Neos

[David King]

I use a 1/2 ton press that has 4" of travel. It's very quick acting compared to a screw vise. I think a drill press would also work..

Now for charging PAF style bar magnets I would use the EDGES of the neo magnets to do the charging; Get two of the 2 x 2 x 1/2" neos and set them N side up on a 2 x 4 1/8" x 1/2" thick steel plate. Set a second steel plate on top and then pass the bars through the 1/8" (or .133") gap. The neo mag's fields are pretty uniform (easy to see a straight line on any of the 4 sides with mag viewing paper).

That might cause anomalies towards the end of the bar as it passes out of the tunnel so again a sliding apart action might be best but the main point is that your bars will have a nicely centered, uniform field.

[RedHouse]

I use a 1/2 ton press that has 4" of travel. It's very quick acting compared to a screw vise. I think a drill press would also work...

Naa, that's no good.
(for me anyway)

I don't want my arbor press (or drill press for that matter) set up for anything other than what I'm using them for now.

I'm interested in a small jig much like what we are discussing that can be set up (and left set up) for a single purpose.

[David King]

Brad,
I got the idea from using a neo to hold the quick-change cauls for my fret press. Switching out from one type of service to another can be very quick...

I suppose if you are using your press to work on antique pocket watches I can see where you wouldn't want to do this.

The presses aren't much more than a vise:
Amazon.com: 1/2 Ton Arbor Press: Home Improvement

[RedHouse]

Brad,
I got the idea from using a neo to hold the quick-change cauls for my fret press. Switching out from one type of service to another can be very quick...

I suppose if you are using your press to work on antique pocket watches I can see where you wouldn't want to do this.

The presses aren't much more than a vise:
Amazon.com: 1/2 Ton Arbor Press: Home Improvement

Naaa, still prefer the other idea.

[David King]

whoa,
I didn't know amazon could post ads like that automatically.
I hope T-boy is getting something in return for that..

[Mike Sulzer]

Well of course Mike, but we were chewing the fat about moving the target magnet out of the field w/o altering polar orientation.

It actually doesn't matter much, these Neo magnets have enough strength to do the job using either method, the target (bar) magnet will always need to go onto a jig to evenly distribute the charge (refrigerator) before degaussing to the appropriate level required for the pickup one is making. as theres more to preparing the magnet than just charging.

Oh, OK, I thought we were talking about how to prevent the target bar magnet from seeing a strong field at some angle to the desired direction at the end of the process.

[RedHouse]

Oh, OK, I thought we were talking about how to prevent the target bar magnet from seeing a strong field at some angle to the desired direction at the end of the process.

I'm sure Joe's around here somewhere if you're feeling that need to argue with someone.

[David Schwab]

Yeah, much better idea, maybe like this:

No, I mean with the magnets getting farther apart on both sides as you exit the charger. So you have a string field to start with which then tapers off as you exit.

It was based on Mike's idea. It would be a much longer bunch of magnets than passive between two bars.

[RedHouse]

No, I mean with the magnets getting farther apart on both sides as you exit the charger. So you have a string field to start with which then tapers off as you exit.

It was based on Mike's idea. It would be a much longer bunch of magnets than passive between two bars.

Ah, I see. That's what the bent bars would accomplish.

[Edit] BTW, appology's to Mike for being a smartass, I'm feeling spunky today, must have had way too much coffee this morning of something.

[csparks75]

It actually doesn't matter much, these Neo magnets have enough strength to do the job using either method, the target (bar) magnet will always need to go onto a jig to evenly distribute the charge (refrigerator) before degaussing to the appropriate level required for the pickup one is making. as theres more to preparing the magnet than just charging.

I'm curious about this, are you saying that even if the field is not even, you can even it out by leaving it on the fridge for a period of time?

I had just built my jig and ran some A2 and A4s through it and while I do not have mag paper, I could tell that the end that passed through the field last was noticeably stronger than any other part of the magnet....then I saw this thread, and shook my head, thinking I had wasted my time building that jig.

What else goes into magnet prep? Are any of the pickups I make with magnets that are charged on that jig going to suck?

[RedHouse]

There's some interesting ani-gif's here about what happens to the field from Neo's when bringing them together.

Example 5 "A pair of D42 magnets attracting, animated" seems relative to this discussion.

I'm curious about this, are you saying that even if the field is not even, you can even it out by leaving it on the fridge for a period of time?

It seems to, how do you charge and degauss?

[csparks75]

Well, I'm just a hobbyist and this is my first time charging my own magnets. So far, I'm just using a rig I threw together using a little 2 inch vice and some neos. I'm not looking for anything professional, but I also don't want whatever I build to sound like shite....so would I be better off finding a place to sells pre-magnetized bars, or continue to do it myself?

[RedHouse]

Well, I'm just a hobbyist and this is my first time charging my own magnets. So far, I'm just using a rig I threw together using a little 2 inch vice and some neos. I'm not looking for anything professional, but I also don't want whatever I build to sound like shite....so would I be better off finding a place to sells pre-magnetized bars, or continue to do it myself?

DIY baby, DIY.

Do you have a gauss meter? it's very useful when charging your own magnets, however you can get by without one (for a while).

I recall charging some A5 rods some years ago with a Neo (for Strat pickup). I wound it just like many rewinds done previously and kind of expected a "certain" sound, much to my surprise it sounded way different. It turned out to be I had charged the magnets too high, when I degaussed them a bit they sounded more like I had expected the pickup to sound.

This was long before I got the gaussmeter last summer so I can't say just what the charge was. At the time I was using the pocket-screwdriver technique for testing magnet strength.
("bone knives and bear skin rugs" ....Mr Spock)

Pre-charged magnets are convienient, but you have less control over the final character of the pickup.

BTW; I notice the use of the term "shite", are you scottish?

[csparks75]

DIY baby, DIY.

Do you have a gauss meter? it's very useful when charging your own magnets, however you can get by without one (for a while).

Not yet, but that's next on my list of purchases.

I recall charging some A5 rods some years ago with a Neo (for Strat pickup). I wound it just like many rewinds done previously and kind of expected a "certain" sound, much to my surprise it sounded way different. It turned out to be I had charged the magnets too high, when I degaussed them a bit they sounded more like I had expected the pickup to sound.

Is there some resource that sheds light on exactly how you would De-Gauss a bar magnet like we use in our pickups?

This was long before I got the gaussmeter last summer so I can't say just what the charge was. At the time I was using the pocket-screwdriver technique for testing magnet strength.
("bone knives and bear skin rugs" ....Mr Spock)

I'm unaware of that technique yet....I'll have to look that up....sounds high tech.

BTW; I notice the use of the term "shite", are you scottish?

No, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. :-) I've hung out with too many Brits and I watch way too much of their TV (Top Gear, anyone!?). America may be the land of the free, home of the brave (), but we are so uptight that people freak over the smallest wardrobe malfunctions.

[StarryNight]

crazy, but what if you had magnets hinged on a long stick suspended from the ceiling that would swing down and arc back up possibly applying the magnetic field with less distortion (for lack of a better word)