# Rare earth magnets- 1001 uses



## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Years ago I bought a bunch of rare earth magnets from Lee Valley and have found that there are a lot of uses for them. Some of the handiest that I`ve found is for driving screws. I stuck a quarter inch magnet on the tips of a Phillips and a flat bladed screwdrivers and the magnets will hold a drywall and slotted screw on the tips even at right angles. Once in a while it`s easier to drive a screw with a ratchet. You can put a quarter inch magnet inside a socket the same size and the magnet will hold a hex driver in place without it falling out.

I had a magnet epoxied on the side of my drill press to hold the chuck key. After about 15 years the epoxy let go and I realized it didn`t need to be there anyway. The magnet either sticks to the DP or the key. It doesn`t matter either way which one. The key is always right there where I need it.

Some other uses:

A couple times now I`ve used them to install kick boards to a cupboard. You drill a hole with a Forstner and glue the magnet in and LV sells steel washers that go on the opposite side. The kick boards are held fairly secure but come off if you want and the recess behind makes a good hiding place for valuables if you are going to be away for a while.

The same setup is good for door catches.

I have a steel clad door in my basement with windows in it and my wife wanted to hang curtains on it. I wasn`t sure how well screws would hold in it so I made some wooden rod holders and glued half inch magnets in them and they hold very well.

There are lots more uses and I`m curious if there are others that like to keep them around the shop.


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## Ratbob (Apr 6, 2015)

Great thread Charles! I have a magnet on the side of my band saw to hold the little hex wrenches for tuning the guides. No more sucking them into the shopvac and there always right there when I need them. Can't wait to see some other creative ideas!


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

attach them to the vacuum cleaner nozzel.. gets the hardware you dropped and couldn't find...
Holds the outhouse door shut....
Holding down a car cover...
use them on survey steaks so that metal detectors find them from a distance....
Entertaining drunk people and children..
Cleaning nails from the horse pasture....
put one on thee end of string to pick up hardware and tools you dropped.. no bending over...
Holing safety shield on machine tools...
Picking my keys out of the bottom of a pond...
Raise the Titanic...
stud finder..
Fishing for outboard motors...
Anti-matter containment ...
oil filter...
clamps...
setting planer blades...


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## Ghidrah (Oct 21, 2008)

I hear you Charles, I've used them for bunches of things and got wifey to use them on some of her jewelry. I get mine from KG Magnetics.

I used some very strong magnets to secure the upper trim section on the lid of this jewelry box, the magnets are so strong your could not tell the joints were not fixed into place. The skull was hidden by a mirror. The box had several secrets, the fiancé gave it as a BDay pres and wanted to reveal a new secret on successive BDays. To which the premise did fall apart at the first reveal, (as predicted by parents). My daughter, (BDay girl) found the rest within the week.


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## Dejure (Jul 27, 2009)

Same here, including my upper bearing guide for quick swaps between the stock guides and the Carter Stabilizer.



Ratbob said:


> Great thread Charles! I have a magnet on the side of my band saw to hold the little hex wrenches for tuning the guides. No more sucking them into the shopvac and there always right there when I need them. Can't wait to see some other creative ideas!


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## Dejure (Jul 27, 2009)

They're great for meteorite hunting too. The one on my "Poor Man's Metal Detector" is about a ninety-eight pound pull rare earth magnet. It will support the walking stick on my table saw.


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## eccentrictinkerer (Dec 24, 2007)

I've been buying my magnets from these two sources. I also buy a lot of electronic gadgets and modules.

Low prices and free shipping. No problems with them in two years!



Wholesale Rare Earth Magnets - Buy Cheap Rare Earth Magnets from Chinese Wholesalers | DHgate.com

http://www.dhgate.com/wholesale/rare+earth+magnets.html


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## Shop guy (Nov 22, 2012)

I find all kinds of uses for them. One thing I didn't see mentioned was using them on the top of my rip fence where I keep an ice pick, a long Allen screwdriver for my Incra 1000SE and 2 narrow push sticks with magnets embedded in them. The faces of the fence extends above the sides making a little tray. Also use them to hold keys and small wrenches in many places.


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

eccentrictinkerer said:


> I've been buying my magnets from these two sources. I also buy a lot of electronic gadgets and modules.
> 
> Low prices and free shipping. No problems with them in two years!
> 
> ...


J.D. Thanks for the links , there's some interesting stuff there on the second one


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Glue them to your shoes and walk on Ferromagnetic walls and ceilings


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

It better be some really good glue.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

sole of your boot sandwiched between the magnets...
and the glue...


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## woodknots (Mar 7, 2012)

Charles - some of these suggestions sound very attractive

Glue one to the wall, then stick your other magnets to it, so you don't lose them.....


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

put a screw in the wall and stick the magnets to that...
no wasted magnets...

stick the magnets to your tool box...
that way you can slide them off when needed...


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## Shop guy (Nov 22, 2012)

I have a small metal storage bin on one of my benches and do that.


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## BrianS (Nov 7, 2004)

Stick486 said:


> stick the magnets to your tool box...
> that way you can slide them off when needed...


This is where I keep mine. I have some that the ONLY way I can get them off said tool box is to slide them to the edge of it.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

BrianS said:


> This is where I keep mine. I have some that the ONLY way I can get them off said tool box is to slide them to the edge of it.


ahhhhh.
gorilla magnets...


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## Dejure (Jul 27, 2009)

Storage isn't an issue, since my shop door is metal clad.


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## jj777746 (Jan 17, 2015)

A friend of mine glued a magnet in the end of a 3ft length of poly pipe & uses it to pick up nails,washers & other dropped items. Some really good ideas to be found in these here posts & more to come I hope.JJ


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## TenGees (Sep 12, 2012)

The magnet from a retired hard drive holds my gate shut. Be careful when removing them. I got a blood blister doing my first one: The 'keeper' grabbed onto the magnet as I pulled the screws... Ouch!


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## Garyk (Dec 29, 2011)

Some great ideas. Thanks to all..


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## Wood Chip (Apr 10, 2011)

Ratbob said:


> Can't wait to see some other creative ideas!


If your wife has watched the Buns of Steel workout video, you can use these magents to post notes to her buns.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

wood chip said:


> if your wife has watched the buns of steel workout video, you can use these magents to post notes to her buns.


ouch....


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## Northerner26 (Jan 2, 2010)

be careful buying some of those magnets from china, i ordered a various batch a month back and i was in need of some 3/8" ones and they were in millimeter and undersize so the holes i drilled with my forstener bit was to big. the ones i ordered before were from fleabay and you would have thought for as cheap as they were they would be from asia but the sizes were spot on. 

so just be careful if you need exact sizes!


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## nkawtg (Nov 5, 2015)

Stick one to the end of the Arbor so you don't drop the nut when changing blades.


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## Roy Drake (Feb 10, 2014)

Really good practical thread.


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## Dejure (Jul 27, 2009)

I attached one to the hub of my drill press crank, then cut a pieces of wood, the same thickness, to go around it. Over that is a metal disk. I never have to look for my key, because it's always on the hub.

The magnet is strong enough just slapping the key there allows the magnet to grab it. The wood and disk protect the fragile magnet.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Northerner said:


> be careful buying some of those magnets from china, i ordered a various batch a month back and i was in need of some 3/8" ones and they were in millimeter and undersize so the holes i drilled with my forstener bit was to big. the ones i ordered before were from fleabay and you would have thought for as cheap as they were they would be from asia but the sizes were spot on.
> 
> so just be careful if you need exact sizes!


Lee Valley`s are Imperial size as stated in their catalog. J. D.`s (Eccentictinkerer) link to the manufacturer in China stated that they are metric sizes and at those prices it might be worth buying metric sized Forstners or brad points. In his link the price for 100 with free shipping was about the same as I have been paying for 20 and I still had to pay shipping.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

" You can put a quarter inch magnet inside a socket the same size and the magnet will hold a hex driver in place without it falling out."
-Stick

Yes! I spent hours shopping around trying to find a purpose made socket that'd hold off-the-shelf bits securely. No joy.
The small R.E. magnet that I epoxied in works like a hot damn.
Thar Lee Valley assortment was money well spent.


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## Wood Chip (Apr 10, 2011)

I've used rare earth magnet to locate & pull a fish tape when running cable behind a wall.


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## Ratbob (Apr 6, 2015)

Most of what I see coming from China are ceramic, not Neodymium. The ceramic magnets are weaker, more brittle, and often have a coating of dust from manufacturing. In rough numbers, ceramic cost about 20% of the cost of rare earth magnets, and have an order of magnitude less 'pull' per unit volume. 

Sometimes ceramic is all you need, but it's good to know the difference.

I saw an Izzy Swan video where he put a couple magnets in a glue bot filled with cutting fluid that he keeps on top of his drill press.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

That's a good idea for getting rid of swarf. No matter how fine it is the magnets would try and filter it out.


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## Ghidrah (Oct 21, 2008)

before I bought my magnetic sweeper I used the ring magnets from dead microwave ovens, glued them to some ply, took the wheels and axle from a small childs wagon sitting at the town dumps "pick of the litter" screwed a couple copper pipe brackets to the ply for the axle to and mounted the wagon handle.


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## Shop guy (Nov 22, 2012)

Good idea, Ronald. I think I might make one of those.


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## Ghidrah (Oct 21, 2008)

Shop guy,

It's a lot cheaper than the type I eventually bought, but it lacks some of the amenities of the factory jobs, mainly having to pry the nails and screws off the magnets by hand, P.I.T.A. However cleaning the perimeter up after a roof/siding job and frames there's nothing better. No one wants to get a call from a customer complaining about a tetanus shot, limp and leaky shoe.


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## eccentrictinkerer (Dec 24, 2007)

I keep a big speaker magnet in a ziploc bag on my drill press table. Catches a fair amount of swarf.

Then I turn the bag inside out and throw it and the chips in the trash.


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

I have installed magnets on the back of drawers to keep them from vibrating open.

Herb


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## Ghidrah (Oct 21, 2008)

Herb,
What vibrates so much that it causes the drawers to open up?


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

camper..


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Bed


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## Ratbob (Apr 6, 2015)

TheCableGuy said:


> Bed


And then you woke up!


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Ratbob said:


> And then you woke up!


his one man show got out of control...


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

*"Well, Isn't that Special"*



Herb Stoops said:


> I have installed magnets on the back of drawers to keep them from vibrating open.
> 
> Herb


*shock!* >


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## Shop guy (Nov 22, 2012)

Rick's bed vibrates cause he ain't got no insulation and he shivers a lot.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

that's cold...


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## Ghidrah (Oct 21, 2008)

I would have asked to go to catholic school and catechism if the nuns looked like that, all the nuns I remember were ex E German weight lifters and puritanical nurse Ratcheds.


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## woodknots (Mar 7, 2012)

Ghidrah said:


> I would have asked to go to catholic school and catechism if the nuns looked like that, all the nuns I remember were ex E German weight lifters and puritanical nurse Ratcheds.


I did go to Catholic school in my early years and none of them looked like that.
The one I remember specifically was the one holding the yard stick as I held my hand out


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

vchiarelli said:


> I did go to Catholic school in my early years and none of them looked like that.
> The one I remember specifically was the one holding the yard stick as I held my hand out


they were masters of corporal punishment...


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## woodknots (Mar 7, 2012)

Stick486 said:


> they were masters of corporal punishment...


masters who enjoyed it


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## schnewj (Nov 18, 2013)

vchiarelli said:


> masters who enjoyed it


YES, they did!


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

vchiarelli said:


> masters who enjoyed it


oh yes they did...


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Wouldn't that be Mistresses? 
Hey, I've heard the Brothers were no slouches in that department either.


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## woodknots (Mar 7, 2012)

Ghidrah said:


> I would have asked to go to catholic school and catechism if the nuns looked like that, all the nuns I remember were ex *E German weight lifters* and puritanical nurse Ratcheds.





DaninVan said:


> Wouldn't that be Mistresses?
> Hey, I've heard the Brothers were no slouches in that department either.


Dan - please see Ron's post above - they couldn't have been mistresses >


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

DaninVan said:


> Wouldn't that be Mistresses?
> Hey, I've heard the Brothers wer*e no slouches in that department either.*




not in the least...
generally pale the nuns...


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

"Dan - please see Ron's post above - they couldn't have been mistresses"
Heheheheh... the five o-clock shadow?


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