best way to destroy CDs and DVDs?

[jason gessner]

hi there.

i have copied all of my old CD-R and DVD-R discs onto a big drive array and want to dispose of them.  I smashed some discs with hammers a few years ago, but that was a dumb, dumb idea.  Little shards of sharp plastic flew all over.

Can i melt them?  Does anyone at the space have any helpful advice?  Melting them seems fun, but also seems like it would release a bunch of icky toxic fumes.  :/

-jason

[Royce Pipkins]

Well, if you weren't so stubbornly opposed to the little plastic shards and/or sharp flying projectiles, you could attach them to a dremel spindle and spin them up until centrifugal forces caused them to self-destruct.

--
The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.
B. F. Skinner

[David R.]

Royce,

   I like your new and fresh ideas, and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter. ;D

David R.

[Tom Gralewicz]

Heavy paper shredders (I have one at work) will cross cut these.

The plastic is Polycarbonate with a layer of aluminum, so burn them at your own risk.

Tom

--
Tom Gralewicz
Miller Electronics Recycling
(414) 380-1716
www.deadcomputers.com

[Matt Gauger]

Could you just wash them all in drain cleaner & then dispose? I think that will take off the aluminum backing,.or at least warp & cloud the disc beyond reading. You can do a whole 5 gallon pail at once this way. However, you're going to release some nasty gases at the same time, so don't do it indoors and ventilate.

The other option is to clamp them with a bolt as a spindle and drill through all of them at once with a small bit. Hopefully you get less shattering & still render them unreadable.

Or throw them all in a rip-proof bag and use the arbor press with two pieces of wood to  crush them safely.

Or if time is not an issue, clamp them to the electrodes of the Jacob's ladder with alligator clips and create lightning patterns etched into the plastic. (Wear eye protection, this will probably shatter too.)

I'll let you know I'd I come up with anything else creative to do.

[Tom Gralewicz]

Nit picky Tom at your service:

The Aluminum is between 2 layers of plastic - use Touline  (Goo Gone) to dissolve the plastic, it would take a while.

Polycarbonate is the bullet resistant plastic, crushing won't do much.

But the Jacobs ladder reminded me of a fun solution:  Microwave them!  Pretty colors and vaporized aluminum!  If you want I can look for a working junker to bring in - but we should video it.

Tom

[Royce Pipkins]

Well the cheap-o CD-R's might not be. I've actually had the Al peel off of a CD-R due to unintended abrasion.

But a multi-layer DVD-R will certainly be sandwiched.

[Brent Bublitz]

Your all missing the most fun.

Put them in the microwave and watch the show.

Brent

[Pete Prodoehl]

Shouldn't we save them to make shiny art and robot wheels?

Pete

[Matt Gauger]

I think these are sensitive data that Jason would rather destroy.

This reminds me that Ben wanted to make a giant disco ball with broken CD-Rs. Maybe we should do that & hang it next to the Pot o' Gold.

[Ross Oldenburg]

I second the heavy duty paper shredder. Some of them even have
special CD slots. A place I used to work actually had a dedicated
CD/DVD shredder. Not sure how expensive such things are, but it may
be worth buying a nice shredder.

--Ross

[jason gessner]

yeah, i want them destroyed.  Tom, would it be possible for me to use your shredder or for you to bring it into the space?

-jason

[Pete Prodoehl]

I could make them unreadable without destroying them.

Pete

[David_R]

Pete,
With a harsh look? By making them promise real good to not give anyone their data, or else? ;)

David

[Matt Gauger]

With the power of open source and a little `dd`, I think we can manage to write 1's on top of the data, rendering it useless. Actually, I've never tried this.

-- Matt

--
Matt Gauger
http://blog.mattgauger.com

http://twitter.com/mathiasx

[dan conine]

Maybe someone could come up with a vacuum mold to make eggs out of
them, and then you can decorate them on the EggBot.

Dan C.

[Tom Gralewicz]

Jayson,
You can bring them to the shop sometime, or just give them to me and I'll shred them.


If anyone wants CDs to experiment with, we get them in all the time and just trash them.

Tom

[Pete Prodoehl]

"Spin art" by rotating them at a high speed and applying a Dremel...

Pete

[Pete Prodoehl]

I was thinking of gluing 2 (or more!) together into thicker discs for wheels.

Pete

[Pete Prodoehl]

Digging up this old thread just for these two links:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/connors934/5717339916/

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:8300

:)

Pete