(Topic ID: 12228)

Have you ever picked up a pin that smelled so bad...

By MrArt2u

12 years ago


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  • 40 posts
  • 32 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 12 years ago by MattElder
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    #1 12 years ago

    Wow. I picked up an OXO from the home of a chain smoking eleventy year old gentleman and boy, does it reek of cigarettes! There's no way I could bring it in to my game room, I left it in the garage with all the windows open for a few days and it still knocks me down when I open the garage door. This morning I rolled it outside to air out under a shade tree. What do YOU to do get rid of cigarette smell??

    Note: Though I am a non-smoker, I'm not a cigarette hater, I've spent my fair share of time in smokey bars and with smoking friends so I'm not exaggerating when I say it's bad!

    Suggestions??

    #2 12 years ago

    When I first brought home my TOTAN, it reeked of smoke. Fortunately, the smell subsided by itself over time. I was going to put some baking soda in the cabinet, but it turned out it wasn't necessary.

    #3 12 years ago

    I've got that beat...My CFTBL was the home for several cats in a basement. Not only did it have cat hair all in it, but the urine to complement it. Fortunately, no do-do though. I had a friend store it for a couple of weeks and he had to put baking soda and dryer sheets in it to get the smell go away. I eventually tore the game down and the smell and urine is long gone.

    #4 12 years ago

    My JM reeked of smoke whenever I opened the coin coor or raised the playfield. I simply put a pleasant smelling dryer sheet on top of the coin box for about a month, and bingo. No more smell.

    Later,
    EV

    #5 12 years ago

    Oh, yes, he also had four indoor dogs. Nowhere near as bad as cats! And an ax-yielding son chopping firewood in the dining room behind me as I inspected the machine. There's no telling what smells HE contributed to this machine over the years.

    Baking soda and dryer sheets. Great ideas! I'll pick some up on my way home.

    And I'm sure glad there's no cat smells to deal with!

    #6 12 years ago

    My friend's mom has a small bucket of charcoal in her kitchen and when I asked what that is for they said to absorb smells. So here you go:

    Remove the stink from 6 games... all for one low price of $19.95

    http://www.fridgeit.com

    #7 12 years ago

    Got the opposite problem.

    Bought a Shadow 2 years ago and it spent its entire life in a Flagstaff, AZ mall. Looked like no one every played it. But it had this strange smell like mechanical and wood and I love the smell.

    Everytime I open the pin its like a flashback to how I felt being excited buying the pin, etc.

    None of my other pins have any real smell.

    I did have a Monaco EM that had some mean beer crustations under the lockdown.

    #8 12 years ago

    If the pin was in a smokey environment for a long time, there is probably a yucky film that has built up on the outside of the cabinet. I would recommend washing it with a gentle soap and water solution. I've also seen people recommended a product called Simple Green.

    #9 12 years ago

    The odor eliminating spray from Pinrestore works very well. http://www.pinrestore.com/Supplies.html

    My FT reeked of smoke and pets. I took a couple of paper towels and sprayed them down and threw them in cabinet. Now my pins actually smell better as they heat up.

    It's almost as good as Col. Homer's suit. "Sweat actually cleans this suit!"

    Col._Homer.jpgCol._Homer.jpg

    #10 12 years ago

    Haha, when I first started working here, we brought back a FG from a biker bar...I have never, ever, smelled an object that reeked of pot that badly. Not even a sweatshirt from the bedroom of a stoner friend. It was like they climbed inside the cabinet and smoked a whole kilo.

    #11 12 years ago

    I've had a few machines like that. Dryer sheets and baking soda work well. First thing I do is soak it with Bleche White (Tire bleach). Soak, scrub and repeat. Not only does it help remove the smell, but it also does a great job cleaning the cabinet and turning the wood back from black / brown to whitish.

    #12 12 years ago
    Quoted from Dewey68:

    The odor eliminating spray from Pinrestore works very well.

    +1 That's what I use with great results. I also use their Crazy Clean Foaming Spray Cleaner which works great on plastics and cabinets.

    Dvendentop found these products at Fastenal. If you have one locally it will save on shipping.

    #13 12 years ago

    Another vote for Bleche White...It melts the nicotine right off the cabinet. Wear gloves, tho, as it is a bit harsh.

    #14 12 years ago

    I had a T2 dropped off at my business years ago late one night during the winter. The game was literally frozen.

    I figured let it warm up over night and then open it up.

    I came in the next morning and opened the door to my business and almost puked. I thought something died in that game.

    Stuck it out back and called the owner to come get it.

    LTG

    #15 12 years ago

    i buy those twist to open 'gooey' scented deals. whatever they are, just get the 'for bad order smell scent' or 'clean linen' and put it in my cabinet. had to do it with a couple pins.

    my DH smelled for at least 2 months until that scent finally 'soaked' into the cabinet. of course i cleaned the whole inside as well. i remember cleaning the decals on the outside, the paper towels were puke yellow from the stain.

    #16 12 years ago

    I usually leave the playfield in the up position in the garage for a week after cleaning. A large window fan blowing into the cab at the same time.

    #17 12 years ago
    Quoted from Dewey68:

    The odor eliminating spray from Pinrestore works very well.

    +1

    Spray it on a towel and throw it in the cab.

    #18 12 years ago
    Quoted from CadillacMusic:

    It was like they climbed inside the cabinet and smoked a whole kilo.

    I just had this Cheech & Chong, or Fast Times vision of someone climbing out of the coin door as smoke billows out just to stand up, close the door and hit the start button

    Fabreeze seemed to work on bad wizard. Of course its still in the workshop, so it gets to air out some. Not sure if I'll smell it once it goes into the house (someday)

    #19 12 years ago
    Quoted from CadillacMusic:

    It was like they climbed inside the cabinet and smoked a whole kilo.

    Cheech wants his pin back by the way.

    Labrador.jpgLabrador.jpg

    #20 12 years ago

    Love the products mentioned from Pinrestore. They get the job done. I also use dryer sheets to keep them mountain-spring-fresh.

    #21 12 years ago

    I have to admit, there is something I like about the smell of a routed pin. Whenever I open up my TZ, my daughter always says, "It smells like someone is baking bread."

    #22 12 years ago

    The pinrestore spray being mentioned here is OK in very small doses. A little goes a LONG way

    A friend brought by a Fire pin that came out of a very smoky environment once, along with his new can of the odor eliminator spray. I stepped out of my shop to get something, and when I came back, he was spraying the whole pin down like it was glass cleaner.

    I left the room open for a week and the smell still hadn't entirely gone away! I missed the stale smoke smell

    The way I go through pins I'm restoring, they smell April fresh when I'm done - but everything in the game is cleaned and disinfected from floor to ceiling, so all the nasty stuff gets washed away. My TAF and FH came out of a former op's shed (the shed turned out to be a condemned house when I got there) - $300 apiece. A friend tackled them on my behalf and did a job on par if not better than I would do - and he said it was the first pin that ever made him puke. It had dead mice and squirrel droppings in it.

    #23 12 years ago
    Quoted from Slate:

    Got the opposite problem.
    Bought a Shadow 2 years ago and it spent its entire life in a Flagstaff, AZ mall. Looked like no one every played it. But it had this strange smell like mechanical and wood and I love the smell.
    Everytime I open the pin its like a flashback to how I felt being excited buying the pin, etc.
    None of my other pins have any real smell.
    I did have a Monaco EM that had some mean beer crustations under the lockdown.

    so you're the one that got that machine...

    #24 12 years ago
    Quoted from Slate:

    Got the opposite problem.
    Bought a Shadow 2 years ago and it spent its entire life in a Flagstaff, AZ mall. Looked like no one every played it. But it had this strange smell like mechanical and wood and I love the smell.
    Everytime I open the pin its like a flashback to how I felt being excited buying the pin, etc.
    None of my other pins have any real smell.
    I did have a Monaco EM that had some mean beer crustations under the lockdown.

    so you're the one that got that machine...

    #25 12 years ago

    Sand the inside bottom of the cabinet. Will smell better and look better.

    [img]http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/208414_1970809235106_1389263326_32275031_2443645_n.jpg[/img] HS_Cab.jpgHS_Cab.jpg

    #26 12 years ago

    I went with a friend to pick up a pin from an old couple. The smell of smoke about gagged me when we went in the house and got the game. He scrubbed the game for a week, using all kinds of "absorbants" on the interior, but couldnt get rid of the smell in his 12x12 gameroom, so I wound up with the pin the next week. Itll air out eventually
    On the other hand, I picked up a routed game last week thats been parked in a barn for most of the last decade. Pop it open for that musty rodent smell, now that takes a little more work

    #27 12 years ago

    my bsd smelled like dracula died inside it.

    #28 12 years ago

    Yep, I clean the Pin inside and out. The smell is usually gone within a couple of weeks.

    #29 12 years ago
    Quoted from gweempose:

    If the pin was in a smokey environment for a long time, there is probably a yucky film that has built up on the outside of the cabinet. I would recommend washing it with a gentle soap and water solution. I've also seen people recommended a product called Simple Green.

    Also going over the cabinet with Novus 2 the same as you would a PF removes all the grime and leave a very nice shine, will make your cabinet art look new again

    #30 12 years ago

    I'm starting to feel bad I smoke cigars occasionally when playing...

    #31 12 years ago
    Quoted from docscott:

    Slate said:Got the opposite problem.
    Bought a Shadow 2 years ago and it spent its entire life in a Flagstaff, AZ mall. Looked like no one every played it. But it had this strange smell like mechanical and wood and I love the smell.
    Everytime I open the pin its like a flashback to how I felt being excited buying the pin, etc.
    None of my other pins have any real smell.
    I did have a Monaco EM that had some mean beer crustations under the lockdown.
    so you're the one that got that machine...

    Bought it from a vendor in Phoenix off Grand Ave. Guess they serviced a pretty wide area.

    #32 12 years ago

    I bought a Champion Pub a few years ago that smelled like chicken (wings to be exact). It stunk up my entire basement. Had to sell it because of that

    jon

    #33 12 years ago

    Traded a game for a pin late last fall. Got home, set it in the garage and - what do ya know...even my hands instantly smelled like cat urine (or mouse, but pretty sure it's cat).

    Left in garage hopeing smell would go away; sprayed several times with a pet urine/odor cleaner from store, but every time I gave it a couple days for the cleaner smell to go away - there the urine smell still was.

    Left in garage all winter now - pretty sad as I don't know what else to try, but can't bring in house (my kitties would go bannanas I'm sure!).

    Think animal peed on bottom - maybe cut out bottom of cab and replace wood? Don't know if it is worth it...it's a homebrew game (originaly a Gottlieb System 80A with that wonderfull partical type cab...).

    Gonna check out the cleanin' ideas mentioned for sure - but it looks grimm...

    #34 12 years ago
    Quoted from CadillacMusic:

    Haha, when I first started working here, we brought back a FG from a biker bar...I have never, ever, smelled an object that reeked of pot that badly. Not even a sweatshirt from the bedroom of a stoner friend. It was like they climbed inside the cabinet and smoked a whole kilo.

    Lmao

    #35 12 years ago

    If ever you need to get rid of smoke or other smells, call a carper cleaner guy, they have sprays that will remove even sunk !! After treatment you can place a jar of sent wax on your power transformer..as it gets warm it puts off sents insind cabinet. Just don't tilt machine by playing hard making a mess of spilled wax.. Remove jar when smell is all gone. This worked for me...

    1 week later
    #36 12 years ago

    To rid a machine of a musty smell, I use vodka. Would probably work for smoke too; though I haven’t tried it for that (yet).

    I empty a spray bottle and rinse it out and then fill it with vodka, I suggest the bottom shelf stuff (for cheap skates).

    I spray all of the wood surfaces with it, interior and exterior. What I really like is that I can spray next to the circuit boards and it doesn't harm the boards with the over spray.

    Do this for about a week, a couple of times a day if it’s real bad, and all of the musty smell will be gone. Vodka, in addition to being a natural deodorizer, kills bacteria. The vodka smell lingers for a little bit, but it goes away in about a week and there is literally no smell left behind.

    Robert

    #37 12 years ago

    I've had many machines that smelled horrible. One of the worst was a CP that came from Switzerland. It just reeked of smoke! A good cleaning and baking soda in the cabinet helped a lot.

    I also had a DE Time Machine that literally dripped yellow liquid from it as I cleaned the cabinet exterior...lots of smooking residue. It was nasty! You wouldn't have known that there was a lot of white in the artwork before that cleaning.

    Currently, I'm trying to clean up/fix my Verne's World. It sat for over 10 years in a barn/shed, and it too reeks of all sorts of unidentified things. A good vacuuming and wet rag cleaning has done wonders thus far, but it still has a long way to go.

    #38 12 years ago
    Quoted from MattElder:

    Currently, I'm trying to clean up/fix my Verne's World.

    Oh, hmm... Looks like an interesting game, that. Don't suppose you'd mind reviewing it on the IPDB? No one has reviewed it yet. I'd love to read your thoughts on it.

    http://www.ipdb.org/search.pl?any=verne%27s+world&search=Search+Database&searchtype=quick

    #39 12 years ago
    Quoted from Slate:

    Got the opposite problem.
    Bought a Shadow 2 years ago and it spent its entire life in a Flagstaff, AZ mall. Looked like no one every played it. But it had this strange smell like mechanical and wood and I love the smell.
    Everytime I open the pin its like a flashback to how I felt being excited buying the pin, etc.
    None of my other pins have any real smell.
    I did have a Monaco EM that had some mean beer crustations under the lockdown.

    I love that mechanical smell!

    #40 12 years ago
    Quoted from DEVILinIRON:

    MGE said:Currently, I'm trying to clean up/fix my Verne's World.
    Oh, hmm... Looks like an interesting game, that. Don't suppose you'd mind reviewing it on the IPDB? No one has reviewed it yet. I'd love to read your thoughts on it.
    http://www.ipdb.org/search.pl?any=verne%27s+world&search=Search+Database&searchtype=quick

    I'll definitely post a review once mine is up and running.

    It's a really cool game, and extremely rare. I searched for many years before finding this one, and it's a mess!! The last guy that tried to get it going left it sit for 10 years before it was re-discovered. It's missing several parts that I have to make, boards that have to be repro'd, and many other things yet to fix, so it'll be a while yet before it lives again.

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