CD/DVD scratch removal

[greenep]

Has anybody had any success with those mechanical scratch removal kits for CD/DVD's?

If you have can you please advise the best type to buy?

Thanks.

 

[tim west]

I have used Brasso Duraglit on many plastic surfaces including CD's to get rid of scratches with great success, you just have to keep rubbing around and around and it can take a while dependant on how bad the scratch is but it works a treat, just make sure you wipe away any residue afterwards. great on plastic watchfaces also, have scratched numerous watch faces whilst at work but the duraglit has worked everytime and made the watch look as when brand new.

 

[Diyisfun]

A watch face is a lot diferent from a CD. Polishing removes material.
So how can polishing a scratch on a CD make it work.
Isnt it like glueing a vinyl disc.

 

[greenep]

Because there is a thin layer of plastic on top of the readable surface so as long as the scratch hasn't penetrated through this and damaged the silver bit you can buff it out.

Thanks for the tip Tim, I can kill two birds with one stone that way and buff out the scratches on my mobile phone screen as well(very annoying).

 

[Diyisfun]

Because there is a thin layer of plastic on top of the readable surface so as long as the scratch hasn't penetrated through this and damaged the silver bit you can buff it out.
quote]
ok thanks for that info, but that thin layer is protection, so why would you want to remove some of the protection

 

[greenep]

but that thin layer is protection, so why would you want to remove some of the protection

The scratches can cause the laser beam to refract which consequently stops the disk from working so you've got nothing to loose? Well that's my theory anyway.

 

[Diyisfun]

Have a read here other ways to remove them
http://www.google.com/search?q=cd+s...ox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7GGLJ

 

[JohnD]

if you've "mended" a scratched CD, I'd always copy it onto a new CD-R on the PC as soon as you've got it working. Archive any data onto a spare. You can also duplicate your music CDs in the same way.

 

[tim west]

Just to add, when polishing watchfaces put newspaper or cloth down on a hard surface place a wad of duraglit on this and place the watch face down onto the duraglit, I find you can press better and keep the watchface flat to the surface moving left and right. works quicker than trying to wipe the duraglit wad over the face.

 

[Space cat]

I will add three points to the advice already given:

1) Always polish an optical disc radially, never tangentially. (In Noddy language that means in and out, not round and round). Optical drives are good at dealing with radial scratches but tangential ones fool the laser into following them instead of the real 'groove'.

2) The data on a CD is just below the label. If you damage this side the disc is a write-off so take care what you rest your discs on while you polish them. (DVDs have their data sandwiched between two plastic layers so the label side is as tough as the playing side.)

3) If you're having trouble with a scratched music CD try extracting the audio into WAV format with a program like Exact Audio Copy (EAC). I've used a combination of EAC and elbow grease to get near perfect copies of discs so bad that audio players wouldn't look at them.

 

[NeilyH]

Just a thought... Why not when you burn the cd/dvd the 1st time and you want to keep it, why not invest in one of the kits that HMV etc sell that puts a coat on the disc which makes it more resistant to scratches.. May well be worth the extra cash in the long run.. Just a thought..

 

[empip]

2 discs - Make a master, make and use a copy.
The master is only ever copied... Discs are cheap enough.

CloneCD was the business for copying almost any CD.

 

[Scarum]

Try PlastX by Meguiars

Made for clear plastics for cars (I use it for the dash clocks and it is very good). Have also used it for other clear plastics around the house.