The Altec605B takes off

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stevieboy

stevieboy

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After a long while I have finally opened the Altec 605Bs up and will have to start by doing some cleaning. Rust on the HF plate and rust in one of the HF throats. Did some reading up suggestions on the net were vinegar or baking soda mixed with water to form a paste. One question I have is whether I can just pour water down the horn throat and in the HF voicecoil gap? There does not seem to be anything that can get damaged and it might flush the removed rust out afterwards... Thoughts? Pics to come.

Regards
 
Stevie, Zorrik 88 works on rust pretty good.
But wouldn't any liquid seep through and reach coil or something ??? I know voice coils are enameled but I think it will damage them.
Regards
 
Hi Hiten,

Thanks for the tip. Right now there's no cone no voice coil. Just bare basket frame so only magnets and voice coil gap to clean.

Regards
 
One question I have is whether I can just pour water down the horn throat and in the HF voicecoil gap?
Click to expand...

No water ever.

Just clean out the gaps with double sided masking tape.Is there rust in the coil gaps?

Regards
Rajiv
 
http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums...4-BEA8-428A0280174C-2163-0000035E97C9ADA6.jpg

The inside of the HF throat. Cleaning this will take some careful doing. Amy tips on the best way to do it? So far thinking of carefully soaking sections with vinegar using earbuds and wiping carefully every ten mins or so. Keeping the basket sideways so it does not drip down.

http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums...4-BE98-3227B53F1B24-2163-0000035F197F1828.jpg

There is some sort of paper diaphragm lower midway in the HF throat. Almost towards the end. It's there in one but not in the other. Can I replace this with something? What? I'm assuming it's there to prevent dust getting in through the open 6 cells of the horn.

http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums...E-AF75-7568B99D5351-2163-0000035FBCA766F6.jpg

Rajiv I'm not sure that there is rust in the voice coil gap. Can't see inside. What do I do? Any way to find out? The current voice coil is extremely scratchy going in and out so lots of debris for sure. The rusty driver guy on hostboard used fine emery paper to do the voice coil gap and then that sticky tape to clean up.
 
Last edited:
stevieboy said:
So far thinking of carefully soaking sections with vinegar using earbuds and wiping carefully every ten mins or so.
Click to expand...

OMG, you want to use vinegar which is acidic in nature and would promote further oxidation!!

You must use a reducing agent to reverse the effects of oxygen on the Iron material which has resulted in formation of ferrous oxide (rust) in the first place. If I were you, I would be soaking the whole thing in commercially available rust removers and brushing and washing off the muck.
 
Thanks Captrajesh!

Vinegar and baking soda water paste mix were the two common outside of commercial suggestions online. After that people used oil on the metal.

Now what exactly is a reducing agent? Is it contained in the zorrik mentioned by Hiten?

Regards
 
Last edited:
stevieboy said:
Vinegar and baking soda water paste mix were the two common outside of commercial suggestions online. After that people used oil on the metal.
Click to expand...
Vinegar is acidic in nature whereas baking soda is alkaline. The two compounds react to produce Carbon-dioxide, Water and salts. It would've been suggested because of the effervescent nature of the reaction which aids in digging out rust particles from every nook and cranny. But the down side is, since salts are hygroscopic in nature, they result in fresh oxidation (in this case rust formation) unless the object is pressure washed with copious amount of water.

The better way IMO would be to use commercially available rust removers.

stevieboy said:
Now what exactly is a reducing agent?
Click to expand...

It does just the opposite of what oxidising agents do. While an oxidising agent like Hydrogen Peroxide has excess atoms of oxygen raring to break away and thus aids in oxidation of a metal by reacting with it chemically, a reducing agent like Lithium Aluminum Hydride has excess atoms of hydrogen and helps in reversing the process.

stevieboy said:
Is it contained in the zorrik mentioned by Hiten?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure but I've heard that it is similar to WD40. AFAIK, they are primarily used to loosen metal components that are got jammed due to rust.
 
The inside of the HF throat. Cleaning this will take some careful doing. Amy tips on the best way to do it? So far thinking of carefully soaking sections with vinegar using earbuds and wiping carefully every ten mins or so. Keeping the basket sideways so it does not drip down.

http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/...5F197F1828.jpg

There is some sort of paper diaphragm lower midway in the HF throat. Almost towards the end. It's there in one but not in the other. Can I replace this with something? What? I'm assuming it's there to prevent dust getting in through the open 6 cells of the horn.

http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/...5FBCA766F6.jpg

Rajiv I'm not sure that there is rust in the voice coil gap. Can't see inside. What do I do? Any way to find out? The current voice coil is extremely scratchy going in and out so lots of debris for sure. The rusty driver guy on hostboard used fine emery paper to do the voice coil gap and then that sticky tape to clean up.
Click to expand...

Hi,

Steven rust anywhere is bad news. :sad:In your case the rust seems to be in the throat area,and can be got rid of without any major disassembly of the driver.

First is to check if there is no rust debris in the voice coil gaps of the woofer and tweeter.Use a 1/4? piece of shim or thin card stock. Fold a piece of masking tape over it- sticky side out. Pull tight. Insert into gap and move until you have worked around the entire circle. Repeat until the tape remains clean several times.

If there is rust it will be seen on the tape,then you might have to use a fine emery to clean the rust out and then repeat the masking tape process.

After cleaning the gaps cover them with masking tape so that further dust,rust from cleaning the HF throat does not get in. You may get rust into the HF voice coil gap from the phase plug area when cleaning the throats of the HF drivers. So cleaning the throats with the drivers facing down is a good idea. After cleaning you can blow out any dust/debris with a blower.

The "paper diaphgram" you refer to is a bug screen that is there in many compression driver to prevent dust,etc from getting into the phase plug .In the picture you have attached the rust/dust has blocked the screen compleatly.It has to be removed.No need to replace.

You have to be careful to ensure that the rust/dust does not get into the phase plug and voice coil while removing/cleaning the throat.

Altec 802-8d without bug screens ....

Regards
Rajiv
 
Steven.

I use WD-40 to clean these drivers from rust. Very safe and effective. Double sided masking tape or a masking tape folded back to back does the trick of removing particles of the gaps.

Cheers.
 
stevieboy said:
Hi Hiten,

Thanks for the tip. Right now there's no cone no voice coil. Just bare basket frame so only magnets and voice coil gap to clean.

Regards
Click to expand...
Stevie, if there is no voice coil than it is ok. If it is only metal basket than... some jewellers/opticians use ultrasonic cleaner to clean jewellery/spects. See if you can find it. I purchased one chinese made for cleaning parts purpose. Which after cleaning 2/3 objects went dead, and was not powerful enough. Took long time to clean. Ultrasonic Rust Removal - YouTube < this is a powerful ultrasonic cleaner.


604cut.jpg

Also from the crosssection pic. of altec 604 it looks like there ought to be a coil below the small cone on which bigger cone is attached. 5th item on left. Not sure though.
Regards
 
@ captrrajesh,
Thanks. Will use the commercial cleaners first. Just to clarify the vinegar and baking soda were separate remedies so would the alkaline baking soda and water paste be safe and not strip metal?

@Rajiv,
Thanks. The bug screen being not necessary is a relief. Although I'll have to cover the horns when not in use now.

@Anilva,
Thanks. Will use the wd40 and zorrik and report on how it goes.

@Hiten,
Yes there's a voice coil space at the end of the throat rather on top where you see the convex white dome. Will take pics of the top and post in the evening. Will have to clean that area too.

Regards
 
stevieboy said:
Just to clarify the vinegar and baking soda were separate remedies so would the alkaline baking soda and water paste be safe and not strip metal?
Click to expand...

Unlike Caustic Soda (Sodium Hydroxide) Baking soda (Sodium bicarbonate) is a mind alkali so AFAIK would not strip metal.
 
Steve/Captain,
I have always used Vinegar for cleaning rust and it has always worked very well for me (mostly in automobile applications). For loosening rust, WD40 is very good.

Out of curiousity, googled and found below link on why Vinegar is good for cleaning rust.

http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=15708.0

I once made the mistake of cleaning (pressure wash) the fuel tank of my jeep with water. It developed rust within 2 weeks and started leaking petrol and had to be replaced. I found later on that flushing the tank with a dry gas like nitrogen removed water molecules inside the tank.
 
santhosh said:
I have always used Vinegar for cleaning rust and it has always worked very well for me (mostly in automobile applications). For loosening rust, WD40 is very good.

Out of curiousity, googled and found below link on why Vinegar is good for cleaning rust.

Why is vinegar such a good rust remover?
Click to expand...
That is a nice piece of information Santhosh.
santhosh said:
I once made the mistake of cleaning (pressure wash) the fuel tank of my jeep with water. It developed rust within 2 weeks and started leaking petrol and had to be replaced.
Click to expand...
With only one small inlet hole, fuel tank will retain moisture even if one keeps it under the summer sun for days and hence must never be washed with water.
santhosh said:
I found later on that flushing the tank with a dry gas like nitrogen removed water molecules inside the tank.
Click to expand...
That's an expensive solution IMO. If at all water gets into the fuel tank, in addition to drying it under the sun, ensuring a constant flow of air would enable flushing out all the moisture.
 
Thanks Santhosh,

Almost every link suggested vinegar as one of the home remedies. Lots of people used it for auto panels also. good to know it worked for you also.

Regards
 
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