Resufacing CDs, how to?

That's surprising. We've been coating polycarbonate lenses for decades, obviously the refractive index is factored into our optical design as well. And our surfaces are compound curves instead of being flat. Sounds like a cost saving measure, or maybe a designed-in lifespan?

In my earlier comment about resurfacing, I had simply *assumed* the industry had done the best thing for durability. CD's were expensive when first introduced, and part of the marketing was their superior durability over vinyl. I still remember when our first customer came through with a scratched disc that skipped, upset because it was no better than an LP in that regard.
 
ID10Ts

I still remember when our first customer came through with a scratched disc that skipped, upset because it was no better than an LP in that regard.

Unfortunately there is no such thing as durability, when supossedly indestructable goods are handled by morons.😀 Even CDs need to be handled carefully and kept clean.

I am actually very surprised that no equipment manufacturer (AFAIK) has not built a mechanism that has seals on the tray door, and an enclosure (of the sealing type) around the reader. But that is another discussion entirely - Oops! Hope I haven't opened up a can of worms with this observation.
 
I have a later version of the Disc Doctor it's a handheld crank operated resurfacer that uses a very fine flap wheel to minutely abrade the surface as the disc rotates. Works well, has saved many skipping discs over the years
It leaves a very fine matt surface. Comes with a bottle of spray to keep disc wet during the process. I always lightly hand buff with Maguire's afterwards.
 
Salar, as far as the specific CD was concerned it was definitely not properly made. I just wish I could remember which CD it is, but it is just too long ago. All my other CDs were fine.


Sorry also mucked up the spelling of "supposedly"
 
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Use Novus plastic polish. It come in 3 grades - coarse, for handling deep scratches, medium, for finer scratches, and fine (clean and polish) grade for restoring the smooth finish. I've used there to recover some gouged CDs. You can get the stuff at Tap Plastics, but you can probably find it on line, too.
 
Imagine what vinyl records would look like if they were handled the way many CDs are!

When CDs came out, they seemed more durable since we were all used to finessing vinyl already.


I’ve just used polish on them as required and it’s worked in most cases.
 
I am actually very surprised that no equipment manufacturer (AFAIK) has not built a mechanism that has seals on the tray door,

My ancient Sony 338ESD has tray door seals🙂 Though I recall ?? they were touted as 'Acoustic Damping' rather than Grime Ingress Prevention.... though they do duty for both..
Scroll down to tray door pic...
Sony CDP338ESD

Sony CDP-338ESD on thevintageknob.org
 
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Multiple Sony ESD/ES players has these silicone dampers around the tray. The 337ESD and 557ESD/707ESD uses the same style as the 338ESD. The XAxES series (XA7, XA50, XA555 etc.) and some XBx (QS) has it too but is using a different design.
I suspect that they prevent dust ingress better than they dampen acoustics.
 
Get free software called Exact Audio Copy (Wikipedia link) which uses extremely sophisticated error correction software and, if needed, multiple reads at multiple disc speeds. Extract the data from your scratched disc, error-free, to a brand new blank CD in pristine condition. Or to a music server, networked attached storage, etc.
 
In the past, I've resorted to flame polishing a CD to fix a scratch, using a small butane blowtorch. This was sometimes successful, but could also result in complete destruction. Just once, I paid a local video store to resurface a CD using a fancy machine; it just made it worse, so I bought a better copy on eBay.

Ripping CDs with EAC will reveal more damage than playing them directly does. But a good thing is that you may be able to repair damaged tracks using software like Cuetools.

Other things about ripping: optical drives vary in their abilty to read marginal discs. If you have a problematic CD or DVD, try every drive you can lay your hands on. And, CDs can suffer from "disc rot" even if the surface is pristine.
 
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