Old cabinets and smoke

[GadgetGeek]

I might have the opportunity to pick up a free dead ms pac.  I'm thinking this might be a good alternative to building my own cabinet from scratch.  When I mention this to the Mrs (I know, easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission) she gives me THE LOOK, then elaborates saying that I'd never be able to get rid of the smoke smell from the cabinet.  
Does anyone have any experience with this?  Does a cabinet keep the smell?  Or does it go away with a good scrubbing and a fresh coat of paint?

[paigeoliver]

Well, most cabinets don't have a smell to them at all, even ones with heavy nicotine staining or water damage.

If it does have a smell, then you can try cleaning the outside and painting the inside (and bottom), and that SHOULD take care of it.

Although it is my experience that a few people seem to have super senses of smell or something (attuned ONLY to smoke), and can smell smoke for rediculously long times after it is gone.

[NoOne=NBA=]

My wife is one of those people.
Epoxy and fresh paint smell goes a long way to covering up smoke smell though.

My boss smokes cigars; and my wife can usually tell when I've had a meeting with him.
The exception to this is when I have to spend alot of time back in the printing department at work.
Then, the only thing she can smell is the ink/thinner combo--whether I met with the boss, or not.

My wife complained about the paint smell in the house for weeks after I brought my cab in from the garage.
She quit complaining about that smell the day I had to epoxy something though.

[maraxle]

I bought a house that was previously owned by smokers.  I washed the walls with TSP (Tri-sodium Phosphate, available at Home Depot, Lowes, etc) and painted.  There is no smell left at all, and I am really sensitive to the smell, so I would know if it was there.  TSP would probably do the trick for your cabinet as well.  Just make sure to wear gloves!

[Rocky]

I got a couple of my cabinets from a guy who was a smoker.

The first one was gutted and I painted it before I brought it inside. No smoke smell at all now.

The other game was complete and I did a lot to clean and deodorize it.  Overall, it is pretty good. When I open the back, the smoke smell is still noticable. The nicotine really clings to the monitor electronics.

YMMV,

Rocky

[OSCAR]

I picked up a cab once that had a funky smell, and the first thing I did was pull all the guts out of it.  Then I used a vibrating sander and sanded down all the inside surfaces to "fresh wood".  That helped tremendously to get rid of the smell.

[JustMichael]

Oscar's solution makes me wonder if cedar chips inside the cab would help...

[maraxle]

If you just paint it, even after scrubbing with soap and water, the nasty tar can soak right through the paint.  If your cabinet is a light color, it will give it yellowish stains.  If it's a dark color, it will feel sticky.  There's two ways to avoid it:

1.  TSP - I have wiped this on walls that appeared white at first glance, and watched the yellow run off of them.  Amazing stuff.

2.  Kilz - Kilz or another stainblocking primer will do it.  It smells awful when you're putting it on, and you should have some windows open or you'll make yourself sick.

[Lilwolf]

NOTE:  don't mame a mspacman cabinet.

why?

because they retain their value MUCH more then any other arcade out there.

Take a look at ebay to see what original ms-pacmans cocktails are going for these days.  

You are talking about 500 bucks of raw materials to rebuild it new with 19" monitor...   (200 bucks for monitor shipped...).

Anyway... take a look before you destroy it.  Might not be in good enought shape to sell for anything... or not worth your time... but it will piss you off if you find out your sitting on 3-4 thousand and you sand down the side art to see if you can get rid of the smoke smell.

[NoBonus]

From my experience playing accoutic guitars (I know, completely off base), that cigarette smoke in a sense oils the wood for you and, even though it may smell bad, guitars in cigarette smoke filled environments seem to age better than those not in like environments.

 This being know, it is possible the tar from the cigarettes have seeped deep into your cab's wood.  So you have a few choices, try to mask the smell, replace the wood, or try to get another oily substance into the wood to counteract the smell of the tar.  Masking the smell seems like a feasible option considering you do not need any bare wood, but finding a way to introduce new oils to the wood might be a better, long-term (forever) plan.  The problem I see is will likely not want to rub oil on your cab (because you are dealing with a painted surface), but introduce the oil in the same way the cigarette tar was introduced, via smoke or air.  This being said, the cedar chips might be a good idea as they emit an oily odor (they also work to get rid of moths) or moth balls (I prefer the cigarette smoke smell to moth balls) or something that emits an oily, pleasant odor.  I cannot think of any products off the top of my head, but many plants naturally emit this sort of odor (pine trees, etc).  So maybe get some cedar chips (a lot of cedar chips) and put them in a coffee can with holes in the sides in your cab.  Remember, if the cedar smell stops coming from the cedar chips, you just need to break them apart or sand them down (if you are using blocks) to release more of the smell.  

NoBonus

[krick]

Oscar's solution makes me wonder if cedar chips inside the cab would help...

HEY!!!!  There's an opportunity for some major "BLING"...  a cedar lined jamma cabinet

I wonder if anyone has thought of this before?

[Santoro]

And you could store your woolen garments in it during the summer!

Still not as good as the cab/fridge combo suggested in another thread.

[OSCAR]

Hmmmm...