Woofer dust cap repair advice, HELP

It's so ironic that there was a thread about mixing speakers and kids on agon just a couple of days ago. Having a very active 3 yr old I know all about this stuff. My advice is:

1) separate room for equipment if possible
2) toys are drawn to reflex ports like space debris to a black hole. Plug-em !
3) Leave the grill cloths on so that the drivers aren't visible.
4) Don't leave the grill cloths on as they can quickly be defaced.
5) Try not to get mad .. they didn't mean it.
6) You were once like them. We all were. Except me.
7) One day they'll become brain surgeons and make you proud.
8) er, that's it.

Try the above recommendations first. Worst case, you could remove the woofer, remove the magnet from the woofer and then push the dust cap back from the other side. That is very tricky and it is particularly tough to get the magnet back on right since it must be parallel at the outset before you screw the magnet back on. It takes a while to get that right. I did all that just last weekend for a different reason. Please be sure to call the manufacturer first since your speaker may be different and might require other techniques and tools. I just needed some allen wrenches and a putty knife. Again, be sure you contact someone who knows these speakers before doing this. Good luck.

Considering past history, do you think the children in that family are pre-disposed to that activity?
Just wondering.

'Uncle Greg'

Some woofers have vented pole pieces with no screening in the vent hole. If such is the case, you can stick a long pencil through the hole in the back and use the soft eraser to try and massage the dents in the dust cap back into place very gradually.

It this isn't feasible, i would try using some masking tape wrapped around your fingers and taped back onto itself. This will allow you to apply as much pressure as you need to in order to get the tape to adhere to the cap and at the same time, allow you to vary how much tension you put on the cap while pulling the dent out. You can then use your other hand to stabilize the cone so that you're not pulling on it sideways, etc... The masking tape may be sticky enough to grab the cone but it will break loose if you pull too hard. This minimizes the potential to damage the driver and at the same time, won't leave any type of residue behind.

The use of some type of small suction pump or a "leaky vacuum attachment" may also work if you can find the right size and shape attachment. If you try to use a standard vacuum, good luck. I'm sure that it can be done, but it sounds a little risky.

As a side note, i would not worry about this too much. On most woofers, the dust cap is not very critical. This becomes more critical as the driver is used to reproduce higher frequencies. Sean
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PS... I bet that someone's blood pressure about blew their eyeballs out of their sockets when they saw this. How much smoke poured out of your ears??? Is the child still alive???

For driver speaker repair Orange County speaker repair is great and reasonably priced. Jallen