Stop sanding the gamecube discs!!!!!

[Soldier Blue]

Just a warning to anyone who has a resurfacer for gamecube discs. Once they are sanded down it destroys them forever! Do NOT EVER sand them! I'm sick of people listing these on ebay as "untested" when they are really "broken beyond repair".

I swear there are going to be like no gamecube discs left at this rate. Everyone keeps sanding them down thinking they can fix them.

For those who don't know, a sanded gamecube disc will have an uneven surface when you look at the disc in the light. I have seen just so many of these lately. Literally almost every time I buy a defective disc.

PLEASE STOP SANDING THEM. RESURFACE THEM NORMALLY

[Fragems]

I have a resurfacing unit that I use for personal stuff and with the proper attachments it's never given me issues even when I've had to use the sanding pads. Heck that was one of my main reasons for buying it was the massive amount of really scratched up $1 gamecube games that I kept finding a few years back.

Only real issues I've had is if you aren't careful it's really easy to split the center of the mini disc where the nut holds it to the resurfacing unit so I usually buff before bothering with sanding since that applies a lot more pressure. I only sand as a last resort.

Now if you aren't using a micro disc plate on your machine or using toothpaste or some other abrasive to sand it down by hand I could see it making uneven wear but not from a medium to high end resurface machine.

Rule to the wise though never buy "UNTESTED" disc based games online it's almost always a crap shoot. Untested 90% of the time either means A.) Extremely Bad Scratches or B.) Someone has already resurfaced them down to the data layer and needs to offload them.

[samsonlonghair]

C'mon Soldier, don't you know that "untested" is ebay-speak for "broken"? That rule doesn't just apply to GCN games; anything listed as "untested" on the 'bay is most certainly broken as a three-legged chair.

[Fragems]

One thing I will say is the new plates that JFJ went to for micro DVDs look like shit. The old ones like I luckily purchased way back when I first got my unit were metal plates. Now they have these crappy hard plastic ones that probably work okay but I just don't trust plastic as well as metal. I wouldn't be surprised if the plastic disc plates warped or bent after repeated usage.

That being said there isn't exactly a massive market for micro dvd repairs so I can understand them not wanting to invest in another run of the metal plates.

There is also a difference in the pads you are supposed to use when resurfacing micro dvds. The micro dvd pads are about half the thickness of a standard buffing/sanding pad and if you use a regular one on them it's a disaster. A standard sanding pad would probably chew right into the data layer nearly instantly and a buffing pad will just get torn to shreds. In both cases the additional thickness puts a hell of a lot of stress on the disc meaning cracks in the center as well. If you are really cheap you can however reuse a standard buffing pad when it's half way through it's life span since it's essentially the same thing won't do as good as a fresh pad, but the life span on the micro dvd buffing pads is pretty short due to the decreased size so reusing other pads saves you quite a bit.

[MrPopo]

C'mon Soldier, don't you know that "untested" is ebay-speak for "broken"? That rule doesn't just apply to GCN games; anything listed as "untested" on the 'bay is most certainly broken as a three-legged chair.

My best ebay find was a CDX that was listed as powering on but the CD wouldn't spin for $10. A few sprays of compressed air later around the motor and I had a working CDX that I then used whenever I went back to visit my family in Chicago.

[Soldier Blue]

I've bought plenty of untested discs based games on ebay that weren't damaged beyond repair and I made out like a bandit, it's just every once in awhile you get completely screwed by someone selling complete garbage that they have already destroyed and you don't have much case if you want to return it, apparently.

And I've yet to encounter a sanded gamecube disc that would actually play in my gamecube. Maybe there are some, but it there just seem to be a lot of people that think they fix it when they really have no clue what they are doing and they wind up sanding it incorrectly. I still think sanding completely ruins them though and should not be done on gamecube games based on their architecture

[Fragems]

Thats why I say it's a last resort if your playing games usually a good buff is all you need even if it doesn't take care of all the scratches. However if you have a disc that fails to read you might as well go the extra yard and sand it. A disc that fails to read isn't going to magically heal itself with time .

[CRTGAMER]

I've yet to encounter a sanded gamecube disc that would actually play in my gamecube. Maybe there are some, but it there just seem to be a lot of people that think they fix it when they really have no clue what they are doing and they wind up sanding it incorrectly. I still think sanding completely ruins them though and should not be done on gamecube games based on their architecture

Thats why I say it's a last resort if your playing games usually a good buff is all you need even if it doesn't take care of all the scratches. However if you have a disc that fails to read you might as well go the extra yard and sand it. A disc that fails to read isn't going to magically heal itself with time .

Agree, first try polishing any disc by hand with Plastic Polish (not cleaner) and soft cloth.

The disc polisher machine should not be any more damaging to a Gamecube disc vs any other disc as long as the discs are NOT polished dry. The rubbing compound has to be applied to keep the discs "lubricated" to prevent overheating from high speed motor polishing machines.

The Label side of the disc is actually the fragile side, the data only protected by the "painted" game label
All that is happening in a commercial polisher is a small amount of the clear plastic is being removed to get rid of the scratches. The data is not in the clear plastic, but on the aluminum layer ABOVE the clear plastic. Since the very center of the disc is clamped, the laser read distance height of the data from the plastic removal is not changed either. However any swirl marks left behind from a cheaper hand crank disc "sander" can cause read issues. This can be fixed by following up with Plastic Polish and liberal rubbing with a soft cloth.

The biggest problem with Gamecube discs is the way too tight center holder of the cases
The discs bend upon removal even when pushing the center, maybe some microscopic pits get damaged? I use pliers and jeweler files to smooth out the jaws of the cases, all my Gamecube discs pop off and on with a very light click. I also file down clear hard plastic DVD cases to prevent disc warpage when removed.

There is a Guide with different points of view on all these issues in another Thread:

Scratch Disc - Sticker Removal - Case and Disc Repair Guide
http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=398336#p398336

[Sarge]

Actually, aren't the Gamecube discs mini-DVDs? Wouldn't the data layer be sandwiched in the center, not right under the label like CDs? I always thought DVDs were like CDs and had the data at the top, but it's not.

[ElkinFencer10]

Actually, aren't the Gamecube discs mini-DVDs? Wouldn't the data layer be sandwiched in the center, not right under the label like CDs? I always thought DVDs were like CDs and had the data at the top, but it's not.

Yeah, the Gamecube just used mini-DVDs. It shouldn't be any riskier than doing it to a PS2 or Xbox 360 game.