New use for PlastX ?

[MandarinaRacing]

From "How Stuff Works" :

A CD is a fairly simple piece of plastic, about four one-hundredths (4/100) of an inch (1.2 mm) thick. Most of a CD consists of an injection-molded piece of clear polycarbonate plastic. During manufacturing, this plastic is impressed with microscopic bumps arranged as a single, continuous, extremely long spiral track of data. Once the clear piece of polycarbonate is formed, a thin, reflective aluminum layer is sputtered onto the disc, covering the bumps. Then a thin acrylic layer is sprayed over the aluminum to protect it. The label is then printed onto the acrylic. A cross section of a complete CD (not to scale) looks like this:

Alex

[gb387]

Originally posted by MandarinaRacing
From "How Stuff Works" :

Alex

That is interesting!

[Godiva]

Caution.

One caution about working with CDs. Be very careful you don't damage the label in any way. The label is a "backing" the laser bounces off of. If you scratch or damage that in any way you will not be able to repair it. If *that* is why you can't play the CD or the CD is skipping, you'll have to buy a new one.

For those that make their own labels...be careful about printing a paper label and glueing it on. Some computers, especially slot loaders, have varying degrees of acceptance. And the one thing you don't want is a paper label to peel off as the CD is being ejected and get stuck inside. Then you can buy a new drive.

I was also wondering if I could use this to take out scratches on my reading glasses, but I'm not sure what they're made of. My old pair were a light plastic. My newer pair seem heavier but I don't think they're actually glass. I was considering that stuff you paint on but have been putting it off because ...well... I really don't like the idea of painting stuff on my glasses.

Then I thought I'd try ScratchX. Now I'm considering PlastX.

Now I'm not sure I want to try anything.

[OttoClave]

Hi. I wouldn't try it on glasses. The PlastX might rub off the coatings on your lenses.

Actually, I've been working on some more cd's. I've found that if you remove a thin layer of the plastic (on the playing side) with a piece of 1500 or 2000 grit wet or dry sandpaper with some water, that will erase most scratches on the disc. Then rinse it off and use the PlastX to restore the clarity to the read surface. I just used this method and it worked very well on a disc that had a few tracks which were previously unreadable. You're right- don't mess with the label side of the cd.

Also, I've read that scratches which are in a radial direction on the disc cause less problems to the reading of the cd than do scratches which are oriented concentrically around the disc. They refract the laser light more harshly and generate more read errors. Good luck!

[PaulTso]

how about cd and a dremel

http://gprime.net/video.php/dremelcd

yeah, any takers? it might work.

[sneek]

want to try it but need a better pair of safty goggles first lol a 50,000 rpm cd gives new meaning to killer disc

[Setec Astronomy]

[i]
Also, I've read that scratches which are in a radial direction on the disc cause less problems to the reading of the cd than do scratches which are oriented concentrically around the disc. They refract the laser light more harshly and generate more read errors. [/B]

Actually, the reason for this is that the radial scratch only interrupts the read for a short time and oversampling/buffering corrects for it. A concentric or circumferential scratch "follows" the read head around the disc (actually the other way around) and interrupts a lot more data.

[hawaiibrad]

Polishing CD

for scratch removal.... Now you have to consider i work in a movie gallery store. I have repaird a lot of DVD. We get about 5 defetives a week that are subject of ether mishandling or circual scratch ( the kind of scratch casuse by someone not changin disk and leavin dinner on the disk sicks to tray on drive and dust..... and bamooo nice grove going around on disk....)

if its light plasticx

if its heaver 1000 2000 3000 grit sand paper to get it out.... work across the scratch. plastx will only remove the hase but will allow you to see if you have full remove the scratch.... i have yet to find a megs abrasive that will remove 2000 grit scraches comply form a CD.

what i use as the next step or some time my starting step.... a buffing wheel on my drill with some emery compound.... the another wheel with white rouge compound.... clean and plasix and wax....

thats my process to get out even the most stuborn of scraches.....

if someone else wants to try other meg compunds and see what they take out i would be happy for the input... im still perfectin this but.... i think i got it as it only take me about 2-3 min to take out even some of the deepest scratches

[PorscheGuy997]

Yeah, I've done that too. It works great on all clear plastics - like the bottle says.

But here is something different: Scratchx works well at removing scratches on iPods. I know there are tons of people out there with those tiny scratches that will love to get those out. It also works great on those clear plastic iPod cases.

[realitycheck]

Can someone elaborate more on the ipod bit. I obviously have scratches on mine also, im sure everyone does. Just wondering if we could get some more info on it.