> turn the machine on its side or even upside down to get the CD closer to the laser
I'm confused by this, doesn't that seem backwards? If it was sitting normally wouldn't it naturally be helped by gravity to be as close to the laser as the mechanism would allow? Upside down, gravity would be pulling it away from the laser. Right?
I don't have a Playstation myself on hand, but from memory, these mounts usually had a certain amount of play in them - if you touched it, you could press it a bit lower, for instance. Whereas the clamp that grabs the disk on toploaders tended to make a very secure connection. So it's probably not bringing the disk closer to the laser, it's bringing the laser closer to the disc.
I'm confused by this, doesn't that seem backwards? If it was sitting normally wouldn't it naturally be helped by gravity to be as close to the laser as the mechanism would allow? Upside down, gravity would be pulling it away from the laser. Right?