[Crumbs]

In the process of building my first real set of speakers. I've read that many adhesives outgas, and this chemical by-product can eat away at speaker components.

1. What adhesive/caulk/silicone are you using for sealing speaker enclosures?
2. How long are you waiting for adhesive cure before mounting speaker components?
3. Has anyone had a problem with outgas induced component deterioration?
4. If you've worked in the industry I'd be really curious to know what you use, beyond basic wood glue on the joints?

Bill

[jerryleefish]

I have always used conventional wood adhesives such as "Tight Bond". Some of my enclosures
are 30+years old and never had any  component deterioration. I always use a 24 hour drying period although this time can be varied either way, but never less than six hours. There is no need to go beyond good quality wood glue. The technique of coating each surface lightly allowing glue to absorb for ten minutes then recoating with more glue before joining. This works well but is time consuming.Pressure applied to joints by clamping or gluing and screwing is very important. Buy appropriate length wood camps which are not expensive.

[Danny Richie]

Hey Fellows,

Someone asked me to weigh in on this one.

I use wood glue for building any of my prototype cabinets. There is no issues with it at all. Liquid Nails is pretty safe too.

The one that really out gases is Silicone. But once it is dry then you are in pretty good shape.

I only use Silicone for assembling crossovers. I put it under the inductors that are being zip-tied to the crossover board. It helps hold the heavy inductors pretty well and puts a bit of a cushioning between them and the mounting board. I always let it dry overnight though before installing it into the speaker cabinets. 

[Crumbs]

Thanks for weighing in. I intended to use wood glue. I was partially curious if anything else was necessary, like going back to caulk seems. Glad to hear there are no issues if you just follow appropriate drying times for a strong joint.

Bill