Tempering MAgnets

[NightWinder]

I have seen this "tempering" of magnets come up every now and then. What exactly is tempering, and how is it done. IS it simply evening out the magnetic pull in the magnet so it is equal?
I have also heard that some Bake there magnets? Puzzled. Any takes on this?

[SK66]

I "bake" my magnets, that IS tempering. Thru testing I orignally found it to even them out some and make them more consistent. It's a habit I got into and haven't ever gone back to recheck my results..I should, especially now that I have a rather expensive commercial Gaussmeter as opposed to a homebuilt "comparative" meter...

[ken]

I have an old 1920's? college physics text around here that says that if you want to 'temper' magnets used in electrical meters, one way was to boil them for a hour in water and let cool in the same water till room temperature. Supposedly, this drained off some of the magnetic charge, making what remained more stable and less apt to demagnetize with time.

Ken

[NightWinder]

I "bake" my magnets, that IS tempering. Thru testing I orignally found it to even them out some and make them more consistent. It's a habit I got into and haven't ever gone back to recheck my results..I should, especially now that I have a rather expensive commercial Gaussmeter as opposed to a homebuilt "comparative" meter...

I have read thaat on your site, and was hoping you would chime in. IS your site still there? Sonicly speaking, can you tell a difference in TONE. Assuming that you are starting with a FULLY charged magnet, is there much degaussing in this "tempering", or is it a easy way to degauss? Great info on your site by the way. Thanks for shareing.

[SK66]

ther site is still there..start at ampge.com Both sites have a lot of information and links to other sites with usefull info.
As for the tempering, I think it generally just pulls them all down to thier "stable gauss" and Tonally, yes there is a BIG difference (or can be, everything's variable) between a freshly full charged mag and a tempered. The difference is like the difference between grades of Alnico, and I don't like the sound of freshly charged A5 much....but they quickly come down some.

[Dave Kerr]

baking recipe?

Care to share your tempering routine? 250F for an hour?

[ken]

Actually, 350F for about 45 minutes or so... and don't forget to poke holes in the top this time so it doesn't blow up in the oven.

Oops... sorry, Carolyn is making pie again and I was sidetracked. I hope it's cherry this time.

Anyhoo, I think you boil the magnets for an hour, the problem I have with this is it's a pain getting a pan of water big enough and full enough to boil for an hour without going dry.

Ken

[NightWinder]

So basically baking at 375 for 45 minutes? Or boiling them. Whats your take SK?

[SK66]

I use 350 for an hour...Don't really know why I came up with that...I didn't do alot of experimenting with it..just tried a few settings and settled on this.

[NightWinder]

I'm making clips, with protool, so matching a clip and teetering between the 2 will give some nice results, I guess the next logical step in the witches wheel of Inventions!! Thanks

[Possum]

come on.....

personally this tempering thing I think is one of those myths. If you want to knock off excess charge in alnico just push them together a couple times repelling eachother and they will hit their natural balance level. We had a big thread on tempering a couple years ago on ampage and one knowledgeable guy explained that alnico is tempered in its manufacturing process, its a metallurgical thing, not a gauss thing. Anyway my take on the whole thread at the end of all the info everyone came up with is that its pointless to boil your magnets or cook them (unless you use lots of garlic). It seems to me that people who do this stuff do it out of habit and not for any measurable tone results. Degaussing is real simple and you can hear the results, I DO use that one alot.

[madialex]

Degaussing is real simple and you can hear the results, I DO use that one alot.

I agree 110%

[NightWinder]

After some testing, i agree too. There was however a ever so slight degauss, but I also made sure they were charged to full capacity. That said, I have no PROBLEM testing things for myself, its better that way. YOU know, YOU did the work. BTW< there is NO AUDIABLE difference after baking! That I KNOW. TApe don't lie!!When its all said and done, its the Ears that tell the difference, otherwise we would'nt be doing this.
Sidenote, Thanks for everyones reply!