Removing powder from a cd and cd drive

I bought a used cd online and didn't check the edges of the cd before placing it in my cd drive. Unfortunately, there were blobs of white powder on the edges. I didn't notice the blobs until I had taken the cd out of the drive.

Here are some photos: imgur.com

What do you think the blobs are? Residue from efforts to wax or clean the cd?

What would be the best way to clean the material off the cd without damaging the cd?

The cd drive is a computer cd-rom drive with a standard tray ( https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1lA53AAyWBuNjy0Fpq6yssXXaz.jpg ). Is there a good way to clean the cd drive?

If it's too hard to remove the material from the cd drive, do you think there would be any harm in leaving the material in there?

If the material is wax residue, can that damage a cd drive?

Also, when lightly wiping the material off the cd drive tray, the tray moved left and right as I wiped it. Is the tray supposed to be this loose? Does moving the tray in this manner cause any damage or mess up the alignment?

 

On the CD it could be dust or powder sticking to some residue of something used to clean the CD. Just use your fingers to rub that off the edge of the CD.

The CD drive tray can be a little loose, that's OK. The CD is locked precisely in place when you close the tray. But you should clean the tray as best that you can.

For cleaning the drive, you could try computer keyboard cleaning goop like this
https://www.fivebelow.com/products/dust-cleaning-gel-for-car-electronics

Just roll the gel around to pick up the powder and any dust. Computer specialty/repair stores should have something similar at higher prices. I bet the one linked is hard to find in those particular stores.

Or try regular Scotch type tape to pick up the powder and particles.

 

Thanks for the info! I was a bit worried when the tray was moving left and right. Glad to hear that a loose tray is normal

I contacted the seller of the used cd, and it turns out the material is car wax. And specific ideas for removing wax?

Wax does not conduct electricity and is safe for leaving on electronics, right?

 

The problem with car wax is that over months and years it will dry and turn to powder, as you have found on the edges. Then the spinning CD could throw that powder into the CD motor and loading mechanism. You should clean that wax off. There are several ways of cleaning CDs, but the simplest is just rubbing alcohol (isopropyl) on a cotton ball or cotton round, or some soft clotch that wont scratch. Don't get the alcohol on the label side, or it could dissolve the ink or paint of the label. On the shiny side, alcohol should remove the wax.

 

I meant the wax that's already inside the cd player. (I've already rubbed most of the wax off the cd edge using my fingers.) I'm assuming that there are bits of wax on the tray open/close mechanism and on the walls of the drive (since the spinning cd would have sent these bits outward). If bits of wax bounced off the walls, then there could be tiny bits of wax everywhere. What do you think I should do about these bits?

The cd drive doesn't allow for easy access; the only practical way to access the interior is the opening in the front when the tray is open. There's an opening in the bottom, but that would involve disassembling the entire drive. Do you think aiming some compressed air (or maybe a small air blower) into the opening at the front would be enough?

Or maybe leave everything alone if the risk of damage from the wax is less than the risk of damage from cleaning attempts?

I've run Exact Audio Copy on a cd and it didn't detect any errors, so I'm assuming that there's no (or minimal) wax on the laser

 

I would still clean that CD with alcohol.
That wax will continue to dry and turn into a fine powder, even if that takes months or years. You should get as much of it out of the player as you can, right now, before it gets into the mechanism moving parts, and the lubrication on those parts. The best thing I can think of to do that is the keyboard cleaning goop.
There are similar looking kinds of goop, sold as toy goop, but those can leave an oily residue, and that would be a problem too. Good keyboard goop does not leave a residue. Also called keyboard cleaning gel.
The one I linked from that store is probably ok, if you can find it in the store. If not, here is a similar one from Amazon and other brands are listed on the page
https://www.amazon.com/Universal-Keyboards-Telephone-Calculator-Appliance/dp/B083JJ6YS3/

And, it is useful for a lot of things, like cleaning your keyboard!

Compressed air could help if you can be sure to not blow any powder or bits into the mechanism.

 

I agree with the above, get what you can off the disk, case and computer drive. I'd then use the computer drive until it packs up, it's unlikely to add wax to any disk you put in if you've cleaned the tray well. Computer drives are cheap now (compared to what they used to cost).

 

Will check out those cleaning products and focus on getting as much of the wax out of the drive as possible. Thanks so much for the advice!

 

There is no need to clean out the CD drive. It doesn't really matter if there is dust and such inside the drive assembly. Just as long as the dust isn't on the laser and lens. Any dust or powder on the CD is going to get flung outwards inside the drive assembly and not land on the laser or lens. You're fine.

I have a Plexwriter PX-W1210A that is now about 20 years old. It has ripped thousands of CDs. It did eventually get some dust buildup under the assembly that clamps to the spindle of the CD and the part that spins like a bushing. The dust buildup caused some imbalance issues clamping issues when spinning at high speed. I disassembled the drive and cleaned that out. Then it was fine again. I didn't clean the lens or touch the lens. That maintenance was done after about 15 years of use.

 

Glad to hear that! Thanks for the reassurance!