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Fixing a 1980s arcade cabinet at a flea market taught me a new trick
I was at the big flea market in Brimfield last weekend, and this guy had a broken Ms. Pac-Man cabinet from 1981. The screen was just rolling vertically. He wanted $50 for it as-is. I figured it was a simple vertical hold pot adjustment, but when I opened the back, the whole chassis was covered in this weird, sticky dust (like decades of soda spray and dirt). Cleaning it with my usual brush just moved the gunk around. On a whim, I used a can of compressed air I had in my truck, but held it upside down to blast the dust with the freezing liquid. It froze the gunk solid and let me chip it off in sheets without pushing it deeper into the boards. Got it running in twenty minutes. Has anyone else used that 'freeze blast' method on really nasty, old electronics gunk? I'm curious if it's safe for more modern stuff or if I just got lucky.
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hunt.quinn7mo ago
Wait, did the freeze trick leave any moisture behind when it thawed? I'd be worried about that.
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kai_knight627mo ago
Worried about moisture" is the whole point of the trick, man.
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