Black dust inside old Japanese Candy Cab

[killbill]

Hi,

Awhile ago I picked up an ancient Japanese candy cab.  The old metal ugly version.

The monitor had been removed and the cab inside walls and floor were covered in black dust.

What is that dust?  Was it from the monitor that used to be in there, and all the years of use?  Is it grease?

I'm just curious.  I cleaned it out with a wet rag and a cheap paper dust mask.  ONly wore the mask part of the time.

Just wondering if that dust might have been dangerous, heathwise.

Any info is truly appreciated.
Thanks,
J

[shardian]

First guess would be that something caught fire in that cab. If that's the case, then the black film would be soot.

[killbill]

Hi shardian,

Sorry, actually i misspoke.  The dust isn't really thick enough in the cab to be soot from a fire.  Also, there wasn't that much on the floor of the cab.  It was mostly on the walls and the inner bezel area where the front of the monitor used to be.

I'm just trippin that it might be lead dust or something else super bad.  i don't see how though, monitor tubes are sealed.  Then again, I don't know how they did things in Japan in the late 80's.

It's probably just grease and crap sucked in from years of the monitor's magentic field pulling in stray particles. Who knows?  Just trying toput myself at ease.

Paranoia will destroy ya
Thanks.

[MonMotha]

Since it probably came out of a Japanese arcade, it's probably from cigarette smoke.  Japanese arcades are EXTREMELY smoky most of the time since a large portion of their population smokes, and arcades are often used as gathering and socialization places (duh), upon which occasions they'll smoke.

[TOK]

I guess you're not quite the wreckless and wild guy shown in your avatar, huh? 
Blast that stuff with compressed air and breath it in. Its part of the arcade experience!

[killbill]

You're right, Tok.  I'm still wreckless though;  I just want to put off arcade heaven for as long as I can 

[Ken Layton]

Likely the dust is just a combination of fine metal powder from the wearing of the joystick shaft and ordinary dust/dirt/lint from the air that's attracted to the high voltage charge (and static electricity generated by) from the monitor.