CD repairs

[Steve Schonberger <microsoft!stevesc@uunet.UU.NET>]

I've discovered a way to fix scratched CDs.  I've done two this way and
they both play now, and both were not playable (in the region of the
scratch) before, so it works.  One got scratched by falling off a stack
of them, out of the box, and sliding down some concrete stairs, and the
other was scratched by accidentally opening a portable and knocking it
across the spinning center, so both were moderately severe scratches.

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Step one:  Rub the scratched area with an eraser (the ones in the supply
rooms for the mechanical pencils work well) fairly hard.  Be sure to rub
toward and away from the center, not in the direction of rotation!

Step two:  Blow away eraser crumbs as much as possible.

Step three:  Carefully brush away more eraser crumbs.  Be very careful
to try to remove all traces of eraser residue.

Step four:  Rub the fuzzy patch left by the eraser (to and from center)
with cloth until most of the fuzziness goes away.  I used flannel, since
it is strong but not very rough.

If there are still scratches deep enough to disrupt the play, repeat the
job, but don't rub as hard with the eraser on later repititions of the
erasing step unless the scratches are really deep.  The idea of erasing
again is to remove the deep scratches from the first erasing.

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Note that this doesn't do any good if the aluminum is scratched, though
that is fortunately very rare, resulting from very nasty scratches to
through the printed layer.  You can still use the old "repair" method of
buying a new one, of course!

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Maybe I should put an eraser, a piece of flannel, and instructions into
a baggie and sell them for far too much money!

-- 
	Steve Schonberger	microsoft!stevesc@uunet.uu.net
	"Working under pressure is the sugar that we crave"  -- A. Lamb