Removing scratches from playstation discs

[RetroRevival]

Anyone got any tips to get rid of light scratches from psone discs (the black ones)???

I have tried toothpaste and cooking oil on a scratched cdr, but although the disc was cleaned well the scratches remained.

Also has anyone used a Skip/Game/DVD Dr or similar device on scratched psone discs? Care to share your experiences?

Thanks in advance.

[poe]

I don't know about your first few suggestions, but I do know about the "Doctor" series of products. They've always worked beautifully for me.

Basically they grind the top layer of plastic off the disc, then you buff the disc until it's reflective again. This leaves very faint scratches (nothing the disc player's lens can't ignore though) and a radial pattern (this looks bad, but isn't an issue, unless you're trying to sell it). The skipdoctors don't work on deep scratches, though, and if your data (label side) is damaged, forget it.

The commercial resurfacers do the same thing, but file off a LOT more plastic. As a result, they do a bit more on deeper scratches, and I haven't seen a radial pattern on any of them. The downside to this is that with fewer resurfaces using the commercial resurfacer, you can ruin the disc by grinding off so much plastic that the laser from your disc drive doesn't focus the same way as it passes through the plastic. The SkipDoctor products can cause the same problem, but it takes so many resurfaces from those to do it, that if you take ANY care of your CDs/DVDs, you'll never need to resurface them often enough for it to matter.

[Oobgarm]

I've used car wax and it took light scratches out I mean, they aren't perfect, but nothing sort of commercial resurfacing can make them look new.

The product is also sold at gamestores as "cleaning solution". It's just carnuba wax.

[jonjandran]

As I've mentioned before there is a good way to do it and make your discs look like new, IF YOU HAVE THE GUTS !!!

Take a high speed car buffer (not an orbital) . Turn it upside down. Turn it on and lock the switch on. Now hold the disc with both hands and put it on the turning buffer pad. Apply slight pressure and rotate it every few seconds. Apply harder pressure for deeper scratches.

It makes them look like new and it's very hard to ruin them. Just keep a tight grip or the disc could come out of your hands and shoot across the room. :/

Oh , by the way. That is basically all the professional resurfacing machines are. A high spped buffer with a cutting pad on it. And a holder for the disc which holds it to the pad and applies the necessary pressure.

[Lemmy Kilmister]

I personally don't like the disk dr. at all because of the ring effect it leaves on the cd/dvd you have cleaned. However, it does indeed fix the disk most of the time. Just to let you know, i'm trying to sell off my disk dr mainly because I rarely use it. If you or anyone else is interested just shoot me a p.m. :)

[Joelius]

Wow, high speed buffer huh? I got guts, and have one...i'm going to town :-)

[RJ]

Disc/Game Doctor works wonders if you dont mind the radial pattern mentioned above.

Tested, tried & true.

[rbudrick]

personally don't like the disk dr. at all because of the ring effect it leaves on the cd/dvd you have cleaned. However, it does indeed fix the disk most of the time. Just to let you know, i'm trying to sell off my disk dr mainly because I rarely use it. If you or anyone else is interested just shoot me a p.m

I too usually have great luck with a Disk DOctor (asking for an electric one for Xmas...those hand crank ones are a pain in the ass). However, there's been a couple instances where my scratched DVDs no longer worked at all....couldn't figure it out.

As for the ring effect, it should be damn near invisible if you buff it correctly after resurfacing (or de-surfacing, as it really is).

-Rob

[Gapporin]

Okay. So say you use a Game Doctor on a PlayStation disc. Does it effect the loading times at all? I ask this because I just recently bought a PS1 game that's been Game Doctored (at least, I assume, judging by the radial pattern), and some of the loading times are horrible (up to five minutes or more to load certain parts). Is this because of the doctoring, or just because the game was so bad off? Like I said, I wasn't able to see the game in it's original state, so I don't know if it was really bad off, or the game just really takes a long time to load anyways.

[qbertandernie]

the folks at one of the local used shops clean up the disks with a big bench grinder that has buffers instead of grinding wheels. it makes the disks look almost brand new with no swirls...i was amazed. same idea as the car buffer, but this things fixed to a bench...

[spoon]

the folks at one of the local used shops clean up the disks with a big bench grinder that has buffers instead of grinding wheels. it makes the disks look almost brand new with no swirls...i was amazed. same idea as the car buffer, but this things fixed to a bench...

Are you speaking of Cd Warehouse? That is where I go for all my re-surfacing needs. Nice folks for the most part. Usually do it for free.
Allied does it as well, but, only for stuff in their store. Allied does the best job on psone stuff I have ever seen! Very hard to see the swirl marks, has to be the right light.

I myself don't like resurfacing Psx/ps2 games (blue backed) You can always tell under the light. I also stay away from DC games because it usually kills them. High speed bufers that is, not the Disc Dr.

Anything else is fair gamea and usually looks new.

[qbertandernie]

yup. cd warehouse did these games and they looked like new. it was amaazing. how much do they charge for resurfacing? they just did these i bought for free..

[spoon]

Usually 2 dollars. Out of the 6 times I have had them done, only charged me once. I find if I send my grilfriend in with the games, they do them free.

What a gal!

[davidleeroth]

I find if I send my grilfriend in with the games, they do them free.

What a gal!

You're sure it's *really* free?


j/k ;)

[spoon]

It is for me ;)

(After I typed my earlier reply, I knew I was gonna get one of these)

[davidleeroth]

You made it so easy I thought about not doing it. :) Next time I wan't a real challenge.