Pod Manual

TABLE OF CONTENTS Heading Supplied Components The Disc Inspection Guide Why do scratches appear on my Discs? How are CD’s made? Polycarbonate Plastic Disc (first layer) Reflective Foil Layer (second layer) Lacquer Layer (third layer) Graphic Layer (fourth layer) How Can You Repair Your Discs? How can I tell if my disc is in need of treatment? Identify if the disc can be fixed. Cracks Dents Warping Identify the type of disc Inspect for specific damage CD Damage Determining Which Side Is Scratched The Reflection Test DVD Damage Scratch Damage Scratch Damage Levels Light Damage (5 min) Medium Damage (10 min) Heavy Damage (15 min) Machine Description Setting Up Your Disc-Go-Pod Filling the Polish Tank Preparing the Polishing Wheels Loading the Disc Preparing for Disc Repair Repairing the Disc Removing the Disc Cleaning and Maintenance Troubleshooting Guide Disclaimer Warranty Customer Service Additional Components

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SUPPLIED COMPONENTS • Disc-Go-Pod Single Stage Disc Repair Machine (1) • Operating Instructions (1) • 1 fl. oz. bottle of disc repair polish (2) • Set of two polishing pads (2) TO ORDER SUPPLIES, PLEASE REFER TO THE BACK OF THIS MANUAL, VISIT US AT WWW.DISCGOPOD.COM OR CALL 1-866-CD REPAIR.

The Disc Inspection Guide

How are CDs made?

Before using your Disc-Go-Pod, we always recommend that you have a quick look at the CDs or DVDs you want to have repaired. The following is an explanation as to why scratches are found on CDs or DVDs, and the construction of a Disc.

A Disc is made up of four layers. The first layer is the thickest and easiest to repair. However, the other three layers combined (reflective foil, lacquer, and graphic) are only as thin as a human hair and offer little or no protection of the data beneath them. You can see the different layers as shown in Fig 1. – Disc Layers.

Why do scratches appear on my Discs? Although CDs and DVDs are extremely durable and convenient to use, they can easily be damaged through use on various players and abuse. You may be surprised by the amount of scratches found on your CD or DVD collection; this is generally caused by no fault of the user. Common culprits are cheap CD or DVD players, in car CD auto-changers, poorly designed CD cases; the list goes on and on. Although your CD or DVD may still be playable, the player is probably having a hard time decoding the sound, image or data if the play surface of your disc is covered in scuffs and scratches. This generally leads to the CD sounding a little dull and lifeless or skipping and stuttering. If you remove the scratches from the surface of the disc, you allow your CD or DVD player to get on with decoding all the information without having to do numerous error correction procedures, which allows the music or video to flow. It’s a bit like looking at your image through one of those distorted mirrors at a fun fair, luckily for you, CD and DVD players are built to compensate for this, but the downside is that it often causes the detail of an image or sound to become muddled.

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Polycarbonate Plastic Disc (first layer) First, data is stamped on the topside of a plastic disc creating millions of “on’s” and “off’s” or zeros and ones. On recordable CDs, data can be burned in at different levels within the plastic disc, for multi-session recording. Please note that recordable CDs have a much thinner layer due to the manufacturers name printed on this layer.

Figure 1 – Disc Layers

Reflective Foil Layer (second layer) Second, a micro thin layer of aluminium (copper, silver or gold on higher quality CDs) is applied to the top of the CD covering the data. This layer reflects the laser beam back through the plastic disc, allowing the stamped data to be read.

Lacquer Layer (third layer) Third, lacquer is dripped onto the disc and spun at a high speed to create a thin layer of sealant for the foil layer. This seals in the foil layer, but offers little or no protection for the foil or the data beneath. Graphic Layer (fourth layer) Finally, a layer of ink is screened onto the lacquer layer for dynamic graphic and/or sales impact. (Recordable CDs don’t have this layer.)

How Can You Repair Your Discs? Compact Discs are made of Polycarbonate plastics (just like plastic lenses in sunglasses) and are manufactured through a moulding process that makes the disc perfectly flat. This perfectly flat surface allows the laser beam to go straight up and reflect back off the Foil Layer and retrieve the Digital Information that has been stamped into the topside. The stamped information is called Pits and Lands or 0’s & 1’s and this is what the Laser Beam brings back to the Decoder. A scratch, finger print or some foreign object that blocks or breaks up the path of the laser beam (Fig. 2) will cause the disc to either skip or freeze up depending on which disc format you are using at that time. Remember the laser beam reads the digital information from the centre of the disc to the outer edge in a spiral manner. With DVD Audio and Video media, Sony PlayStation 2™, X-Box ™ and Sega Dreamcast™, the digital information that has been stamped is now going to the outer edge of the discs. This means that if you don’t repair Figure 2 - Scratch Deflection your damaged discs with Disc-Go-Pod Technology, then there is a good chance that the other disc repair technologies will round the edges of your disc during their repair

process. The laser beam will then follow the curve created by their process and you could lose the last track on those discs.

How can I tell if my disc is in need of treatment? If the CD or DVD has started to make funny noises, or skips and stutters when you listen or watch it, then the chances are that the CD or DVD has scratches on it. If you are servicing the rental or retail market, such as used video games, it may be desirable to repair any disc with surface damage. This will suggest to the customer that this disc is in “new” condition, and may fetch higher resale prices.

Identify if the disc can be fixed. Cracks - Inspect the disc first for any cracks on the disc. Typically, discs will start to split from the inside ring, and work towards the outer edge. Give the disc a very slight bend to see the cracks more clearly. Occasionally, cracks will start from the outer edge, or may be located in the centre of the reading area. If any crack is found, the disc cannot be repaired. Dents – Dents are large indentations on either side of the disc. Dents will sometimes appear to be deep scratches; however they have caused irreversible damage to the disc which cannot be repaired. Dents are caused by some sort of blunt force to the disc, such as being stepped on, being bitten by a dog, or placing heavy sharp objects onto the disc. Dents can sometimes be seen protruding through the other side of the disc. Warping – Warping is when the disc, which should be perfectly flat, has been bent or warped due to heat damage. This type of damage will typically be seen around the entire edge of the disc and can be seen in the reflection of the disc. To inspect for warp damage, look at the reflection in the mirror side of the disc. Reflect a straight edge, such as a fluorescent light tube in the ceiling and tilt the disc back and forth while looking at the reflection of the light in the disc. If the light tube appears to be distorted, the disc may be warped. Warp damage can occur due to leaving the disc in sunlight, or cheap repair methods.

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If the disc is damaged in any way described above, the disc cannot be repaired.

Determining Which Side Is Scratched

Identify the type of disc CD or DVD? – There are types of damage that can occur on one type of disc, which will not occur on the other. To identify the type of disc, look at the label side of the disc and locate the identifying mark.

The Reflection Test • Hold your CD or DVD disc, with the bottom or play side up. • While looking at the scratches on the play side, tilt the disc slightly, back and forth, • Now check each scratch for a reflection or double appearance. • Scratches on the bottom of the disc will have a reflection.

Compact Disc (CD)

Digital Versatile Disc (DVD)

Inspect for specific damage CD Damage - Foil Damage – Foil damage occurs when the label side of the disc has been scratched. Severe foil damage can be seen by holding the disc up to a strong light source. If light can be seen through the scratches in the disc, the disc has been severely foil damaged. Light foil damage can also prevent the disc from playing, but it is much harder to locate. One easy way to see light foil damage is to first inspect the label side for any type of scratch in the graphics or silver top. If a scratch is located on the top side, view the bottom side to see if the same scratch appears to the optical side. If the disc is dark, such as a Playstation or PS2 CD, assume the disc is damaged. One other method of viewing foil damage is to look at the scratches on the optical side of the disc. If you can see a reflection of the scratch in the mirror of the disc, the disc can be repaired. If you cannot see a reflection of the scratch, the scratch is likely to be foil damage on the top side. See figure 3 for an example of foil damage.

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Figure 3 – Foil Damage

DVD Damage – Layer Separation – A DVD is similar to a CD, however it is like having two CD’s with the label sides placed together and glued. This is perfect for protecting the information from foil damage, as the important layers are on the inside of the disc, instead of the top. However, there are sometimes problems with the two glued discs pulling apart. When these two discs separate, it will damage the foil on the inside of the disc. This type of damage is relatively rare, and is usually caused by excessive heat and/or severe bending. Inspect the gold or silver side of the disc, if the consistency of the gold or silver color seems to change from the inside ring to the outer edge, the disc may have separation. Give the disc a slight bend, if the color changes in a concentric pattern, the disc has layer separation.

Scratch Damage If the disc passes the above tests, it is probably scratch damaged. Scratch damage is the largest type of damage in discs and will typically result in 94% of all disc failures. Scratch damage can be repaired. Use one of Disc-Go-Tech’s quality machines to remove the damage, and leave the disc looking as good as new!

You should be able to feel the scratch, but your nail should not stop at the scratch. More extensively damaged discs with many scratches on the disc will typically have one or two scratches that would fall into the Medium damage level. These discs will need to be run through a medium cycle.

Scratch Damage Levels The level of scratch damage can be difficult to determine. Some discs may have scratches covering the surface of the disc, but the scratches may not be very deep. Other discs may look great, except for one large scratch. Damage levels are determined by the depth of the scratch, not the number of scratches. The deeper the scratch, the longer it will take to be removed. Please refer to the pictures below for some typical examples of light, medium and heavy scratch damage.

Figure 5 – Medium Damage

Heavy Damage (15 min) Light Damage (5 min) Light damage is characterized by small, hairline type scratches. It can also contain light scuffs, marks and debris such as food or glue residue. This type of damage cannot be felt when running your finger across scratches.

Heavy damage is the deep knife or screwdriver type of damage. This type of damage can be felt when you run your fingernail over the scratch and it stops in the scratch. This type of damage can be very severe. Occasionally it may be necessary to run a disc through a heavy cycle twice. If the disc has been run through twice, and the damage is still present, it is recommended that this disc be deemed “un-repairable”.

Figure 4 – Light Damage Figure 6 – Heavy Damage

Medium Damage (10 min) Medium damage is typically larger scratches than those in the light category. Medium scratched can be felt when running your fingernail across the scratch.

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Machine Description

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Polishing wheel Polish Feed Disc Cushion Disc Clamping Knob Start/Stop/Timer Button Release Catch For Lid Holographic Logo Power Indicator Light

Preparation and Materials: Before you begin the set-up procedure, please ensure you have the following items ready: • Electrical outlet – 110V grounded • Level work surface • Towel for clean-up and Disc-Go-Tech Micro Fibre Cleaning Cloths • Access to a sink • Disc-Go-Tech micro fibre cleaning cloths

Setting Up Your Disc-Go-Pod: 1. Filling the Polish Tank A. The polish tank is located at the back of the unit. Pull open the lid on top of the polish tank. Inside the tank you will see the pump for the unit. Leave the pump in the polish tank. B. Remove a bottle of polish from the packaging. Leaving the bottle closed, shake vigorously until

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9. Polish Tank 10. Polish Pump 11. Lid 12. Polishing Wheel Knob 13. Flow Valve 14. Polishing Well 15. Polishing Tube

consistent and no settlement remains at the bottom of the bottle. Pour the entire contents into the polish tank. C. Fill the empty polish bottle with clean water, shake again, and pour into the polish tank until the liquid fully covers the pump. Retain the extra liquid in the bottle and close the bottle cap. D. Close the lid of the polish tank. 2. Preparing the Polishing Wheels A. Pull the release catch down and towards you to open the lid. B. Hold onto the lid with one hand, and grasp the entire polishing wheel with your other hand, pull the wheel towards you until it “pops” off. C. Remove the plastic wrapper from the polishing wheels. Discard the wrapper. NOTE: The polishing wheels are pre-impregnated with polish. This makes them look like they have already been used – this is normal.

D. Push the polishing wheel back into the polishing wheel knob

The unit will turn off automatically after five minutes. The red power indicator will stop flashing when the operation is complete.

3. Loading the Disc A. Remove the white disc clamping knob located at the center of the disc cushion by turning it counterclockwise while holding the black disc cushion steady. B. Place the disc onto the black disc cushion. Ensure that the shiny side faces up and the graphic side faces the cushion. Press the disc onto the cushion until it snaps firmly into place. C. Screw the white disc clamping knob clockwise until tight while holding the disc steady. 4. Preparing for Disc Repair A. At the back of the unit, ensure that the polish tube is in the center of the flow valve. Turn the screw on the flow valve until thepolishing tube is pinched slightly. B. If not already closed, close the lid until it snaps into place. C. Loosen the two white polishing wheel knobs on the lid by turning them counter clockwise until the polishing pads inside the unit no longer press onto the disc. 5. Repairing the Disc A. Agitate the chemical in the tank with a small stick through the hole in the tank lid. B. Plug the unit into an electrical outlet and press the start/stop button. The red power indicator will flash, showing you that the unit is in operation. C. Look through the viewing window and ensure that the polish is covering the disc. D. Adjust the pressure of the polishing wheels by turning the wheel knobs clockwise until the green center pin of the polishing wheels begin to spin. Slowly continue to adjust the pressure until the pin begins to slow down, back off pressure slightly until the pin resumes full speed of rotation. Note: When in operation it is normal for the unit to quietly vibrate. If a louder vibration occurs, ensure the polishing wheel knobs on top of the unit are adjusted as described in this step. E. Allow the unit to complete the cleaning process.

6. Removing the Disc A. Release the lid by pulling the release catch down and towards you. B. Check to confirm that the disc damage has been repaired. If any disc damage remains, close the lid and repeat the cycle by pressing the start/stop button. Refer to the Disc-Go-Tech Disc Repair Guide included in your shipment for information on damage levels and treatment. C. Unscrew and remove the white disc clamping knob by turning it counter clockwise while holding the disc steady. D. Remove the disc and place on a Disc-Go-Tech Micro Fiber Cloth and pat gently (do not rub) to remove repairing solution. E. Spray both sides of disc with 1-2 mists of Disc-GoTech Disc Cleaning Final Spray and gently wipe it with a Disc-Go-Tech Micro Fiber Finishing Cloth until disc is dry and shiny. This completes the disc repair operation. To repair additional discs, simply repeat steps 3-6. Note: Top up polish tank with water every 4-5 repairs. 7. Cleaning and Maintenance Like any tool or piece of machinery it is a good idea to keep your Disc-Go-Pod clean. This ensures good quality repairs and helps to ensure the motor does not seize because of build up of polish inside the machine. At the end of repairing your set of discs for the day we recommend cleaning the machine using the following steps: A. If you have not already done so, unplug the unit. Open the lid on the polish tank at the back of the unit and dispose or reserve the disc repair solution for later use. B. Fill the polish tank with water, ensuring the pump is covered with water and close the lid. C. Plug in the unit and press the start/stop button to run and rinse the machine for 60-90 seconds and then press the start/stop button to stop the machine. Unplug the unit. D. At the back of the unit, open the polish tank, dis-

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card the water and close the lid. E. Open the lid on the top of the repair unit. Pulling on the center spindle, remove the rotation table together with the black repair cushion from the center of the repair unit. F. Wipe the inside of the unit clean with a damp cloth.

the white disc clamping knob by turning it clockwise. Close the lid.

G. Clean the rotation table and disc cushion with a damp cloth. The disc cushion will retain a whitish color from the disc solution; this is normal and will not affect the operation of the unit. H. Reinstall the rotation table and cushion. Replace

Troubleshooting Guide Problem

Solution

Polish Leaks

• Use the flow valve (13) to reduce the flow of the polish. • Lift the Disc cushion (3) off the motor shaft and clean any dried polish inside the polish well (14).

The polish feed does not work

• • • •

Ensure there is at least 1 cm (1/2”) of polish covering the pump. Reduce the pressure of the flow valve (13). Gently shake the polish pump. Clean and rinse out the polish pump, tank and tube to clear any blockage.

Repairs are slow

• • • •

Agitate the polish so it mixes (the polish may settle over time) Add more polish to the polish tank. Replace the polish. Try increasing the pressure of the polishing heads.

Quality of repairs is lower than normal

• Reduce the pressure on the polishing wheel. • Give the polishing wheel a quick clean with water and a toothbrush. • Replace the polish and polishing wheels. • Wipe down the polish tank, pump, tube and inside of machine with a damp cloth.

There are circles on the repaired disc

• Make sure the polishing wheels are spinning and adjust the pressure if needed. • Change the bearing in the polishing wheel knob.

Motor squeaks or stops turning

• Remove the Disc cushion and add a drop of 3-in-1 oil to the top of the motor shaft (should be done once a month).

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