I've placed two identical speaker elements into an enclosure I just made, only to discover that one of the elements is frozen. I've gotten pretty rough with it and still can't free it.

Is there anything worth spraying in there, in hopes of freeing it? It's toast if if it doesn't come free, and it's a cheap piece of crap to begin with, so I'm not against being aggressive but I don't want to put something in there that has no chance of working. I've got spray oils, Deep Creep, WD-40, 3-in-1 oil, and so on.

Open to ideas.

 

If there is something in the gap, they only hope would be a volatile solvent. Anything that would leave something behind is going to kill it.

Have you tried a nice high amplitude signal?

 

Have you tried a nice high amplitude signal?

Not really, no, but I've been about as rough as I can imagine while pushing and pulling on the cone. I can try a pulse but I'm not optimistic.

WD-40 eventually evaporates, right?

 

Perhaps a piece of magnetic material has gotten wedged in the voice-coil space by the voice-coil magnet and that's what is locking the cone.

 

Not really, no, but I've been about as rough as I can imagine while pushing and pulling on the cone. I can try a pulse but I'm not optimistic.

WD-40 eventually evaporates, right?

No, it's got petroleum distillates that will be around for a very long time. You could try contact cleaner, but the problem is dissolving bits you want to keep around.

 

Did you, by any chance, distort the frame while attaching it?
If so then it is toast.

 

How bout some general and close ups of the unit?

 

Have you slackened off the mounting screws or even removed the speaker from the box?

 

The element is not currently in the box. I’ll take a picture tomorrow but I don’t think it’ll be helpful.

 

Have you checked that the voice coil still has continuity? If a coil turn broke it could jam the gap between coil and magnet.

 

Have you checked that the voice coil still has continuity? If a coil turn broke it could jam the gap between coil and magnet.

I have the two elements wired in series and the other is working fine, so yeah.

 

Good. I wonder if an over-driven / 0ver-heated voice coil could distort enough to jam?

 

Good. I wonder if an over-driven / 0ver-heated voice coil could distort enough to jam?

I have seen overdriven coils leave the gap and re-enter it bending the coil form at the edge.

 

I went after it again this morning and fairly quickly gave up. Here is a destructive teardown.

Bottom line it looks like @AlbertHall nailed it - bent framing. There was no evidence of dirt or corrosion but I think you can see in the photo that the magnet was dislodged off center. That's the only clue that the speaker probably fell from a height during it's years in my junk boxes and in the workshop.

 

Well, at least you're left with a nice little pot magnet .

 

Well, at least you're left with a nice little pot magnet .

Yup, I'll give that to my grandkids and nothing else will remain except this thread.

 

Yup, I'll give that to my grandkids and nothing else will remain except this thread.

No. Don't let grandkids play with magnets.

Wait a minute. Do you people still have CRT TVs and floppy disks like I do?

 

LOL no. Well yes but I don't care about them too much. The magnet from the speaker is wimpy compared to my strong magnets. The kids aren't able to pull those off the fridge by themselves yet.

One of my favorite toys as a kid was a pair of cow magnets my mom got for me. Cow magnets are fed to cows to immobilize metal in their guts and I suppose carry it out. I never asked mom if my magnets were "used" but I suppose they must have been.