What are my options with a disc drive that does not read games?

I have spent a good couple hours looking up if this is a problem that can be fixed and the only conclusions people have come to is replacing the laser or the entire drive. I’ve heard of cleaning the laser, tightening it to increase the diode strength (which I don’t think is my problem since I could read Other M in ‘10) and that seems to be all. I have a good number of these said “broken” drives and I wish to make the most of this. If anyone has experience with how to clean the lens efficiently/effectively then I would love to hear your technique too.