rare earth magnets

[alpinehyperlite]

Does anyone know anything about Rare earth magnets. I know they are in hard-drives.... but where? I got a few old hard-drives that i wana gut and take the magnets out to use to mount a body..... but idk where to even begin looking. And how many are in a hard-drive?

 

[Candyman]

Been a while since I've dismantled something like that, but I'm assuming they're the field magnets in the HD motor.

OOOps. I'm wrong. Here's a cool-ish article on how to get at them...

http://www.dansdata.com/magnets.htm

 

[ohmygahitscoby]

Found this off of Google. Not sure if it's true or not though.

 

[beason]

they are mounted to two plates inside the drive. they are used to control the movement of the read arms. just take the top plate off, and you should see them.

 

[alpinehyperlite]

ok. Imma try and find some.... also found some at radio-shack..... think they are worth a damn? 1/8 in rare earth mag for 99c each.

 

[flm_savage]

dude we need to stop hanging out. i was thinking about using magnets for a body mount as well.

 

[alpinehyperlite]

Imma try it today with them radio shack rare earth magnets.... from some of the carnage i have seen them things do, ill bet they will do great with these hardbodies.

 

[flm_savage]

i agree. the velcro might not be enough IMO.

 

[ohmygahitscoby]

The 1/8 ones should do fine. I have the same sized ones and they hold together pretty good.

 

[alpinehyperlite]

They are very strong, but idk if 4 sets will hold the hardbody onto it..... maybe......

 

[frickenjoey]

I used them on my RC10 goldtub years ago..... I didn't come up with on my own and I am not sure who gave me the idea of it, but either way; It was pretty slick. Only problem I had was sticking them to the body and getting them to stay.

 

[beason]

with a hard body, you could use some nice strong epoxy. i could see where a lexan body would be a problem though.

Just fair warning. be VERY careful with those things. they WILL hurt out. you have been warned.

this is an extreme case, but even the little ones pack enough power to give you a good pinch.

(warning, graphic pictures.)

http://gizmodo.com/5156490/guy-loses-a-chunk-of-his-finger-in-neodymium-magnet-accident-nsfw

 

[frickenjoey]

They were super flexible bodies so I would have to re-glue at least weekly it seemed. I have a few old hard drives around I will have to check 'em out.

 

[alpinehyperlite]

Plus, on the lexan, the paint is on the bottom, so you could easily pull the paint off instead of separating the magnets.

 

[Amoeba]

I did rare earth magnet mounts on my drifter (see Member projects thread for pics/details) and they work very well. You can order them online for really cheap and get the size/shape/strength you want which may be better than pulling apart hard drives. I think I picked up 12 countersunk ring-type N40's for like $8 from http://www.rare-earth-magnets.com/

If you do go this route, don't do a magnet to washer like I did initially since it will have a tendency to slide around a little. It works much better if you have one magnet on the body post and the other magnet on the body underside. The magnets lock onto each other and don't alow for any body movement.