Monday, February 20, 2012

Lee Valley's Rare-Earth Magnet Sampler

Lee Valley has a 50-piece rare-earth magnet sampler for a reasonable price. I emailed Santa last fall and he brought me one for Christmas.

I had nothing specific in mind for the things, but I thought uses might suggest themselves if I had them on hand. And sure enough, an application for one of them has cropped up.

I have a magnetic pickup tool with a telescoping handle that I got long ago, I think from Princess Auto. It would be quite a nice tool if it weren't so bleeping feeble.

'Feeble' is not a word that one can apply to the rare-earth magnets. The forcefulness of them is uncanny -- almost a bit scary.[1] They're not easily separated.

I'll try attaching one to the tool's existing magnet with CA adhesive, and see how that holds up.

The magnets' dimensions are fractional inch. One of the 3/8" diameter magnets will suit.

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Here's the reworked tool plucking a steel dog blank out of a vise jaw.

The tool's original magnet wouldn't have begun to do that.

I'll have to find a place to hang the tool well away from any ferrous metal. It could make a right nuisance of itself in a tool-chest drawer.

Notes:

[1] Lee Valley's catalogue blurb suggests that a possible application could be for fridge magnets. I wouldn't try it. You'd be at risk of toppling the fridge while trying to get a magnet loose.[2]

[2] (FRIDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2014) My facetiousness aside, the magnets do make excellent fridge magnets with a little modification. See this post for a method of installing 'handles' on the magnets to turn them into useable, forceful fridge magnets.

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