Magnets

[Gary Dowler]

Gents,

Saw a pic on here once with a guy who had covered his bench in steel and used square magnets to align parts for assembly.
I thought it was an interesting idea, so I ordered some square magnets off fleabay.  Apparently not all magnets are equal as these are not magnetized on the edges and only attract on the flats. Not useful. Did more looking on line, and I find all sorts of 1" sq types that will work, for about $4 each. Not economically viable if you need 40-50 to align all the ribs on a wing.
Anyone familiar with using magnets? Where did you get them?

Gary

[Tim Wescott]

I'm not sure what you're experiencing, but a properly magnetized magnet with a flat pole piece will tend to pull things to the center of the pole.  That's not a "faulty magnet", that's just how the universe works.  Maybe take a picture?

K&J Magnetics is where I get magnets.  They're every bit as good as I expect them to be.

I have a bunch of surplus parts made of brass that are nicely squared off.  As long as parts fit, straddling them with a pair of brass blocks will hold them vertical.  If they don't fit then you're gluing stresses into your structure, and you don't want that anyway.

[Tony Drago]

Gary.
 I bought at bunch of magnets at Harbor Freight. 2 in a pack for .99 They are rectangle. They are approx.  3/4 x 1-7/8 and 3/8 thick. They are ceramic and strong. Haven't had one break yet.

[Mike Griffin]

Gents,

Saw a pic on here once with a guy who had covered his bench in steel and used square magnets to align parts for assembly.
I thought it was an interesting idea, so I ordered some square magnets off fleabay.  Apparently not all magnets are equal as these are not magnetized on the edges and only attract on the flats. Not useful. Did more looking on line, and I find all sorts of 1" sq types that will work, for about $4 each. Not economically viable if you need 40-50 to align all the ribs on a wing.
Anyone familiar with using magnets? Where did you get them?

Gary

Gary that guy who was using the magnetic building board may have been me.  I also did a You Tube Video on building with magnets.  I am attaching a link that will take you to the source from where I buy my magnets.  Also there is a great article on building with magnets on Airfield Models website.  Here is the link to the magnets:

http://www.magnetsource.com/airfieldmodels/

Mike

[Mike Griffin]

Here is the short video I did on using magnets.

[Tim Wescott]

Gary that guy who was using the magnetic building board may have been me.  I also did a You Tube Video on building with magnets.  I am attaching a link that will take you to the source from where I buy my magnets.  Also there is a great article on building with magnets on Airfield Models website.  Here is the link to the magnets:

http://www.magnetsource.com/airfieldmodels/

Mike

OK.  That kind of magnet will only stick on the edges -- the steel end pieces concentrate the lines of force, so they tend to stick off the edges of the end pieces.  If you get a magnet that looks like that, it should work like that.

Prolly better than the rare-earth magnets I mentioned -- those'll stick to each other like bandits, to the extent that if you let them fly into each other they can break, and let off shrapnel.

[Joe Bowman]

Gary, You can look at the magnets at this site https://easybuiltmodels.com/.  There are two different strengths of magnets available.  20 of them for $8.99.  Its what I use on my steel building table.