SkipDr: What it does, and how to fix that.
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- čas přidán 26. 03. 2023
- Hollywood Upstairs Medical College has another graudate, and their name is the SkipDr.
SkipDrs have been around for ages, but do they actually help or hurt a disc? And is there a way to tell if a disc has been a patient of the SkipDr?
We go over the whole thing. How it works, what it does, and how to fix what it does! I don't recommend using these, but that's explained in the video as well! It's not that I'm always against any type of machine or tool to help resurface, it just isn't always necessary! So let's get into it!
And as always, let me know in the comments what issues you might have, or what successes you've had! It's way more interesting and fun to help others! So let me know!
-Eldoug
Tools I use! And affiliated links to buy them on Amazon!
(Let me know if you are outside of the US, I have suggested tools for most international countries too!)
Scotty Peelers-
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Heptane (Bestine)-
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My gloves! Cosplay as me!-
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Electric air device
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Mini heat gun-
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Gamebit screwdriver-
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Thermal paste I use-
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Inspection loupes/magnifiers-
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iFixit Manta kit-
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Magnetic parts tray-
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Brayer/roller-
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Extraction fan for soldering-
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Hygrometer/Thermometer-
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The blue mat!-
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Thanks!
Always awesome to see a new video from you!
I'm glad I could make this one! I've been seeing more and more signs of the SkipDr and wanted to make sure I covered what that means and how to fix it!
I work at a public library in a large city and even though I never used a SkipDr I knew right away what caused the damage to some of the discs that were coming back. It's just got that look that only a narrow belt buffer can leave and the SkipDr is the only one shaped like it that I know of. I fix our scratched discs, but with a $5000 setup and in 2 minutes even the worst looking disc can look brand new.
I think I might have talked to you on discord...... but just in case, I think I know what those $5000 setups are, and if the library wants a cheaper alternative to the compounds and pads they have to buy for that machine, let me know. The costs that ELM asks for supplies is insane.
@@RestoreAndReplay Was not me.
I save us some money by using each pad twice. After 50 uses it asks you to replace them. But Even after 100 uses they generally still work fine. You just need to keep an eye out for tearing in the pad half way through the second use. So it's like a 50% discount. We have 2 of them too and every week I have a stack of around 40+ discs to buff.
The things people do to these discs.
Video Summary:
- Very long introduction to 10:00 about SkipDr, which is a disc repair tool that has been around since the 1990s.
- Criticizes SkipDr for its ineffectiveness in actually polishing discs, instead causing scratches and leaving a distinct pattern of lines on them.
- Demonstrates an alternative method using cotton balls and polish to reduce surface scratches on discs.
- The negative impact of perpetual polishing is highlighted, where discs are repeatedly polished by different individuals, leading to the accumulation of scratches.
- Strongly advises against using SkipDr and suggests using alternative disc polishing methods such as using car scratch remover and cotton balls.
- The specific pattern left by SkipDr on discs is shown and emphasized as a clear indicator that a disc has been treated by SkipDr.
- The need for a disc repair tool that can effectively polish discs without removing excessive material, by pointing out that SkipDr is not a viable solution.
- Write your questions, comments, and share your experiences related to SkipDr and other disc polishing methods.
Hired. You are absolutely hired to summarize my nonsense. I'll pay you in cleaned copies of NFL Game Day 2001.
Thanks as always man. I heard of the skip doctor but never saw it it action....yeesh
I remember in your PS2 game video you mentioned the benifits of using cotton balls over paper towels. What would you say it is about them that makes them better for surface scratches/a better finish?
Cotton balls are less likely to rescratch polycarbonate surfaces, but at the defecit that they also absorb any compounds that you put onto the disc. It's a balance. I've gotten more reports from newer resurfacers who say they prefer cotton balls, but old fogeys like me stick to paper towels and microfiber cloths because we have more control over the pressure and amount of compound being used.
I think both have their own strengths and weaknesses, I'm sort of split between both of them. I'm working on a big summary of all "applicators" I've used and have used mostly so people can have options in what they use!
I was going to buy a Drskip until i discover your channel , about a year ago. And after watching your videos and trying to fix 37 discs (ps2, gamecube , ps3) i can proudly say ... I fixed two dics. 1 gamecube game and 1 ps3 game.
Awesome! Yeah we've all been tempted by the evil clutches of the SkipDr, but it just makes things so much worse! And folks are starting to realize what that pattern it makes means!
I have bought used discs on eBay that look like brand new discs on the playing side but look used on the label side. I would like to know what they did to make them new.
As for polishing light scratches I use T cut used for polishing paint on cars. I then wet the cloth covered in T Cut with water and the it then polishes the disc. The water on the disc looks milky as it’s mixed with T Cut.
I do like TCuts stuff for painted work, but for polycarbonate on discs, if you're looking for mirror finishing, I use Mirror Glaze Clear Plastic. So I'll do a round of regular scratch remover, then finish with mirror glaze. Just helps to remove those finishing scratches I end up with. They make an ultra-cut compound that I do really like for clear coat, but it's too expensive to use on my cars regularly, so I just use the clear plastic as a finish.
Very informative. I have a couple of questions: are there any decent motorized systems at all that don't cost a fortune? And what is your recommended method to deal with scratches? Just Novus and plenty of patience?
There are decent motorized systems, they aren't cheap, but they require modification and cost of supplies. So unless you're cleaning hundreds of discs for turnover, it's not really cost effective to buy a resurfacing machine when cleaning by hand gets you the same results and has less imapct on the overall thickness and lifespan of the polycarbonate.
Think of a resurfacing machine as using a belt sander and resurfacing by hand like using sandpaper. You get much more control as to how much material you remove and where you remove it.
For me? I use Novus or a similar plastic polish and patience. What'll happen over time is that you'll figure out what method works best for you, and eventually most scratched discs can be repaired with only a few applications!
Fantastic, thank you. It's for my own personal collection, but I also like to buy preowned media on which I can haggle based on disc conditions. I'd be interested to receive further information on reasonably priced systems that can be modified to achieve good results, though; I am prepared to put in some elbow grease, but if I could automate some of the heavy lifting I'd be happier... I have seen the JFJ Easy Pro in action, but it does leave the surface too misty for my liking. Is there anything that you would consider worthwhile around the 200$ mark?
What about the Q-Sonic repair kit? If not what polish specifically did you use by hand? Thanks!
And what's the decent models? JFJ easy pro?
I've ended up using a SkipDr to remove deeper scratches, then a combination of a Hama cleaning kit and the advice in your video (some plastic polish and cotton wool) to finally repair the disc (and remove the scratches that the SkipDr left behind). Oddly, I've found that the drive in my computer refuses point blank to read discs after even one revolution in the SkipDr, but the DVD player doesn't seem to care.
I have to confess I gave up with one disc though - getting a new disc was 89p and acrylic polish was £8.95!
But just think! That acrylic polish could be used for dozens and dozens of discs!
I won't judge you for using a SkipDr. However..... :D
hello, I have a CD with pictures from when I was in kindergarten, but because it's very scratched, my optical unit can't read it anymore, if you want I can send you pictures so you can see its condition, on one side it has a very deep scratch, I want to know if it's really it's worth buying it because it's a shame to lose the old pictures from my childhood :(
I instantly recognized the lines. We had one of these when i was a kid. Used it on our ps1 games and it "worked" but it was very hit or miss and was clearly a bad way to polish them.
Also Im doin good today thanks for asking! 😄
I'll admit, I used it for years on CDs. I figured that the lines meant it had been cleaned and people would appreciate it. But those lines can also throw off the reading, and nowadays people want a mirror finish anyway!
Hi Doug Great Video I Had one of these a long time ago and it did not work Now I use a Buffing Machine but the supplies are crazy expensive and it seems to not work a lot of the time, I like the idea of polishing CDs by hand but with someone who has hundreds of CDs like me it takes a long time, is there away to make the process go faster when doing it by hand I appreciate your videos Take Care.
Hey! Sooooo I don't hate machines, I just try to get people informed of how to use them correctly. In the very near future you'll see me making some videos on how to use those machines correctly. but honestly? A lot of discs need a single round of buffing or two to get it back to life. Once you get your process down, you can get through a dozen or so discs in a few hours!
@@RestoreAndReplay Hey Doug So Glad To see new videos Do You plan on making a video on a very old machine called the VMI 3500 I just Don't have good luck with it.
Hi, what is the product you use to polish the disc? Please let me know i am a bit desperate for a fisc of mine
I primarily use a polish called Novus, specifically their Step 2 polish. But I've used car scratch remover, acrylic polish, polycarbonate polish, lots of options out there! If you're able to get ahold of car scratch remover, let me know what kind it is and we can make sure it'll work on your disc!
@@RestoreAndReplay hi, i got some novus 2 and that works absolute wonders brought 2 ps2 cd's from coma basically. I really was looking into scratch removing stuff for sometime and your channel is an absolute goldmine. I cant wait for some of your new videos
Is there any decent solutions under $100 for at home use?
Brand of polishing compound you used with cotton balls?
Machine polisher? Nah. But I try to discourage people from just relying on a machine anyway.
For the cotton balls, I try to find ones that don't tear as easily, those will cut down on how many little loose fibers you have to deal with!
@@RestoreAndReplay He asked for the brand of the polishing compound, not the cotton balls...
THANK YOU SO MUCH! I’ve only tried the toothpaste method and that barely works. I used car polish and it worked like a charm.
I hate that even I promoted toothpaste methods for years and years. It rarely works, but man oh man do people still bring it up. Thankfully it's the modern day and modern times and we now know better how to polish out polycarbonate!!
I can’t find the polish stuff you used on the disc in the video
It's hard to find in some countries, Novus. But you can also use a few different car scratch removers, I show a few different ones in some of my videos!
Hi. I'm a keen watcher of your series because I sell used CDs and can't afford a professional disk cleaner yet.
I wonder if you have tried out MicroMesh pads?
They are a sort of reusable sandpaper pad that don't shed particles.
Apparently they cut better and more consistently than sandpaper too.
The grit goes up from 1200 to 12000 grit in a kit.
I think they might be good at removing heavy scratches, maybe without the need for polish or at least not as much polish.
Guitar techs use them to finish guitars.
Are you spying on my workbench?? Hah! I have a full suite of micromesh pads that I'll be using to show how to polish and fix larger scratches. I'm still hesitant to introduce and sort of sanding pad or paper into videos without going over the steps and potential mistakes heavily first, but it's on the books! (full disclosure, I use micromesh pads regularly to remove deep gouges in discs, and progressively sand them out, but explaining how to do that in a video is more complicated than it seems!)
@@RestoreAndReplay That's good news. I was just wondering how effective they are. Obviously they work for you, I might pick up a set.
Which grit do you start with BTW?
What kind of car polish do you recommend? What about a car headlight restoration polish?
Some of those headlight polishes work, but honestly I use Scratch X on my headlights too! Just cut it with water to the different levels you need!
I just bought one from amazon and it works but when i put the disc right there it doesn't turn its brand new as well any tips if i am doing it wrong
Oh no... you weren't supposed to buy one!!
I’ve use skip doctor to repair countless badly scratched up discs. I’ve had a super high success rate using this product and definitely recommend it. You have the remember that you’re never going to be using this on clean discs… you’re using it on discs that are already badly scratched up and wont play. The marks it makes are from the buffing process and literally all it’s doing is making the disc surface uniformly even and lightly removing a thin layer on top by doing so. Yes, it leaves a patter on the disc, but it’s a lot better than the alternative- which is having a non-functioning game.
Totally understand. But in this day and age there are such better methods out there that will bring a game back to function, which don't require this level of tools. I'm just glad people have options out there! Get that mirror finish!
I have two games deep scratched only like one circle around them don't know if they can be fixed and two where the scratched a lil a lot but don't read and I have a Memorex cd cleaner but don't know how to get the correct pads and cleaning stuff for it but would that work to fixing my games but I like your content so far keep it up bro you deserve more views and likes
What console? If they're PS2 or Xbox 360 with circular scratches both can be fixed easier than you might think! But anything like a SkipDr, or powered CD cleaner, or anything where you don't control the polishing and rotating will actually make it much harder to remove circular scratches like that, since you have to focus on polishing just that area.
But let me know which console you have those circular scratches on and I'll be happy to help you out!
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@@RestoreAndReplay Xbox 360 yeah well glad that they can still be saved thanks for replying too
@@RestoreAndReplay also with the cd cleaner I can control it ( clock wise and counter clock wise ) but I wouldn't trust it
@@quietboy121 Ahhhhh I had a feeling it was an X360. Ok so those are called "laser burns" or "circle scratches" or "laser circles". What happens is the console is running at a decent speed with a disc in the drive and the console gets bumped. The laser assembly bumps into the disc for a second and leaves that perfect circle. They usually aren't super deep, but look pretty nasty.
They are absolutely removeable. I did hundreds of these while working at GameStop. The trick is to just focus on the scratch itself and polish that out. But I absolutely plan to do a video on that very soon, it's actually just a bit difficult to find discs with circle scratches on them anymore. I might have to "make" some! 😳
@@RestoreAndReplay that would be awesome thank you so much been subbed recently will be glad to watch all your vids and share your channel so more people can see it keep up the good work bro also consider making a website or a professional Gmail for people to buy your goods that you fix I know I would be interested
Can you teach us how to remove stains from games art covers? pls?
I can show how to reduce them! Removing them is a whole separate tough sort of science, but I will definetly make a video showing how to reduce the visibility of staining! Just need to find some stained arts.
The skipDR is known not to work on DVD-density disks. Works on CDs. Just used one to recover a maintenance manual that was completely unreadable. Saved my bacon.
For deep gouges and, in this instance, polyethylene plastic embedded in the disk surface, I tried wet-sanding and buffing by hand. No result. The great thing about the skipDR is it doesn't care about preserving the appearance of your disk, so it will power through and do the ugly work of radial wet-sanding and finishing the job when we, as normal and reasonable people, would have stopped because, I mean, look at it! We're clearly doing something wrong, aren't we? That can't be good!
Except, nope. That's what it was supposed to do. Make an UGLY but readable disk. At CD ROM wavelengths. It doesn't work worth a damn on DVD, XBOX, PS, etc.
Are there better ways to resurface a disk? Absolutely. Is there a faster, easier way to rescue the contents of a truly beat-up optical disk that you'll never put in a drive again after this... ?
The problem is the SkipDr's official title is "SkipDr Manual CD & DVD Disc Repair System", so if it's not meant for DVD density disks, they have an identity crisis going on!
You either side being a skipDR simpleton or a NSS (Novus Solvent Sigma)
Can it fix GameCube games
The SkipDr? It can't fix anything! 😄
@@RestoreAndReplay thx!
But would it fix a skipping cd? Lol
It makes it skip even better than before! The Skip Doctor brings the skips! hah!
That’s what I figured lol. I imagine a cd the size of a human working a dj in the middle of a night club! SkipDr! So I have some rough cds that aren’t playable, but I used 3000 then 7000 grit sandpaper then some McGuire plastics polish… played great.
So funny! I always advised people from buying this horrible product.
Here's a better idea. Buy a BRAND NEW disc to replace the old one. Because there is no such thing as a scratch remover. I've tried alot of methods and I have excellent 20/20 vision and I can still see the scars on the disc and it STILL won't read. Buying a disc repair kit is much more expensive than the disc itself. The best way to get rid of scratches is to prevent and take extra care of discs, always grab it by the edges and stuff. Once your disc has scratches and is experiencing it's first nonreadable error THROW IT AWAY and save minutes of your life.
Super Paul you so crazy.
I mean I completely disagree with your assessment. But I appreciate your stance.
Good luck buying a new one nowdays stuff is high price and hard to find
Omg… the longest most drawn out video I have ever watched on CZcams. Get to the point buddy.
Oh I absolutely have longer videos on my channel!
Terrible video. I still can't win at Mario Kart and this walkthrough isn't helping at all.
Keep watching to the 24 minute mark. That's when he really starts giving good tips
I kept talking for another 45 minutes after this too!