How to Rough Up Your Discs

Roughing up your discs provides extra grooves for the OCT to cling on to, hopefully preventing the OCT block from falling off when you're cutting sections. There are a few different types of discs that we work with:

Copper discs without holes: This type is excellent at gripping the OCT. Personally, I've never felt the need to rough these discs up, as they do a perfectly good job as they are. They DO, however, take more time to get cold.

Aluminum discs without holes: This type freezes quicker than the copper discs. The circular ridges seem to grip the OCT relatively well, but you might want to rough up the surface for added gripping power, just in case.

Aluminum discs with holes: These are the discs that give techs the most problems. I absolutely recommend roughing these up.



There are two ways to rough up a disc (plus one extra that I'll explain later but won't recommend):

Method #1 - Rub the surface of your disc against cement.  You'll probably find a suitable surface in a parking lot.

Method #2 - Use a screwdriver and your body weight.  This is my favorite method, since you can do it in the office and don't need to remember to do it on the way home. Place your disc ON A CARPETED FLOOR ONLY with your screwdriver at the center of the disc. Lean your body weight into it until the screwdriver slides down to the edge of the disc.  Turn the disc and repeat until you get several grooves radiating out from the center.

Method #3 - Garbage disposal. Obviously, I can't recommend putting your disc through a garbage disposal. I only discovered this method by accident. Ironically, it transformed a problem disc into one of the best discs I've ever worked with. Again, don't do this!