Tweet
In my effort to buy up all of the crappy, broken amplifiers in the Portland metro I have on two occasions ended up buying items from heavy smokers, but I didn't realize at the time of sale how much the amps stunk. I tried all sorts of chemicals and leaving them out in the sun and wind and hosing out cabinets but on some amps I couldn't get the smell out, and sometimes the treatment took the tobacco smell and made it smell like a smoker wearing aftershave (I had some serious 70's flashbacks at some points).
Now the real pro way to treat odors is with an ozone generator. Ozone is also poisonous so it is not to be used haphazardly. You can buy ozone generator units for $60-300 or more dollars, but I am not one to throw around money foolishly, so I figured out a way to do it for $5. One way that ozone is generated is by a process called corona breakdown, which can happen when you get electrical arcing. One place where arcing happens intentionally and in a safe and controlled manner is in a brush type universal motor. So I got an old Black and Decker pad sander (the old school kind that have the visible blue sparks inside) from a thrift store for $5, removed the sandpaper, put it into an unused closet with the smelly amp and a fan and ran it with the door closed for 10 or 15 minutes. This was in an unused part of the house, so no danger to the family. Turned off the sander and let the fan run for another half hour. After doing that a couple times, the smell was almost completely gone, and then after a light application and wipe off of Turtle Wax Odor-X and I really can't smell it at all.
After a couple times doing this my pad sander had a gear or bearing seize up, so I opened it up and took out all of the sanding pad mechanism to just leave the motor and switch, and now it is even better because it runs with essentially no load, doesn't vibrate all over, and still makes the sparks.
Now I am sure some smart guy has a better way to do it, but this worked for me, so I thought I would share.
Greg
Now the real pro way to treat odors is with an ozone generator. Ozone is also poisonous so it is not to be used haphazardly. You can buy ozone generator units for $60-300 or more dollars, but I am not one to throw around money foolishly, so I figured out a way to do it for $5. One way that ozone is generated is by a process called corona breakdown, which can happen when you get electrical arcing. One place where arcing happens intentionally and in a safe and controlled manner is in a brush type universal motor. So I got an old Black and Decker pad sander (the old school kind that have the visible blue sparks inside) from a thrift store for $5, removed the sandpaper, put it into an unused closet with the smelly amp and a fan and ran it with the door closed for 10 or 15 minutes. This was in an unused part of the house, so no danger to the family. Turned off the sander and let the fan run for another half hour. After doing that a couple times, the smell was almost completely gone, and then after a light application and wipe off of Turtle Wax Odor-X and I really can't smell it at all.
After a couple times doing this my pad sander had a gear or bearing seize up, so I opened it up and took out all of the sanding pad mechanism to just leave the motor and switch, and now it is even better because it runs with essentially no load, doesn't vibrate all over, and still makes the sparks.
Now I am sure some smart guy has a better way to do it, but this worked for me, so I thought I would share.
Greg
Comment