Custom Shape Your CD or DVD Disks

This instructable aims to show you how to cut any type of disk to a desired shape. It is particularly useful in cutting down cheap 12cm DVD-+R 's into more expensive (can be up to 10 times more) 8cm DVD-+R disks. The technique shown here works with all disk types. The video below shows us cutting a music CD into a heart shape, and also illustrates the basics of cutting 12cm disks into 8cm ones. The actual cutting of a disk (and the guide) can be seen here:

Step 1: What You Need

1. A Dremel or similar cutting tool. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dremel I use a $20 cutter with adjustable speed
2. Pointed cone cutting tip (show below)
3. A hard surface to cut your disks on (like a tray)
4. Some practice disks
5. The real disks
6. A filtering mask (if you are ultra careful you won't want to breath in any plastic/aluminium dust from the disks)
7. A stencil (for the desired shape) and a marker
8. A steady arm/hand
9. Patience

Comments

[drats666]

hmm have you tried this on a data disk? I have a feeling it would ruin the data on the disk.

[SixTwelve]

Music is data.

[drats666]

music however is less sensative than actual data disk. Example I can take 2 brand new cds. put music on 1 and data on the other. scratch them up both the same using a cad engraver, the data will be riddled with errors, may list the files but be unable to access the files themselves. the music cd on other hand will play but will have skips.

[SixTwelve]

I'm a little worried about the aluminum rusting. I guess I could lacquer the sides with nail polish or something. Has this not been a problem for you? 

[nicknewbie]

aluminum does not rust the only thing to be worried about is having the layers peel apart because the edge is not properly sealed

[SixTwelve]

I guess what I was thinking about doesn't really apply here. If you mark al with steel, the al can get polluted, and there's a fast, severe reaction.

[monkey_beast]

Cutting a disc down will cause the disc to become unbalanced, and when you look at the speed they read in drives (Mythbusters did a test on these ages ago), then it's not something you want failing! The unbalanced discs will also put additional wear on the bearings inside your player, and ultimately could make it fail.

[mrmath]

For the 12->8 change, I think I would spend the money on one or two 8cm disks and then line them up with the center to use as a template. Your method would not guarantee the kind of symmetry I think you would need. Also, this instructable wouldn't open in IE 6 for me. I had to switch to firefox. I know many of you say I should do that permanently, but I have to use IE for a lot of stuff at work, so, it is my default browser.

[teawrecks]

I had the same problem with IE... Firefox FTW!

[Minifig666]

 No No No No NO!!!!!! Google Chrome FTW!!!!!! Everyone says that Firefox is better than IE (But even DOS Bowser is better than IE) these people are sheep following everyone else. Google Chrome is faster to; open, close, open pages, run scripts, its much more stable, I can not remember the last page I couldn't  open with it and most importantly its the most stylish under-crowded bowser I have ever seen and used. Just try it and if you dont like it then I cannot see why

[codongolev]

I don't really like chrome.... I mean, firefox just fits more with my "imperfect makes it perfect" persona. I like being able to know all the quirks of my computer. I also like the open-sourceness, which means I can get all sorts of cool addons.

[mrmath]

WOW!  Look at the dates on these posts. It's been over two years since I first posted, and now I uses FF almost exclusively.  Chrome wasn't even around when teawrecks posted!

[Minifig666]

 Good point I hadn't noticed that. 

[astro boy]

 crome is my default but it fails on 3 or more sites i know

[Father Christmas]

That is why Opera is better than Chrome ;-) 

[highvoltagefun]

Opera 11 beats everything.

[Jei-Chan]

But Firefox (actually Iceweasle) is open source!

[Father Christmas]

Meh. Free is free. I don't pay for opera, nor do I obtain it illegally, and the interface is far better than any other browser I have used. I like browsers for what they are, not what they may become. 

[MadMechanicMike]

use firefawks for ever.

[hondagofast]

Firefox is awesome. Stay with it.

[CameronSS]

Get IE Tab. Lets you open Internet Explorer tabs inside Firefox.

[MadMechanicMike]

NEIN!

[mrmath]

I tried something like that. I found it awkward. It's just easier on my lazy butt to stick with IE. My company is supposed to go browser/OS independent in the near future, but it hasn't happened yet.

[Revolutionaries]

Your IE problem is strange. Do other ones work?

[mrmath]

Never had a problem with it before. I've posted comments and instructables using IE. Just this one seems to be the problem. Wait. I have had a problem with IE before. My client uses Outlook, and I tried their Outlook Web Access with IE, and it freezes up. Firefox doesn't. So, I have to use Firefox to access a microsoft product. Go figure!

[Joey702]

Just remember that non-standard shaped CDs will not work in a slot-loading drive!

[astro boy]

 yea this hapend once like 5 years ago to me and so we got it out of the car stereo and since we were at the beach we used it as a Frisbee (it was too scratched from getting it out of the player so...)

[NatureBoom21]

ooh! luckily i have an (unusable) 8cm disk for a template! better do this!!!!

[Cyberscann54]

can anyone say laser cutter much easier more perfect easier to make balanced CD's that wont harm players

[santy22]

anyone say laser BURNS! and will problably melt a part of the disc rendering less balanced?

[Father Christmas]

am i the only one having the foil peel away when this is done? :(

[cotton]

how dose the hearty one still work

[Bright Shadow]

CDs read from the inside out

[cotton]

ok

[ArisenProdigy]

I can't imagine you would be capable of fitting as much music onto a disc that you cut down though, In fact, I'd like to hear one of the last tracks of the heart cd.

[pmac93]

would this work for cutting dvd's to 8cm?

[connorcancount!]

if you put your information on the disk and then cut some away, wouldn't some information be on the part that you cut off? just asking.

[DigitalMayhem]

I believe cd's are written from the inside out. so as long as no data was stored on the portion being removed there should not be an issue.

Matthew
Digital Mayhem Screen Printing
[e-mail]

[joknrok]

Confirmed. The CD writing process starts from the center out. You can easily tell how far out the data has been written by looking at the surface closely. Very interesting instructable. Never thought of it. Cheers.

[Frogz]

oi... yes this would work...
but what no one mentions, disks are sealed at the outer edge, if you did this the foil layer would have virtually nothing holding it on, in a 1 speed drive it may not do anything but if you put it in a modern 48 speed drive(or worse, 18 speed dvdrom) it would not only shatter from vibration, quite possibly destroying the drive beyond repair.... it would also rip the foil layer off the disk
now tell me, is it good to have a finely shreaded foil in your computer in any part?
goto http://www.powerlabs.org/cdexplode.htm if you dont believe me about the dangers....
oh and with dvds, they are built polycarbonate:foil:polycarbonate and are also sealed at the edge, if even a slight ammount of air and moisture gets to the foil they will stop working shortly because of disk rot