews are from people NOT putting on enough and or not waiting long enough to put the tolex and wood together. I can get it locally for about $38 a gallon OR $14 a quart, so IF I can confirm that I can use a Carpet OR tile Adhesive (either one) for the flats at a coast of about $14 a gallon then I can get a gallon of that and a quart of the Dap and only have about $27 in adhesives for the entire 4 cab 2 case project. Otherwise I can just pay $38 for a gallon of the Dap and be done with it. That's only $11 more for the entire project so at this point I am leaning heavily towards just getting a gallon of the "Dap Weldwood Nonflammable Contact Cement".

[Phazor]

I would by a quart first and do maybe a small cab before assuming its going to work great. Also if you have an air stapler and don't mind and or can hide the staples with baffle or back panel, you could use Elmers glue. Its just hard to hold tolex into place while the white glue is drying. So if your staples are hidden from a speaker grill/baffle and your not trying to build period correct cabs, Staples will hold while the glue dries.

If you use contact cement, you don't get many options to move and form things into shape. It sticks and thats kind of it, (at least as far as I know thats it). You also need to roll out bubbles so have a roller. It is also great to have a helper. My brother and I did fine doing my amp without a potdevin machine. We both had brushes and applied the glue and pulled into place. Doing it myself however could have been a disaster with hyde glue the first time without extra hands. When you do contact cement it is really good to have extra hands to lay the tolex on from the center out. Doing that by yourself could be ugly. Try to lock up your guns before you glue up.javascript:emoticon(':D')

[tkc58]

Phazor,
Thank you for commenting. Yes, without a doubt IF I decide to try ANYTHING other than actual Tolex Glue I will start out with a quart size and go from there. I think I am going to order a few "samples" of the different Marine Vinyls I am considering and get a quart of one of the flooring adhesives and see how it does on holding a "sample" to a piece of plywood or Pine and go from there.

I need the "samples" anyways so I can,
1. See exactly what it's backing is.
2. See the actual thickness of the material
And IF they pass the first 2 then.
3. see which colors I will use.

I plan on ordering several colors so I should have enough to practice a few corners to.

[amplifiednation]

I've covered well over 500 cabs in Wilsonart H20. It's worth it

[tkc58]

I've covered well over 500 cabs in Wilsonart H20. It's worth it

Still looking for a better price, and after a LOT of looking so far the best I've found is $55.50 PLUS $9.99 shipping for a gallon of Wilsonart h2o so $65.49 shipped. I really need to find it cheaper IF I can.