bent CD, what can I try?

August 5, 2004 1:13 AM

Slightly bent CD: I have a CD that's (somehow) become slightly bent; you wouldn't notice when you picked it up, but one side is bent downward just enough that it scrapes in my CD-ROM drive. I've had it under a stack of books for the last couple days, thinking that might straighten it, but it doesn't seem to have worked thus far. Is there anything else I can try?
posted by Yelling At Nothing to (6 comments total)

Apply a small amount of heat. Don't put it in the microwave!
posted by Keyser Soze at 2:08 AM on August 5, 2004

Flower press near a moderate heat (e.g. radiator).
posted by i_cola at 3:49 AM on August 5, 2004

It was probably heat that bent it originally. Any idea how that happened? If you left it face-down in the sun, perhaps you want to reverse that process. YMMV, bu it could take a loooong time for book flattening to affect a very slight bend.
posted by scarabic at 3:59 AM on August 5, 2004

You could put it inside a newspaper (to diffuse the heat) and iron it, maybe.
posted by bcwinters at 6:29 AM on August 5, 2004

If you have a pilot light in your oven, maybe just try it in there with the books on it. I think that it will have to be a long, gradual process rather than using the iron. Also, make sure that the books you are using are really making it flat, and that they are not slightly curved themselves.
posted by jonah at 4:36 PM on August 5, 2004

I don't know that it will ever flatten without heat; I don't know how much 'creep' polycarbonate has at room temperatures.

Googling suggests that polycarbonate will soften somewhere between 140-150 C, will be pretty soft above 150 C, melts from 220-240 C, and breaks down into fumes and crap somewhere above 300 C. I'd suggest putting the disk on a flat surface and heating it carefully to 140-150 C. Maybe 160 if you don't see any result at 150. I wouldn't put it in a press while doing this, because it's important that the plastic on the 'data' side of the disk remains optically smooth.

(150 C ~~ 300 F, so you could do this in an oven, I assume. The label side might have some inks or things that are unhappy at that temperature, though.)
posted by hattifattener at 7:43 PM on August 13, 2004