[canali]

hi guys...starting to purchase flac...as well as quality cds again....
(will start ripping then with either eac, dbpoweramp, foobar or other to my windows laptop then to my ipod touch 6.)
 
so i know there are various products out there to clean and enhance them.
 
some cd cleaners and 'enhancers' on the market...anyone tried them?
http://www.russandrews.com/us/reveel-an ... 74ed99cbbe
https://walkeraudio.com/shop/ultra-vivid-disc-enhancer/
https://www.musicdirect.com/store/mobil ... sc-cleaner
 
then below is one guy's very thorough 5 stage process
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V98KUteailc&ab_channel=tuturtle
 
 

 

[HAWKEYE7]

Hmmm, That was a very interesting video. I have a few thoughts on it but before I list them let me give you a little back ground. My background is in Chemical Engineering and I spent 34 years in Industrial Plastics sales as a Plastics Materials Specialist for several distributors in the American Midwest. CD's are almost pure Polycarbonate material. You may have heard the trade name of LEXAN which is a trademark for polycarbonate material. It is clear, relatively soft in comparison to other plastic materials, extremely impact resistant compared to other plastics, susceptible to degradation when exposed to UV light and Hygroscopic (tending to absorb moisture from the air).
The five step process shown in the video makes very good sense. I would suggest that if you are going to go to all the time and expense to follow these steps that you keep in mind that you probably should not let the discs be wet any longer then necessary in step two or three. Molded Polycarbonate tends to absorb less moisture then other forms of polycarbonate, like extruded but it still could possibly affect the disc.
The caution given in the video regarding only finalizing the disc with high intensity light is spot on. It will destroy the disc if you expose it to enough high intensity light especially if that light is of  UV wavelengths.
 
Something else I would like to share is a tip on how to inexpensively repair scratched CD's. At least some scratched CD's. If the scratch is deep, deep enough to feel when you run your finger nail over it, you may not be able to retrieve it, but you might surprise yourself. Anyone familiar with woodworking or lapidary work is familiar with using progressively finer and finer abrasives to get a smoother and smoother finish on a surface. Because Polycarbonate is so relatively soft compared to other plastics you cannot polish it the same way you would polish say acrylic (Plexiglas, Lucite, Prespex) material. Acrylic can be sanded, buffed or flame polished and you can achieve a beautiful clear polished surface. That is because it is a hard and fairly crystalline material. Polycarbonate is not. It is soft, somewhat amorphous and does not polish well. As such, scratches on polycarbonate are almost always simply accepted or the material is replaced when they happen. On CD's this means replacing the CD's. However, if you have only surface scratches that have rendered the CD unplayable you can use Titianium Oxide powder to repair the CD. I have done with successfully many times. Titianium Oxide is a powder used in lapidary work to put the final polish and gloss on gemstones after they have been cut. The powder can be bought online from many sources. I got a buck bag from Ebay for very cheap. Mix the powder with water to make a thin paste, apply to the CD and using a clean soft cloth gently bud the scratches in a circular motion, trying to keep equal pressure on the disc at all times. Keep doing this until you feel the scratch is gone or you have gotten it as good as you can. Then clean the CD, I would try the step from the video that you can. Then try the disc out. I have used this technique many times to repair computer program cd's as well as music Cd's with very good success. This will not fix deep scratches but it can bring back an important disc that is just too lightly scratched to play.

 

[edstrelow]

  Hmmm, That was a very interesting video. I have a few thoughts on it but before I list them let me give you a little back ground. My background is in Chemical Engineering and I spent 34 years in Industrial Plastics sales as a Plastics Materials Specialist for several distributors in the American Midwest. CD's are almost pure Polycarbonate material. You may have heard the trade name of LEXAN which is a trademark for polycarbonate material. It is clear, relatively soft in comparison to other plastic materials, extremely impact resistant compared to other plastics, susceptible to degradation when exposed to UV light and Hygroscopic (tending to absorb moisture from the air).
The five step process shown in the video makes very good sense. I would suggest that if you are going to go to all the time and expense to follow these steps that you keep in mind that you probably should not let the discs be wet any longer then necessary in step two or three. Molded Polycarbonate tends to absorb less moisture then other forms of polycarbonate, like extruded but it still could possibly affect the disc.
The caution given in the video regarding only finalizing the disc with high intensity light is spot on. It will destroy the disc if you expose it to enough high intensity light especially if that light is of  UV wavelengths.
 
Something else I would like to share is a tip on how to inexpensively repair scratched CD's. At least some scratched CD's. If the scratch is deep, deep enough to feel when you run your finger nail over it, you may not be able to retrieve it, but you might surprise yourself. Anyone familiar with woodworking or lapidary work is familiar with using progressively finer and finer abrasives to get a smoother and smoother finish on a surface. Because Polycarbonate is so relatively soft compared to other plastics you cannot polish it the same way you would polish say acrylic (Plexiglas, Lucite, Prespex) material. Acrylic can be sanded, buffed or flame polished and you can achieve a beautiful clear polished surface. That is because it is a hard and fairly crystalline material. Polycarbonate is not. It is soft, somewhat amorphous and does not polish well. As such, scratches on polycarbonate are almost always simply accepted or the material is replaced when they happen. On CD's this means replacing the CD's. However, if you have only surface scratches that have rendered the CD unplayable you can use Titianium Oxide powder to repair the CD. I have done with successfully many times. Titianium Oxide is a powder used in lapidary work to put the final polish and gloss on gemstones after they have been cut. The powder can be bought online from many sources. I got a buck bag from Ebay for very cheap. Mix the powder with water to make a thin paste, apply to the CD and using a clean soft cloth gently bud the scratches in a circular motion, trying to keep equal pressure on the disc at all times. Keep doing this until you feel the scratch is gone or you have gotten it as good as you can. Then clean the CD, I would try the step from the video that you can. Then try the disc out. I have used this technique many times to repair computer program cd's as well as music Cd's with very good success. This will not fix deep scratches but it can bring back an important disc that is just too lightly scratched to play.

Just one question.  Is titanium oxide basically the same as titanium dioxide.?

 

[canali]

http://www.russandrews.com/us/reveel-an ... 74ed99cbbe
https://walkeraudio.com/shop/ultra-vivid-disc-enhancer/
https://www.musicdirect.com/store/mobil ... sc-cleaner
 
anyone tried these CD cleaners or 'enhancers'?