will the life of a cd shorten if you polish it ?

[flavi1967]

Here's a question, people keep asking me if the life of a cd shortens if you polish or use a machine to remove the scratches? so that i won't do that if it does. let me know

[Jon Agner]

I'll move this to the proper forum (general audio)

To answer the question, there were cleaners and repair kits available back then specifically made to remove scratches of CDs (I think I still have that portable CD polisher somewhere ).

As for using a mechanical polisher or buffer, it's possible of the read surface being uneven if the entire surface is not polished properly and evenly, which can do more harm.

[m_shoe_maker]

Port and Polish not recommended.

[trauma]

its cheaper to duplicate the CD for back up in case the original is damaged or lost than to spend money on cleaners and polish which does scrape away a fraction of a micrometer layer of plastic every time you clean the CD.

or you may start off by using the duplicate and keep the original in its pristine condition.

[michael corleone]

Port and Polish not recommended.

Stroker kit, twin side, lightened flywheel ok lang

[carbondated]

I just use toothpaste (on the disc), which most second-hand CD shops do, then copy it onto a CD-R.

[egay]

Port and Polish not recommended.

.e.

[egay]

Port and Polish not recommended.

Stroker kit, twin side, lightened flywheel ok lang

meron pa bang ganyan, MC? (I mean twin side).
I saw a large twin weber installed in an old Manta - mukhang OK but I did not hear or see how it performed.
OT po


.e.

[egay]

Here's a question, people keep asking me if the life of a cd shortens if you polish or use a machine to remove the scratches? so that i won't do that if it does. let me know

DEFINITELY.
The disc is provided with a protective coating and that would thin-out as you polish.

I know there are players that are very sensitive to disc scratches but I wouldn;t go as far as polish the discs - sayang.

Follow Trauma's suggestion nalang.

.e.

[qguy]

if you polish a CD it would extend the life of the CD since it would remove the scratches from an otherwise useless scatched CD. diba ?

IF I am not mistaken the protective layer is on top and not at the bottom where the scratches are normally are.

Here's a question, people keep asking me if the life of a cd shortens if you polish or use a machine to remove the scratches? so that i won't do that if it does. let me know

DEFINITELY.
The disc is provided with a protective coating and that would thin-out as you polish.

I know there are players that are very sensitive to disc scratches but I wouldn;t go as far as polish the discs - sayang.

Follow Trauma's suggestion nalang.

.e.

[egay]

if you polish a CD it would extend the life of the CD since it would remove the scratches from an otherwise useless scatched CD. diba ?

IF I am not mistaken the protective layer is on top and not at the bottom where the scratches are normally are.

Q,
Just to be clear:


These are cross-sections of a CD.
The music CD we use is a copy of a master disc made from glass; our CD is made from plastic where data is etched -> then coated with a thin layer of aluminum so it becomes relective that the laser 'eye' can read and the computer software is able to interpret -> than coated with a thin layer of varnish so it can be printed/labeled.

So, you are correct because there are practically 2 layers protecting the data. BUT what is important here is the metal coating that makes the disc readable in the first place.

So, the lesson here is be careful with those discs.

Do a YouTube search & you'll get a lot of "recommendations" like these:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS2NMeUB ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vE1gvaM3 ... re=related

I like the banana part, but would I do it?
heck, NO!... or maybe

For now, i just use a 1:3 ratio of rubbing alcohol:distilled water, the same thing I use for my vinyls.

.e.

[TheAnalogSource]

why would you polish the label side (varnish side) in the first place?

the scratches you want to remove is on the readable side.

[egay]

why would you polish the label side (varnish side) in the first place?

the scratches you want to remove is on the readable side.

who polishes the label side?

Opps, sorry for that - my illustration & explanation did not match.
Ok, I was looking at the label side. My mistake.

Still polishing the plastic-side will make reading more difficult in the long term.
There is a tendency to make that part "cloudy".

Simple makes better.

In the 90s, glass cleaners, erasers, and other stuffs came into being specifically trying to address this issue of the scatches and i've tried them all but eventually stopped because I destroyed some discs in the process.

Using the liquid cleaning (although SACDs has a warning label) is successful (so far after years & years).

So, one would either be real stupid or simply uninformed to polish the label side.

.e.

[TheAnalogSource]

While Polishing may remove the scratches from the varnish layer,.....

[egay]

While Polishing may remove the scratches from the varnish layer,.....

I corrected that part.
My mistake.

.e.

[qguy]

if your polishing process makes the CD cloudy or not shiny, then there is a flaw on the way you polish your CD. your not polishing but your "dulling" it . if you want to polish a scratched CD, I would go to youtube and look up how to remove scratches from cars, SERIOUSLY, all my polishing stuff are Automotive based products from 1000,1500,2000 and 2500 grit sandpaper, rubbing compounds, polishing compounds and Carnauba waxes...

Again, I only polish CD that skips and jumps because of scratches, other than that I leave it alone. If your CD jumps because there is part of the label/aluminum reflective coating that has been removed, you can simply put another CD on top of that when playing. no amount of polishing will help.

Still polishing the plastic-side will make reading more difficult in the long term.
There is a tendency to make that part "cloudy".

[qguy]

To add Cleaning is different from Polishing, when you use cleaning agents, your removing the dirt AND at the same time creating micro scratches that makes the CD cloudy.

[egay]

To add Cleaning is different from Polishing, when you use cleaning agents, your removing the dirt AND at the same time creating micro scratches that makes the CD cloudy.

The reason why i stopped polishing, Q.
Of course I know the difference between polishing & cleaning - and to correct your conception, careful cleaning does not scratch my CDs (so far, I could not remember having hit my head because I was not careful)... come to think of it: I really don't have badly scratched CDs - just crappy discs that do not last long. So I supposed that's the reason why I only do "cleaning".

If you were successful in your process, then please share them here as there are some buddies who are caught in this.

Is your polishing machine-assisted? or you do manual polishing?
Man, you must really have good controls to use those compounds - that is - do you really use those in polishing your CDs?

Another thing with regards to "cloudiness" - perhaps it was due to the materials I used in those days: glass cleaner + the lint-free pads or my process itself (manual); I wasn't successful, so I stopped.

But I will still maintain that cleaning is better than polishing.
And care prevents rather than solves the problem.

My final thought in this:
"Is that scratched CD too important to me that I would go the lenght & the trouble of polishing it?" If it is, then perhaps I would; then again, being somewhat simple, not simplistic, I believe I'll just follow Trauma's & others' similar recommendations and save time.

And then polish my car instead

Greets!
.e.

[qguy]

1000,1500,2000 and 2500 grit sandpaper, rubbing compounds, polishing compounds and Carnauba waxes...

Yup .. I use all of these to remove scrathes from CD'

Actually these are my pool cue tools. I use these to polish my cues (Tako ng bilyar, hence "q"guy) The cues, which has a clear finish on it like plastic coat, same finish used on cars Anzhal, dupont etc.

The process.
Under running water, I use circular motion using 1000 grit sandpaper, then move up to 2500 until all scratches are gone, at this point cloudy na siya Then I use Polyglaze Cut and Polish, use as directed, kinda like applying car wax, but you rub and rub until the cloudiness is gone. Then apply Carnauba wax. All of these can be purchased at Ace hardware

I learned the basics when we had our two cars painted on our garage (Blue and Green) during the summer when I was on vacation. I painted my toolbox too, Guess the color of my toolbox .

What I have not tried is Spraying clear finish on a really really bad CD prior to polishing.... hmmmm., masubukan nga over the weekend