Disc Resurfacing Machine Review

With scratched and useless $50 games as well as DVD movies, and audio CD's there is a clear need for an inexpensive solution to bring those baby's back to life. Enter the disc resurfacing machine... Although there are many hand held options that kind of work, there is no substitute for an industrial quality machine that will bring discs back to a perfect optical quality state.

Almost any scratch on the reading surface can be repaired luckily this surface is the thickest and can be ground away and polished to a like new state. The label side of the disc is actually the most fragile with the data layer very close under the paint.

For customers cost to replace is quite high and professional resurfacing costs are under $5 per disc it is an easy choice to make. For the service provider a reliable system with little or no user intervention necessary is essential.

We are currently in the process of researching vendors distributors and manufacturers of DVD Resurfacing Machines and will update this article with our results. We are looking forward to providing a useful and reasonable service to the community and hopefully a useful review of disc polishers for those in the market for one.

Llamma,

Just wanted to give you my two cents on disc-polishing-machines. I use an Azuradisc model 1600 professional polishing machine just about every day. I usually polish around an average of 25 discs a day. The machine cost our company close to two thousand dollars, but it works really well if you have moderate to high volumes of discs to polish. Azuradisc also has a seventeen-thousand-dollar, robotic, fully-automated machine for sale, but I haven’t had any experience with it, or it’s multiple moving parts!

The machine I use is water-cooled and has five stages ranging from a coarse, gritty sandpaper-like stage for the worst of scratches, to a light foam pad for final buffing. With experience it’s easy to determine which stage to start with based on how scratched the disc is. The machine is easy to use and has a water reservoir with adjustable water flow for keeping the disc cool while it is polished (otherwise, the heat from the friction of polishing can warp, deform, and ruin the disc). There is also an adjustable timer which controls the length of time the disc is polished.

Overall I think the machine is a solid investment, but the back-end costs are high: a gallon of Azuradisc’s ‘special polish’ is almost $100 and is required for stages Two and One (the two last and most commonly used stages). The polish is a white liquid which might even be something as simple as car wax. Other costs include: replacing the pads (about every 50-100 discs or so); “Aqua-Lube,” which is added to the water reservoir to help the water flow and reduce friction (I have a feeling that it’s really just a wetting agent like dish soap); and one other product whose name I can’t recall, but it’s a liquid that is sprayed onto the pads when they’re dry---like the first time you use them each day…supposedly reduces friction and extends life of pads (we use it, but I bet wetting the pads down with water might work almost as well).

So there are some continuing costs to consider. Also, like any machine, some parts wear out. We’ve had our machine for about 3 years and have had to replace a few of the parts---the retaining plate knob is basically a nut which is hand-tightened onto a bolt and holds the disc in place while it is polished. This part strips eventually, as does the entire “turntable assembly” which the disc rests on. The replacement kit is about $75 bucks and relatively simple to install.

In any case, I’m not sure if this is the sort of information you’re looking for. If you have questions feel free to email me. The Azuradisc telephone support people are generally very helpful too, but I don’t have that number handy---I’m sure they have a website though.

Hope this info was helpful!

Jason M