heat shrinking grille cloth

[stingray_65]

I have heard on more than one occasion that you can shrink grille cloth with a hair dryer.

Is there any truth to this ?

Has any one tried this personally?

I just started covering my combo cab I made for my TOS build, the grille cloth went on fairly tight and dead straight, but not drum tight like I would like

[bigsbybender]

A hair Dryer might not be hot enough. It can't hurt to try though, if it's not hot enough, it won't damage anything.
I use either a heat gun for stripping paint, or an opened toaster oven on full heat for some smaller projects for an even heat.

The heat gun can easily be too hot so use one with adjustable heat, start low and work your way up.


j.

[stingray_65]

IT WORKS!
WOW does it work!
Drum head tight.

BE AWARE! a hair dryer on high can burn right thru grille cloth!

I stapled a scrap from the grille cloth  to a scrap of the baffle board for testing.

The grille cloth strip was approximately 4" tall X 12" wide and slack enough to have 3/4" rise in the center.

On low I could get no results, on high after maybe 6 or 7 minutes the scrap was pulling in and tightened right down.

I wanted to see how tight it would get when suddenly it just melted away.

No indication it was going to do that either, Just ZAP and it was ruined.

My advice to anyone trying this BE PATIENT, DON'T GET TOO CLOSE AND STOP WHILE YOUR AHEAD

[Tiny_Daddy]

Some hair dryers are hotter than others. The one I have now is marginal and does a preliminary shrink but ultimately is not quite hot enough.

[shortfuse]

Good advice I am building a cab now and will give this a shot.

[stingray_65]

Hey Shortfuse!

I would take a scrap of grille cloth and fasten it to a small scrap of what you mad your baffle board out of and practice

And remember, this stuff tightens a bit more when cooled, so when you get to thinking "Just a little more...."
you have like 2 seconds before you melt through LOL

Just my recent experiences with this stuff

Ray