Thread: my carbo-magnetic vise ;)

Hard disk drives have some very powerful magnets in them as well. If you have an old one that's trashed, a few minutes with a screw driver and you're in business.

http://www.usbyte.com/common/HDD_3.htm#Basic - look for the magnets in the voice-coil actuator ( shown in the lower left of the image )

-Mike

The Rare Earth Magnets are also available at widgetsupply.com . For those living in southern ontario, "K-W Surplus" has a wide variety of these magnets, from tiny ones, about 1/8th" across, to larger 1" sq. (30lb capacity). The prices are also very good, starting at around $.50ea. I bought some of the large ones and the girl behind the counter handed me the large pile of them. She said, "Take as many as you want, I won't do it anymore, they hurt too much." They can give an awful pinch.

A note of caution with kids! Even small earth magnets, swallowed in amounts more than "1" can cause a great deal of damage. 2 medium sized magnets swallowed 20 minutes apart will send a person to the operating room!

And for those that can't find the amount of sticky tack needed, I'm sure that clay or unfired femo should work just as well. Even a scrap of leather would work, I expect.

Another note of caution:

Keep your credit cards, devices with hard drives, VHS tapes, etc, away from these magnets!

They quickly destroy information stored on magetic media, so don't sit down on these magnets with your wallet in the back pocket

Redwoood