How to Polish Out Scratches on Laser Discs

Intro: How to Polish Out Scratches on Laser Discs

In this instructable I'm going to cover a process I've used to buff out scratches from laser discs. Before I get into the process I need to tell you that I'm in no way an optics engineer and this process has not been lab tested. Any long term effects it may have on the discs are unknown. There's plenty of ideas on how to do this task. I'm the tech at the Miami Space Transit Planetarium and we still use laser discs on a daily basis. This is just one way to get the scratches out that worked for me.

I tested this process on the workbench using discs that were blatantly scratched up and beginning to act up when played. If you have a disc that's almost at the point of being unplayable, this process might save the disc and make it playable again but by all means record that video ASAP to another media. This process may work on cd's and dvd's but I haven't tried that yet.

STEP 1: What You'll Need

First off you need to clean the disc of any grease or grime. Once it's clean and dry we are ready to start. You will need to obtain two products, a small jar of "Mother's Mag and Wheel polish" and a bottle of plastic scratch remover. I have a few friends in the public safety business and they swear by Mother's Mag and Wheel polish when it comes to removing haze and light scratches in plastic lenses. Yes, wheel polish cleans up scratched plastic! Who would have thought to try that one out?

The second product, plastic scratch remover, is available at some auto parts stores and at boat stores. It's used for polishing up plastic windshields and so forth. The particular brand I used was "Star Brite Plastic Scratch Remover". This stuff looks and smells like watered down car wax. It may just be that in a special bottle. I haven't tried car wax but I imagine clear coat safe car wax :might: work the same.

You will also need 3 small CLEAN terry cloth towels. One big enough to lay the disc on while you work on it, and two to work in the compounds. These towels must be clean, as in right out of the washer and haven't been used for anything else clean. Now we'll get to work!

STEP 2: Wax On, Wax Off

Lay the towel down on a flat surface and lay the disc on the towel. Open up the jar of Mother's and swab a little out with your finger tip (you did wash your hands before starting this process right?). Start working the compound onto the disc using small circular motions just as if you were washing a car. Obviously long fingernails are not conducive to this task. Use light pressure as you are doing this. You want to have enough compound to make it easy to work but don't lather it on the disc. Work your way all around the disc. It's very important you use circular polishing motions and not side to side. Allow it to dry for a few minutes and then take one of your terry cloth towels and start buffing. Once again use small circular motions. Once you've achieved a cloudy haze all around the disc move on to a clean part of the towel and re-buff till the disc shines. Don't forget to remove any compound that got on the edge of the disc or on the inner edge where the hole is. This process should have helped clear up some of the more pronounced scratches.

Now we're going to use the liquid scratch remover for the final polish. Clean your hands. Apply as per directions on bottle. Work liquid onto disc using same small circular buffing motions with fingertip. Allow to set for a few minutes. Buff out to a light haze with clean part of towel. Buff again to a shine with another clean part of towel. Lift disc up and clean up any compound that got on the edges or somehow worked its way under the disc.

STEP 3: Bask in the Shine

Wallah! You're done.. on one side at least! If you have a two sided disc repeat the process for the other side but make sure you're not laying the freshly polished side on any globs of spilled compound. You may have some lint from the towel on the disc that can be gently blown off. Play and enjoy!

Comments

[Garutz]

I went on Amazon to find - Mother’s Mag and Wheel Polish - and all of them say Aluminum. Is this the same one that you said to buy for cleaning the Laserdisc itself? Thank You Garutz

[ke4mcl]

yep, same stuff. small jar with a white paste inside.

[cdc285]

I'm curious why you shine it before the using the scratch remover

[ke4mcl]

the wheel polish is actually a very fine abrasive. you are basically sanding down the minute abrasions. the scratch remover has chemicals in it that fill minute scratches.

[sergiovl]

I have six laserdiscs came from Japan and everyone has a sticky goo on the disc edges! You could tell me how to remove it?

[ke4mcl]

I would try a rag soaked with wd40. I have had excellent results using it to remove sticky residue. dont get it on label and wipe off all wd40 residue when done.

[sergiovl]

I will try to do this tonight. Thanks!

[videogamemaster]

WHATS A LASER DISC!!!??!!?!?! >.<

(sorry for all caps rant, but I have no clue what the heck that is)

[ke4mcl]

its basically like a giant cd. it was how high resolution movies were sold to the public before the DVD existed.

[videogamemaster]

Oh, ok. Were there many different movies made on laser disks or were they one of those short lived things with only few made?

[ke4mcl]

there were plenty of movies made. trouble is they were quite expensive. 50-100 a disc. players and movies can still be easily found on ebay and in thrifts. the movies are often mistaken for LP records at thrift stores and placed on the record shelves. the pioneer players were very well made and most that you find used still work

[master key]

cool!!

[Junk_Wizard]

is that a 'laser disk' like... OLD school GI-NORMOUS disks... my school still uses them :|

[ke4mcl]

yes, the size of an old LP record. been around since the late 70's. up until the dvd came out, it was the best way to buy movies as far as quality and long life where concerned. there is an HD version of the laserdisc in use in japan that blows away dvd.

[Junk_Wizard]

... um... what about blu-ray?

[ke4mcl]

dont own one yet. im waiting for them to get as cheap as regular dvd players. some of us dont care soo much about being able to count the hairs on an actors eyebrow in a movie! as far as will this process work on blu-ray? beats me. i dont have a disc to try it on.

[Junk_Wizard]

yeah, i have no intention of buying a bluray player, i don't even pay attention to the picture half the time...

[ironsmiter]

I must say, I feel some relief. I'm not the only one still using LaserDiscs! Just yesterday, I threw my copy of "Total Recall" into my laserdisc player. There is a certain satisfaction in these sizable discs that you just don't get with cd/dvds. I've seen stacks of cds, wihtout ases, scratched beyond recognition, much less playability, in peoples cars, rooms, etc. I have NEVER seen laserdiscs handled or stored in anything but a careful, almost religious manner :-) They have SUBSTANCE, and are not for casual interaction(like old records, which which they share a similar size/heft) Mother's Mag polisher.. that's one I've never heard of using before... must try it. Luckily, i have 2-3 discs from the thrift store that are "unplayable" due to scratches, so perfect subjects for testing. If it screws them up, no loss, if it works, yeah me! Question though The "plastic polisher/wax"... is it an actual abrasive polish? or a wax-n-buff product? I've had LIMITED success filling scratches with wax and buffing. only really works for VERY fine scratches.

[ke4mcl]

i think part of the reason this process worked for me is the two steps. mothers has a more abrasive grit than the plastic scratch remover. both are very fine grit but it seems that one does the bulk of the job and leaves very fine scratches in its wake, the plastic scratch remover product takes care of the very fine scratches left by the mothers product.

[codongolev]

dudewhoacool. do you think it would work on a screen? because my psp has two huge gouges in it from my earbuds.