In response to an earlier post about cleaning CDs, Robert Morein said
"Isopropyl can damage the very thin lacquer on the reverse side, exposing
the aluminized layer to oxygen and ruining the CD."

If this is true, then most of the commercial products from companies like
Maxell, Pelican, Scotch, etc. are damaging CDs because their cleaning fluids
all contain isopropyl.

I wish there was an acknowledged superior product for CD cleaning like back
in the old vinyl days with the Discwasher. I had the wood one with the
proprietary fluid stored in the body of the brush, and I put all my vinyls
into the Discwasher anti-scratch, anti-static sleeves...but I am dating
myself, something old guys cannot help doing.

On Sun, 28 Dec 2003 19:05:48 -0700, "someguy"
wrote:

In response to an earlier post about cleaning CDs, Robert Morein said
"Isopropyl can damage the very thin lacquer on the reverse side, exposing
the aluminized layer to oxygen and ruining the CD."

If this is true, then most of the commercial products from companies like
Maxell, Pelican, Scotch, etc. are damaging CDs because their cleaning fluids
all contain isopropyl.

I wish there was an acknowledged superior product for CD cleaning like back
in the old vinyl days with the Discwasher. I had the wood one with the
proprietary fluid stored in the body of the brush, and I put all my vinyls
into the Discwasher anti-scratch, anti-static sleeves...but I am dating
myself, something old guys cannot help doing.


I may be wrong, but I think by "reverse" side, Robert means the label
side, which usually doesn't get much contact with any of the
commercial cleaning systems, so it's probably okay that they have iso
alcohol in them. I wasn't even aware that the non-data side was
lacquer. I always thought is was a thinner layer of polycarbonate.

I still use my Discwasher almost every day, but I use it more to
remove traces of lint and dust immediately before playing. For
deep-cleaning, I have a Nitty Gritty wet/vac system that works
wonders.

Scott Gardner

"Scott Gardner" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 28 Dec 2003 19:05:48 -0700, "someguy"
wrote:

In response to an earlier post about cleaning CDs, Robert Morein said
"Isopropyl can damage the very thin lacquer on the reverse side, exposing
the aluminized layer to oxygen and ruining the CD."

If this is true, then most of the commercial products from companies like
Maxell, Pelican, Scotch, etc. are damaging CDs because their cleaning
fluids
all contain isopropyl.

I wish there was an acknowledged superior product for CD cleaning like
back
in the old vinyl days with the Discwasher. I had the wood one with the
proprietary fluid stored in the body of the brush, and I put all my
vinyls
into the Discwasher anti-scratch, anti-static sleeves...but I am dating
myself, something old guys cannot help doing.


I may be wrong, but I think by "reverse" side, Robert means the label
side, which usually doesn't get much contact with any of the
commercial cleaning systems, so it's probably okay that they have iso
alcohol in them. I wasn't even aware that the non-data side was
lacquer. I always thought is was a thinner layer of polycarbonate.

I still use my Discwasher almost every day, but I use it more to
remove traces of lint and dust immediately before playing. For
deep-cleaning, I have a Nitty Gritty wet/vac system that works
wonders.

The laquer side is damaged by xylene, a "hot" hydrocarbon solvent. Marker
pens are frequently marked "contains no xylene", indicating it is safe for
plastic surfaces.
Isopropyl is not nearly as powerful a solvent as xylene. However, I was
alerted to the dangers when I cleaned a Tektronix plugin with an inked
knob -- and the ink quickly dissolved.
Unfortunately, the laquer is not standardized. One batch of Verbatims was
claimed to exhibit some water solubility! Nevertheless, water is probably
the second safest cleaning solvent available, the first being Freon.