Re: magnets

Posted by MikeH-Tx on July 27, 2000 at 11:42:34 from (192.55.24.50):

In Reply to: magnets posted by Jim in N M on July 26, 2000 at 20:03:04:

Jim, something to concider. When we were building our house, I looked into the same item. However, many of the nails and junk were left too close to the house to be practical to use the tractor. Also, there is the matter of tractor tires not liking nails. I decided to make a hand operated magnet to pick up the nails. It worked so well, it might be of interest to you.

After looking at Northern and other sources of magnets, I didn't like the cost of the really powerful ones. Turns out, there is a source of free, very powerful magnets: dead disk drives. They have some of the most powerful magnets you will ever see inside them, to control the read/write head. And, the nature of disk drives is such that dead ones are plentiful.

I opened the drive by using a dremel cutoff wheel on the case machine screws to adapt the heads to a standard screwdriver. I just ground a slot into them, marring the case as well (who cares). Then, only a couple of screws inside need to be removed to dismantle the innards (a couple to get the disks themselves out of the way and a couple holding on the magnets). Since this is not a repair job, care does not need to be taken. As near as I can tell, nothing inside a dead disk drive except the magnets are of further use.

You will find either one or two magnets, mounted to nonmagnetic metal brackets, at the base of the read/write arm. Since these magnets are made of a powdery material (lanthanum?) that crumbles easily, I coated mine in a thin layer of epoxy and at the same time molded on an eyebolt to the back of the bracket to attach a thin rope to it. Thus, I created a magnet on a rope. The epoxy also helps you clean the magnet of metal filings.

All this sounds like a lot of work for just a magnet, but these are not just magnets. If you get your fingers between the two magnets and get them too close together, you will get a nasty bruise when they snap together. It is also difficult to get them apart. You have to slide them - no way can you pull them apart. They are that powerful.

I then just dangled the magnet at the end of the rope and with a sweeping motion walked around and picked up all the nails. After collecting a handful, I would clean the magnet, drop nails into a bucket and start over.

Try it. Amaze your friends. Pick up nails. Enjoy.

Follow Ups:

• Re: Re: magnets Jim in N M 18:39:25 07/27/00 (1)
  • Re: Re: Re: magnets MikeH-Tx 05:40:32 07/28/00 (0)
• Re: Re: magnets Jim in N M 18:37:58 07/27/00 (0)
• Re: Re: magnets Jim in N M 18:37:28 07/27/00 (0)
• Re: Re: magnets Jim in N M 18:36:53 07/27/00 (0)
• Re: Re: magnets Jim in N M 18:35:35 07/27/00 (0)

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