JP

"Jay Pique"

11/10/2005 7:39 AM

Magnets from old PCs?

Are there usable magnets in old computers that might be good for making
things in a woodshop - like magnetic featherboards? And if so, are
they worth the trouble of getting them out?

JP


This topic has 24 replies

JP

"Jay Pique"

in reply to "Jay Pique" on 11/10/2005 7:39 AM

11/10/2005 8:53 AM

Thanks. I think I'll take a crack at one of them and see what it's
like. Further bulletins as events warrant. (FBAEW?.....Hmmm...what's
the process by which a new acronym is added to the compendium of usenet
jargon?)

JP
*********************************
Etymologically speaking?

bb

"brianlanning"

in reply to "Jay Pique" on 11/10/2005 7:39 AM

11/10/2005 12:19 PM

>> To get the magnets off of their steel backing you just soak them in acetone
>> overnight then slip them off.

>Just watch that you don't get any on your hands...

Yeah, it would suck if your fingernail polish came off. ;-)

brian

JP

"Jay Pique"

in reply to "Jay Pique" on 11/10/2005 7:39 AM

12/10/2005 2:16 PM

Well folks, I've made an "executive decision" and decided not to take
the magnets out of the old computers. I had access to a dozen or so
that were being disposed of but I really need to start using my time
more effectively if I'm going to try and improve my woodworking skills
- and my bottom line!

JP
*******************************************************
What's the opposite of green? In the black?

JP

"Jay Pique"

in reply to "Jay Pique" on 11/10/2005 7:39 AM

13/10/2005 2:23 PM


Charles Spitzer wrote:

> http://www.wondermagnets.com/cgi-bin/edatcat/WMSstore.pl?user_action=list&category=Magnets_and_Magnetism%3BPermanent_Magnets

They are a bit cheaper than Lee Valley from that store, and a little
bit more cheaper (?) when you get them through Pie's store on eBay.
(Which is the same entity).

JP

ma

"mywebaccts (at) PLUGcomcast.net" <"mywebaccts (at) PLUGcomcast.net">

in reply to "Jay Pique" on 11/10/2005 7:39 AM

11/10/2005 4:29 PM

The magnets you're referring to are called "neodymium magnets" ... or
"rare earth magnets". Neodymium is a 'rare earth' element. The term
'rare earth' was used many years ago when such metals were in fact rare.

Neodymium is, as one reader noted, very fragile. If you break the
magnets, you'll get sharp splinters. Be careful.

Personally, I would say just buy them! They're fairly inexpensive and
you can more easily find the exact size and shape you're looking for.

Jack

Jay Pique wrote:
> Are there usable magnets in old computers that might be good for making
> things in a woodshop - like magnetic featherboards? And if so, are
> they worth the trouble of getting them out?
>
> JP
>

md

mac davis

in reply to "Jay Pique" on 11/10/2005 7:39 AM

13/10/2005 8:52 AM

On 12 Oct 2005 14:16:08 -0700, "Jay Pique" <[email protected]> wrote:

>Well folks, I've made an "executive decision" and decided not to take
>the magnets out of the old computers. I had access to a dozen or so
>that were being disposed of but I really need to start using my time
>more effectively if I'm going to try and improve my woodworking skills
>- and my bottom line!
>
>JP
>*******************************************************
>What's the opposite of green? In the black?

Probably a good decision... Do what you enjoy doing and spend a few bucks on
magnets...
There are several folks on Ebay that specialize in Rare Earth Magnets... "Pie"
is one of them...
I bought 100 thin 3/8" dia. magnets for $20 plus shipping on a "buy it now" and
use them all the time... going to order some larger ones next..

I just bought a few larger diameter ones at Lee Valley, and though they are
probably very good quality, they were way more expensive than the ones on
Ebay... YMMV


mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

DH

Dave Hinz

in reply to "Jay Pique" on 11/10/2005 7:39 AM

11/10/2005 2:40 PM

On 11 Oct 2005 07:39:01 -0700, Jay Pique <[email protected]> wrote:
> Are there usable magnets in old computers that might be good for making
> things in a woodshop - like magnetic featherboards?

Yup, in the hard drives.

> And if so, are
> they worth the trouble of getting them out?

Couple screws, 10 minutes per drive maybe, 2 very strong magnets. The
blood blisters are a free benefit if you choose to look at it that way.

Dave Hinz

DH

Dave Hinz

in reply to "Jay Pique" on 11/10/2005 7:39 AM

11/10/2005 6:16 PM

On Tue, 11 Oct 2005 16:37:05 GMT, Edwin Pawlowski <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Careful when opening the hard drives. If it has everything deleted you're
> safe, but if the drive is nearly full, do it over a trash can. All the 1's
> and 0's spill out and make a mess worse than packing peanuts.

Well yes, of course, but keep in mind if it's less than 80% full, you
can run a defrag so that all the bits are on the platters below the top
one. That way they don't spill out because the top one acts as a lid.

DH

Dave Hinz

in reply to "Jay Pique" on 11/10/2005 7:39 AM

11/10/2005 6:27 PM

On Tue, 11 Oct 2005 10:53:10 -0700, J <[email protected]> wrote:
> Just a tip:
>
> To get the magnets off of their steel backing you just soak them in acetone
> overnight then slip them off.

Just watch that you don't get any on your hands...

Dave "Is it a cliche' yet?" Hinz

JG

Joe Gorman

in reply to "Jay Pique" on 11/10/2005 7:39 AM

11/10/2005 11:00 AM

Dave Hinz wrote:
> On 11 Oct 2005 07:39:01 -0700, Jay Pique <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>Are there usable magnets in old computers that might be good for making
>>things in a woodshop - like magnetic featherboards?
>
>
> Yup, in the hard drives.
>
>
>>And if so, are
>>they worth the trouble of getting them out?
>
>
> Couple screws, 10 minutes per drive maybe, 2 very strong magnets. The
> blood blisters are a free benefit if you choose to look at it that way.
>
> Dave Hinz

Be careful about letting the magnets slam into each other, they will
crack and-or chip. The older larger ones will hold together with my
hand in between, awes the grandkids to see it 'sticking' to my hand.
Joe

Ee

"EXT"

in reply to "Jay Pique" on 11/10/2005 7:39 AM

11/10/2005 3:30 PM


<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On 11 Oct 2005 08:53:20 -0700, "Jay Pique" <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
> >Thanks. I think I'll take a crack at one of them and see what it's
> >like. Further bulletins as events warrant. (FBAEW?.....Hmmm...what's
> >the process by which a new acronym is added to the compendium of usenet
> >jargon?)
> >
> >JP
> >*********************************
> >Etymologically speaking?
>
>
> The magnets in the newer hard drives are pretty unrewarding. They are
> strong but very small. Now back in the 3380 days you got MAGNETS (the
> size of pavers)

Get bigger, more powerful, donut shaped magnets out of dead microwaves. Took
one apart and found 2 large magnets.

BL

Barry Lennox

in reply to "Jay Pique" on 11/10/2005 7:39 AM

12/10/2005 10:18 PM

On 11 Oct 2005 07:39:01 -0700, "Jay Pique" <[email protected]>
wrote:

>Are there usable magnets in old computers that might be good for making
>things in a woodshop - like magnetic featherboards? And if so, are
>they worth the trouble of getting them out?
>
Yes, but then I'm a packrat. And don't overlook old microwave ovens,
there's a couple of great doughnut-shaped magnets in each magnetron.

Be careful of the high voltage cap tho, short it out with a
screwdriver, I have never found one live yet (they have a built-in
bleeder resistor) but Murphy may live in your street.

Barry Lennox

FS

"Frank S."

in reply to "Jay Pique" on 11/10/2005 7:39 AM

13/10/2005 7:36 PM

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
--------------000303080009020906080304
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Check out www.allelectronics.com. They have Rare Earth magnets there.
They sell surplus electronics "stuff"

Frank

Jay Pique wrote:

>Charles Spitzer wrote:
>
>
>
>>http://www.wondermagnets.com/cgi-bin/edatcat/WMSstore.pl?user_action=list&category=Magnets_and_Magnetism%3BPermanent_Magnets
>>
>>
>
>They are a bit cheaper than Lee Valley from that store, and a little
>bit more cheaper (?) when you get them through Pie's store on eBay.
>(Which is the same entity).
>
>JP
>
>
>

--------------000303080009020906080304
Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
<meta content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type">
<title></title>
</head>
<body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000">
Check out <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.allelectronics.com">www.allelectronics.com</a>. They have Rare Earth magnets there. <br>
They sell surplus electronics "stuff"<br>
<br>
Frank<br>
<br>
Jay Pique wrote:
<blockquote
cite="[email protected]"
type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Charles Spitzer wrote:

</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap=""><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.wondermagnets.com/cgi-bin/edatcat/WMSstore.pl?user_action=list&category=Magnets_and_Magnetism%3BPermanent_Magnets">http://www.wondermagnets.com/cgi-bin/edatcat/WMSstore.pl?user_action=list&amp;category=Magnets_and_Magnetism%3BPermanent_Magnets</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->
They are a bit cheaper than Lee Valley from that store, and a little
bit more cheaper (?) when you get them through Pie's store on eBay.
(Which is the same entity).

JP

</pre>
</blockquote>
</body>
</html>

--------------000303080009020906080304--

JE

"John Emmons"

in reply to "Jay Pique" on 11/10/2005 7:39 AM

11/10/2005 4:51 PM

rimshot...

don't forget to tip your waitress ladies and gentlemen...


John

"Edwin Pawlowski" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:RSR2f.1559$KR1.1143@trndny06...
>
> "Jay Pique" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Thanks. I think I'll take a crack at one of them and see what it's
> > like. Further bulletins as events warrant. (FBAEW?.....Hmmm...what's
> > the process by which a new acronym is added to the compendium of usenet
> > jargon?)
>
> Careful when opening the hard drives. If it has everything deleted you're
> safe, but if the drive is nearly full, do it over a trash can. All the
1's
> and 0's spill out and make a mess worse than packing peanuts.
>
>

EP

"Edwin Pawlowski"

in reply to "Jay Pique" on 11/10/2005 7:39 AM

11/10/2005 4:37 PM


"Jay Pique" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Thanks. I think I'll take a crack at one of them and see what it's
> like. Further bulletins as events warrant. (FBAEW?.....Hmmm...what's
> the process by which a new acronym is added to the compendium of usenet
> jargon?)

Careful when opening the hard drives. If it has everything deleted you're
safe, but if the drive is nearly full, do it over a trash can. All the 1's
and 0's spill out and make a mess worse than packing peanuts.

Cn

"Clint"

in reply to "Jay Pique" on 11/10/2005 7:39 AM

11/10/2005 5:53 PM

I've killed a few HD's, and used the magents to keep things like the chuck
key on my drill press. They're a funny shape and there's usually another
chunk of metal attached to them, so I haven't found a use for embedding them
in a project like you might for the nice round ones from Lee Valley.

As others have mentioned, they are powerful, so it's not a good idea to let
the kids play with them (at least not ones the age of my kids).

--
Clint
"Jay Pique" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Are there usable magnets in old computers that might be good for making
> things in a woodshop - like magnetic featherboards? And if so, are
> they worth the trouble of getting them out?
>
> JP
>

Jm

"J"

in reply to "Jay Pique" on 11/10/2005 7:39 AM

11/10/2005 10:53 AM

Just a tip:

To get the magnets off of their steel backing you just soak them in acetone
overnight then slip them off.

-j


"Jay Pique" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Thanks. I think I'll take a crack at one of them and see what it's
> like. Further bulletins as events warrant. (FBAEW?.....Hmmm...what's
> the process by which a new acronym is added to the compendium of usenet
> jargon?)
>
> JP
> *********************************
> Etymologically speaking?
>

Ks

"Kevin"

in reply to "Jay Pique" on 11/10/2005 7:39 AM

11/10/2005 1:54 PM

Others have mentioned some of the cautions of using these. Here's another,
keep them well away from any magnetic storage media (floppies, zip drives)
and well away from computer monitors. Strange, unbeneficial things can
happen if you don't.


"Joe Gorman" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Dave Hinz wrote:
> > On 11 Oct 2005 07:39:01 -0700, Jay Pique <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> >>Are there usable magnets in old computers that might be good for making
> >>things in a woodshop - like magnetic featherboards?
> >
> >
> > Yup, in the hard drives.
> >
> >
> >>And if so, are
> >>they worth the trouble of getting them out?
> >
> >
> > Couple screws, 10 minutes per drive maybe, 2 very strong magnets. The
> > blood blisters are a free benefit if you choose to look at it that way.
> >
> > Dave Hinz
>
> Be careful about letting the magnets slam into each other, they will
> crack and-or chip. The older larger ones will hold together with my
> hand in between, awes the grandkids to see it 'sticking' to my hand.
> Joe

CS

"Charles Spitzer"

in reply to "Jay Pique" on 11/10/2005 7:39 AM

13/10/2005 11:00 AM


"mac davis" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On 12 Oct 2005 14:16:08 -0700, "Jay Pique" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>Well folks, I've made an "executive decision" and decided not to take
>>the magnets out of the old computers. I had access to a dozen or so
>>that were being disposed of but I really need to start using my time
>>more effectively if I'm going to try and improve my woodworking skills
>>- and my bottom line!
>>
>>JP
>>*******************************************************
>>What's the opposite of green? In the black?
>
> Probably a good decision... Do what you enjoy doing and spend a few bucks
> on
> magnets...
> There are several folks on Ebay that specialize in Rare Earth Magnets...
> "Pie"
> is one of them...
> I bought 100 thin 3/8" dia. magnets for $20 plus shipping on a "buy it
> now" and
> use them all the time... going to order some larger ones next..
>
> I just bought a few larger diameter ones at Lee Valley, and though they
> are
> probably very good quality, they were way more expensive than the ones on
> Ebay... YMMV

try
http://www.wondermagnets.com/cgi-bin/edatcat/WMSstore.pl?user_action=list&category=Magnets_and_Magnetism%3BPermanent_Magnets

>
> mac
>
> Please remove splinters before emailing

g

in reply to "Jay Pique" on 11/10/2005 7:39 AM

12/10/2005 5:44 PM

On 12 Oct 2005 14:16:08 -0700, "Jay Pique" <[email protected]>
wrote:

>Well folks, I've made an "executive decision" and decided not to take
>the magnets out of the old computers. I had access to a dozen or so
>that were being disposed of but I really need to start using my time
>more effectively if I'm going to try and improve my woodworking skills
>- and my bottom line!
>
>JP
>*******************************************************
>What's the opposite of green? In the black?


If the drives work your time is better spent selling them on Ebay.

They are worth about a board foot of good wood each ;-)

g

in reply to "Jay Pique" on 11/10/2005 7:39 AM

11/10/2005 12:53 PM

On 11 Oct 2005 08:53:20 -0700, "Jay Pique" <[email protected]>
wrote:

>Thanks. I think I'll take a crack at one of them and see what it's
>like. Further bulletins as events warrant. (FBAEW?.....Hmmm...what's
>the process by which a new acronym is added to the compendium of usenet
>jargon?)
>
>JP
>*********************************
>Etymologically speaking?


The magnets in the newer hard drives are pretty unrewarding. They are
strong but very small. Now back in the 3380 days you got MAGNETS (the
size of pavers)

b

in reply to "Jay Pique" on 11/10/2005 7:39 AM

11/10/2005 6:28 PM

On Tue, 11 Oct 2005 16:37:05 GMT, "Edwin Pawlowski" <[email protected]>
wrote:

>
>Careful when opening the hard drives. If it has everything deleted you're
>safe, but if the drive is nearly full, do it over a trash can. All the 1's
>and 0's spill out and make a mess worse than packing peanuts.
>




<G>

md

mac davis

in reply to "Jay Pique" on 11/10/2005 7:39 AM

14/10/2005 9:14 AM

On Thu, 13 Oct 2005 11:00:53 -0700, "Charles Spitzer"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>
>"mac davis" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>> On 12 Oct 2005 14:16:08 -0700, "Jay Pique" <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>>Well folks, I've made an "executive decision" and decided not to take
>>>the magnets out of the old computers. I had access to a dozen or so
>>>that were being disposed of but I really need to start using my time
>>>more effectively if I'm going to try and improve my woodworking skills
>>>- and my bottom line!
>>>
>>>JP
>>>*******************************************************
>>>What's the opposite of green? In the black?
>>
>> Probably a good decision... Do what you enjoy doing and spend a few bucks
>> on
>> magnets...
>> There are several folks on Ebay that specialize in Rare Earth Magnets...
>> "Pie"
>> is one of them...
>> I bought 100 thin 3/8" dia. magnets for $20 plus shipping on a "buy it
>> now" and
>> use them all the time... going to order some larger ones next..
>>
>> I just bought a few larger diameter ones at Lee Valley, and though they
>> are
>> probably very good quality, they were way more expensive than the ones on
>> Ebay... YMMV
>
>try
>http://www.wondermagnets.com/cgi-bin/edatcat/WMSstore.pl?user_action=list&category=Magnets_and_Magnetism%3BPermanent_Magnets

that's the same guy..lol
"pie" on Ebay is "force-field magnets", which is at the "wondermagnets" url...

it's a VERY small world, sometimes!



mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

md

mac davis

in reply to "Jay Pique" on 11/10/2005 7:39 AM

12/10/2005 8:52 AM

On Tue, 11 Oct 2005 17:53:10 GMT, "Clint" <[email protected]> wrote:

>I've killed a few HD's, and used the magents to keep things like the chuck
>key on my drill press. They're a funny shape and there's usually another
>chunk of metal attached to them, so I haven't found a use for embedding them
>in a project like you might for the nice round ones from Lee Valley.
>
>As others have mentioned, they are powerful, so it's not a good idea to let
>the kids play with them (at least not ones the age of my kids).

I take advantage of the funny shape for holding tools... and the metal backings
on the HD's that I took apart had 2 handy mounting holes on them..


mac

Please remove splinters before emailing


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