How To Fix Gamecube Disc

Soldier Blue wrote: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 wrote: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