Thread: Living and learning.

OK.......Fess up time.........I've done that........twice!!

Originally Posted by watson

OK.......Fess up time.........I've done that........twice!!

Me too. Was able to drill in behind one of the magnets and get it out. Now, I pair them up and mark the outside ends with marking pen. Then the marked end always goes into the hole.

I feel better now.

Rather than pairing magnets up, I'll put a magnet and ferrous plate near each corner. Gives the same holding force overall and it doesn't matter if I glue the plate in backwards.

Then again, I rarely make boxes I'm willing to display here...

to avoid repeating the problem I've used a piece of clear plastic to separate both magnets, (you could call it a sandwich). Glue one place connect the other using the plastic divider and insert it into the other section.

Shirt boxes and the like provide an excellent source for the plastic.

Sorry about the pun, but this method has a certain magnetism for me!!!!

There was a box in the UK mag which used this method to open the drawers automatically. The box was round (a flower actually and each draw had a magnet. When you rotated a spindle the magnets attached to the spindle came in line with the magnets in the drawers and they popped open (and opened the petals).

I've done the wrong polarity trick too and not discovered it until after the epoxy had gone off! Some epoxy glues - (thankfully including the one I used - the 5 min stuff) lose adhesion when exposed to high or even medium temperature and, after applying judicious heat with a small soldering iron, I was able to extract the magnet (with another!) without wrecking all my hard work.

Thanks for that tipe Andycap. useful to know for when I get into trouble next time.