Things people will do to get rid of scratches.
I've always thought that having a way to resurface game disks would be something that would come in very handy around the home. My first attempt at this was to purchase a manually operated Disk Doctor. I learned that a non-motorized unit is a laborious process and the results were unsatisfying to boot. It did not remove even mild scratches and the finished result leaves a distinct look to the disk. Not so much a mirrored finish, but something else entirely that I can only describe as a "Disk Doctored" look. If you've ever seen one, you'd recognize it immediately. Not what I was hoping for.
So, I turned my attention to perhaps finding a more professional home solution and started looking at the machines being used in my area. There's a flea market near me that has a vendor who will polish disks for a fee, so I decided to take him a CD and see how his machine operated. I was a bit suprised to see that the 3 stage process involved first using actual sandpaper! Then a foam pad was used that I'll assume had some polishing compound to it. The final step was another foam pad that produced the desired mirror finish. The results were excellent! It was a pretty simple looking device and being a machinest, I thought it was something I could make for myself. All I needed would be some badly damaged CD's to perfect it on.
I know that Blockbuster routinely destroys DVD's and games for inventory purposes, so I asked my local store for some destroyed disks just to have something to experiment on. I guess they think I'm a good customer because they gave me a whole box full.
I didn't ask how they were "destroyed", whether it was automated with a machine or done with a hand held device, but the process leaves pretty deep scratches on the disks that traverse straight across from one side to the other. It's a pretty effective method too, because I checked quite a few and none would load. Perfect for my future project!
When I brought them home my wife spotted the box and being a huge movie buff, she was immediately very interested in attempting to salvage the DVD's. I handed her the hand cranking Disk Doctor and told her I didn't think it would work, because the scratches were so deep, but she was welcome to try. She reads the instructions, loads a DVD in the Disk Doctor and begins cranking away. About 20 minutes later she reappears with the Disk Doctor and says "I think somethings wrong with this". I look at it and the DVD is smeared with clumps of melted black rubber! She hadn't kept up with spritzing on the cleaning solution and when the polishing wheel eventually wore off the buffing material, the friction literally melted the rubber wheel onto the DVD! HOLY SMOKES!
In the meantime, I've done some searching on the web for other home methods people have been using to remove scratches. Thought I'd share the collective wisdom from music and movie affectionado's too gamers and while I made no attempt to differentiate between them here, I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that gamers appear to be the stupidest group of the bunch!
These are actual quotes of scratch removal methods people recommend that you may or may not want to try at home!
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The Toothpaste Method:
"have had good experience with toth paste...
(no bull..) i have found the paste with a sander effect to be good..
(it contains teflon)"
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(I was suprised to find out that toothpaste contained Teflon!)
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"Toothpaste will work to eliminate quite a few problems - using it, I have fixed problems that so called commercial products won't fix. It's just acting as a very weak abrasive...so the clear gels don't work as well as good only white...YOU NEED TO WASH IT ALL OFF BEFORE YOU PLAY DISC....the "filling in of the cracks by the flouride" is a myth."
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(And I thought Fluoride was just a tooth hardener. Some think it fills in cracks as well? Great advice to wash off the toothpaste before using the CD. Makes sense. Here's some other toothpaste cautions.)
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{Toothpaste Caveats:}
"Toothpast does not work but Here's some advice if the clear hole in the middle is gross looking wash it out by holding your game straght up under running water!!!"
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"hmm... toothpaste method didn't really work for me...
i tried my deoderant hehe... sorta worked at first but still failed."
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"OH MY GOD THE TOOTHPASTE IDEA SUCKS whoever came up with that idea should be thrown in a pit of lava!!!!"
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The Peanut Butter Method:
"penutbutter works to repair scratches on cds"
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"What and use chunky for deep scratches?"
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"Don't use toothpaste. Use Peanut Butter. Regular not Chunky. Just smear is on and rub it into the scratches. Then use one of those coffee filters to wipe it off. Make sure you get it all off. Trust me it works."
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The Oils Method:
"I used olive oil on my X-Box game. I let it set for 5 minutes and washed and dried it."
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"buffing it with vegetable oil is said to work as well"
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"I've found that a light coat of mineral oil (baby oil is the same thing) works really well. Use a soft cloth and gently work from the center of the CD outward."
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"Mayonnaise works too just use a little bit though if you use too much you're screwed. Use a papertowl and rub the mayonnaise on the skratch and then rub the rest off and let it dry and then your game should work."
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"Take petroleum jelly (aka Vaseline) and apply it on the CD. Let sit for a couple of minutes and wipe off. It really works - even on fairly larger scratches!!"
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"Use an oil-based marker pen! Write it on the damaged part and voila! Remember not to apply too much on it. If too much is applied, the laser can't read the CD because the ink layer is too thick. Good Luck!"
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The Common Household Chemicals Methods:
"I found another way of fixing those CDs up. Firstly, take a glass of milk. (Works best with room temperature 29ºC) Then, use a cotton or wool cloth to wipe the disc with the milk. Let it dry by itself. It may stink so rinse it under water for 1 minute or so, then, place it in the freezer for 5 minutes. Take it out, dry it and it seems much better."
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"You can use chrome polish ( car chrome ) or a paint refinisher T- Cut"
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(I didn't know what T-Cut was, but somebody helped me out.)
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"In the UK, we have an automotive product called 'T-Cut', removes the 'dead' outer paint layer, seems to work pretty well on scratched CDs."
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"Use Avon's Skin So Soft Oil. I swear it works! I used it on one of my old CDs that had a huge scratch on it. I just buffed it with Skin So Soft and toilet paper."
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(Not only will it remove scratches from your CD's, it will prevent mosquito's from biting them as well!)
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"Pour orange soda on it until it bubbles, then quickly wipe the CD off with a soft cloth in an outward motion from the center."
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"To fix the scratches, the best thing to do is use hair conditioner. Rub it with your finger all around the cd, leave it for 10 minutes, and then rinse. Repeat if desired. The coating that makes your hair shiny coats the cd, and it works better than all those expensive tricks."
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"I used a cocoa butter hair product. It works great. Just put it on and wipe it off with toilet paper!"
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"I came across this site in a frenzy, desperately looking for some quick solution to my problem. I tried (sceptically) the hair conditioner option. I put the CD back in, and now I have my photos! I used Aveda rosemary mint conditioner. I can't believe this worked, but I'm over the moon. This site is great!!"
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"Rub the scratches with an ordinary pencil eraser, then wipe well with a dry face cloth or a soft cloth."
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"Put it in Lime/Lemon juice then wipe it."
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"Try pimple removing pads or rubbing aocohl shaving cream helps too."
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"If you want your CD to work, spray perfume on it. Let it sit for 1 minute, then quickly wipe it off."
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{Chemical Methods Caveats:}
"one of my games got perfume on it from my wife, it left little spots on it that are not comming off, other than shooting my wife are their any suggestions?"
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"Don't use hairspray, It leaves a film on the CD and it won't play at all."
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Combo Methods:
"I did three things and it played perfectly, oh my computer at least.
1. Coated the CD in Dish Soap for 10 minutes, then washed it off with warm water, pat dry.
2. Coated it in toothpaste, and washed it off almost immediately with warm water, pat dry
3. Coated it in Skippy creamy peanut butter, and took it off with soft toilet paper/tissue, from center out, not circular motion, no washing.
It must have done somethin, because it plays just fine now. I'm not sure which exactly worked, but it looked its best after the peanut butter."
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"Use toothpaste and rub it on the scratches for 20 minutes. Then spray on CD cleaner and perfume it on till it drips. After that, put it in the freezer for 30 minutes and presto, it's like new!"
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"What you need to do is mix hair conditioner, toothpaste, peanut butter, and some Vaseline together for about 2 minutes, then put it in a freezer for 5 minutes. Next, wipe some on the CD from the middle to the outer sides, let it sit on the CD for 5 minutes. Rinse the stuff off with water and gently wipe the CD with toilet paper from the middle to the outer sides."
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"Ok, i got a sollution and it workin' like a charm. see the story with my FFX game is that it wouldnt make past the intro or wouldnt even turn on at all! so this is what i did so listen carefully and take notes:
-get something that can spray water
-fill it halfway with water
-throw a little alchohol, baby wipe juice, dishwasher soap, vhs solution cleaner, little clumps of soap, shampoo and condishioner, and/or whatever you can find that cleans stuff.
-(you dont need all of that stuff but it is good to have it anyway) (and it all makes the game smell good)
-ok, now shake it all up till' the water looks nice and mixed
-now put you disk in running water
-take the disk from the running water and spray it real good
-let it sit for a minute or two
-now gently scrub the disk with the soap on it with your fingers
-now put the disk under running water (again)
-dry with something really soft
-done!
now my game turns on and i can play it... but it freezing at one part, and when i restart it, IT KEEP ON FREEZING ON THAT SAME PART! HELP ME SOMEONE!!"
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Unusual Sanding Methods:
"My friend runs a disc around his carpet which is a bit rough. then he uses a denim pad on it. then a softer denim pad on it and that usually buffs out scratches. I guess its like using a disc doctor."
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"a new method is pourin powder on your cd and then wipe it off with a soft material and "voala" u got ur cd back unelse it has a deep scratch it won't work."
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"You take soil, wet it so it turns into a light mud, put the mud on the disc (not much), then you gently rub it in with a soft cloth (such as a tissue), then you dampen the soft cloth and slowly rub out the mud outward, not in a circle."
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"aparently, if you rub ash on to scratched cds and dvds the they should stop it jumping. rub only a small amount on, apply it in small circular motion, and gently blow off the excess ash making sure you dont remove it all."
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The Freezer Method:
"Sometimes, Disc Cleaners work. I heard of when someone putting A PlayStation disc in the freezer and it works."
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"Pour some rubbing alcohol over the CD and let it drip dry. Then put it in the freezer for 15 minutes or so. Take it out, let it warm back up to room temperature, and play it. I have no idea why, but it works for some scratches (not heavily damaged CDs though). I know it sounds weird, but try it."
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(Or, if that doesn't work, you can try the opposite approach!)
The Flame Method:
"You can use a lighter. Quickly and lightly graze the flame around the bottom of the CD. Go around 1 to 2 times. If it doesn't work the first time, do it again. Do not hold the lighter in one place on the CD for any amount of time. You will burn it, and it won't work. Always keep the flame lightly moving across the CD."
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"Hi,
I repair them with a hadheld small butane torch,adjust the lenght of the the flame to about 4 cm. (You may have to close one or two air intake holes if necessary)place the cd on a flat surface light the torch and wait until the flame lenght stabilizes hold the torch horizatally and apply the tip of the flame to the scratch for a very short time polycarbonate fuses and the scratch is gone....
try on a discardable cd first!!!!
If you hold the flame longer than necessary the cd warps
I haven't tried this on a cdr yet and don't know if the dye gets harmed."
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(About the Flame Method. Honestly. Would you? Could you?)
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The Water Method:
"Good ol' saliva. If something doesn't work, you either hit it or spit on it. I licked the cd then let it air dry."
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"Boiling water.
Get a small pot and fill it with water. Put your stove on high and let the water come to a boil. Get a piece of sewing thread and insert it into the middle of the CD. Place the CD in the boiling water for a few minutes (holding onto the thread), this will temporarily soften the plastic, filling in minor scratches and steam cleaning all smudges and liquids off the surface of the CD. Do not place the CD in cold water (it will crack) or wipe it dry afterward (you'll ruin the plastic), let it air dry. Also, don't keep the CD in the water for too long, a few minutes should do it. Make sure it's fully dried when you want to use it again, excess moisture could damage the disc reading mechanism. I've done this with at least 20 CDs and it's always worked."
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{Water Method Caveats:}
"Don't immerse the disks in water to clean them. Most especially, don't try to clean your CDs by putting them through the dishwasher! (Don't ask me how I know that. Just don't do it, okay?)"
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"And also never blow your breath on the CD then wipe the CD with a shirt. This is done by a lot of people to a lot of games for the PlayStation 2 and X-box. This is one of the fastest ways to damage your Cd's."
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My favorite Water Method thread:
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CaMpErS TeNT
"It sounds wierd but I did it yesterday before I traded 2 cds in
flush them in the toilet (make sure it's flushed and clean) and just whip them off, I've been doing it for years"
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Cornholio
"me sniffs one of his 2nd hand CDs...
i think i've got one of yours right here"
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Agent-F
"and why the toilet rather than the sink?"
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CaMpErS TeNT
"loooook peoplre...trust me"
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.pranK.
"you just want lots of people to flush their CD's, come here and complain that it didnt work, then laugh at them for being stupid ;p"
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Originally Posted by CYRiX
