Home Forums Design and Building Cabinet Construction Tolex adhesion Re: Re: Tolex adhesion

#5207
Robin
Participant

After trying several different adhesives, I’ve been using the tolex glue from Antique Electronic Supply with good success. It is far easier to work with than the Dap type contact cement. Letting it dry (like 30-45 min.) really well before putting the surfaces together is an important key to success. If you find bubbles under the tolex after it’s been applied for a couple of hours, the cement was not dry enough when the surfaces were stuck together. It’s easy to roll out the bubbles if that does happen, but not having it happen in the first place is better. Excess glue at the joints can be removed by applying Gaffers tape (duct tape) over the dried glue and when you pull the tape up, the tolex adhesive comes right off with no residue.

I’ve found that sometimes the seams, where tolex overlaps tolex, does not stick that well. When that happens, adding a bead of Zap-a-Gap cyanoacrylate adhesive (gap filling super glue) solves the issue. The really great thing about the AES glue is that you can work the corners together (sometimes with a little heat) and get nice clean joints.