[JoeM]

Total Newbie here.

I thought I had just finished my very first radio repair.  I bought a non-working Philco 38-12 on EBay and have made it work.  It has taken me forever!  Recapped radio, replaced a few tubes, replaced a few wires, did an alignment, etc.  Fortunately the cabinet was in very good shape, except for the grill cloth.  I glued the new grill cloth to the (homemade) cardboard backer with Super 77 spray adhesive.  No problem there.  But I need suggestions on how to attach the cardboard to the cabinet.  Philco used some very small staples.  These are much shorter than normal office staples.
Do I need to find the correct staples and a tool to install them?  I tried hot gluing the speaker cloth covered board to the cabinet.  The glue stuck real well to the cabinet but not at all to the fabric.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

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[morzh]

I went through that about a year ago.
First, not office staples: you need the wood staples and staplegun. Use 1/4".
Yes they are too long, so put a piece of the same material you use for the frame under the staple before you fire that gun.

http://philcoradio.com/phorum/showthread...587&page=2

This is the thread where I did that. At the end.

[JoeM]

Thanks for the reply!  I have an upholstery nailer (air gun) but didn't think to use that.  Smallest staples I have right now are 3/8" but I found some 1/8" 22 guage staples that I found on Amazon that should fit my gun.  I am going to try it once the staples arrive!  Thanks again.

[Radioroslyn]

I have a similar issue and thought of using my Dremel cutoff wheel to shorten the Arrow T-50 staples to resize them. Haven't tried it out yet. I'm pretty sure that the shortest T-50 staples you can but are 1/4 which is too large.

GL

[morzh]

Don't use any power gun, use hand stapler from Home Depot, and I myself was fretting it until it occured to me to pad it: worked just fine. You don't need to ground staples etc.
Just make sure the frame plus cabinet plus your padding is just a tad thicker than 1/4".

[klondike98]

I've just clipped off the staples with wire cutters to the correct length and then tapped/hammered them in by hand. Its a little tricky holding it and tapping on it to get it in but it doesn't take much to get it into the wood enough to hold the cloth and frame.

[Phlogiston]

Sad thing, Bosch used to make a stapler that was perfect for this. It is/was about half the ga. of the big staplers they still sell. Not any more. I still have mine but am down to the last few staples - then it becomes a tack hammer.

[Warren]

Dont hold the staples by hand, use needle nose pliers. Easier to tap n with them.