What is this called and where do I buy one???

[Joe Gwinn]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]22098[/ATTACH]

I know I can make one with two magnets and a clamp. But I would like to eventually have one of these.

-Robert

It appears to be a magnetron magnet, perhaps from a microwave oven.

The material will be alnico.

[Chris Turner]

K&J Magnets

K&J Magnetics - Strong Neodymium Magnets, Rare Earth Magnets

Also check out Applied Magnets

[rhgwynn]

It appears to be a magnetron magnet, perhaps from a microwave oven.

The material will be alnico.

Yeah, I thought it was just an opposing magnet fixture used for charging alnico....

-Rob

[Stratz]

Just be really careful with multiple neos.

Absolutely! Any neo magnets for that matter.
The Neo charger I built has a combined pull force of over 300lbs. You have to be very focused when using it as it can easily crush bones.
I still feel uncomfortable around the thing when charging bar magnets.

The drill press vise's many people use are built to clamp down, not to hold back such force.
I suggest using a regular shop vise rather than a drill press vise.

[David Schwab]

The drill press vise's many people use are built to clamp down, not to hold back such force.
I suggest using a regular shop vise rather than a drill press vise.

???

They have a threaded screw to open and close the jaws, just like any other vice. A couple of neo magnets can't pull the jaws shut. Nothing can pull the jaws shut unless it turns the screw.

If you get the two jaws too close the neos will pull off and stick together. But you can get them very close.

[Stratz]

???

They have a threaded screw to open and close the jaws, just like any other vice. A couple of neo magnets can't pull the jaws shut. Nothing can pull the jaws shut unless it turns the screw.

If you get the two jaws too close the neos will pull off and stick together. But you can get them very close.

A Palmgren vise such as yours is top quality and very expensive so it may be somewhat safer than what I imagine most builders would likely purchase just to hold a couple of magnets. But ask any machinist here who has seen the lower quality vises that are available today and they'll tell you the same thing I wrote above.

The only thing holding the movable jaw to the screw is a POS 1/4" or M6 screw or even worse, a simple roll pin as shown in the black square in the pic below.

Drill press vises are not meant to hold any pulling force, they're built to to clamp down and they are very dangerous with big neos. Trust me.

[ken]

I made one of these 'vise magnetizers' myself with a small Harbor Freight vise and a couple of Stewmac's large neo magnets.

I just dropped mine on the floor, and one of the magnets broke loose from the vise jaw somehow and shattered.

A word of advice.... if you build one of these and you're not actually using it right now, please put a good sized piece of wood or soft plastic
between the jaws and close the jaws tight on it so the magnets can't come loose if you drop yours.

ken

[soundguruman]

No, never gave it any thought...
Sorry for the bad jpg, use the GIF above.

[David Schwab]

A Palmgren vise such as yours is top quality and very expensive so it may be somewhat safer than what I imagine most builders would likely purchase just to hold a couple of magnets. But ask any machinist here who has seen the lower quality vises that are available today and they'll tell you the same thing I wrote above.

The only thing holding the movable jaw to the screw is a POS 1/4" or M6 screw or even worse, a simple roll pin as shown in the black square in the pic below.

Drill press vises are not meant to hold any pulling force, they're built to to clamp down and they are very dangerous with big neos. Trust me.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]22253[/ATTACH]

The magnets that I'm showing in my vice will not pull that jaw off. You don't need magnets larger than that, and you wont ever have the two jaws that close.

That vice used to be my dad's. I had two of them. The other one had a stand. I have no idea what happened to that one. You can pick them up used though.

This one is only $35

STEWMAC.COM : Nut and Saddle Vise

[big_teee]

This one would work also.
Drill Press Vise w/ 4" Jaw
I use some weaker Neos, and stack them.
Then for weaker applications I like to put ceramic bar magnets between the NEOs.
I run some of my bars between the Ceramics.
There are all kinds of ways you can use them.
Everyone needs to use safety glasses or goggles in the shop anyway.
Especially with big magnets. You only get one set of Eyes!

[rhgwynn]

This one would work also.
Drill Press Vise w/ 4" Jaw
I use some weaker Neos, and stack them.
Then for weaker applications I like to put ceramic bar magnets between the NEOs.
I run some of my bars between the Ceramics.
There are all kinds of ways you can use them.
Everyone needs to use safety glasses or goggles in the shop anyway.
Especially with big magnets. You only get one set of Eyes!

That's the vise I bought. Works great. I also bought 2 - 1" x 2" x 3/8" N52 magnets for it. Holy crap I have never possessed magnets so strong! The came attached with a spacer and I could only get them apart with the vise (closing it on them then opening it back up), and even then, I had to pry them away from each other... These magnets will eff sheet up, like your fingers - just watch this if you dont believe me - the cherry tomato is your finger btw:

-Rob

[big_teee]

Good Vid!
It Scared The HellOutOfMe!

[Stratz]

The magnets that I'm showing in my vice will not pull that jaw off. You don't need magnets larger than that, and you wont ever have the two jaws that close.

Maybe you don't need larger magnets but I do Will those little magnets you use put a FULL and EVEN charge on an Alnico 2 bar magnet?
I used to have two 3"x 1/2 x 1/2 N50 magnets (150+ lbs combined pull) epoxied to the same vise that Terry shows in the link below and it barely charged A2 bars to 700 gauss (without using the aluminum channel shown in the pic) .
By the time I evened the charge out it would drop to around 650 gauss which is not acceptable to me for all applications.
It's a cheap vise and it's very dangerous.


I now use two 4" x 1" x 1/2" N50's and it has a combined pull of over 300 lbs. Very very dangerous.
Look at the drawing below and you will see a tiny roll pin that holds the moveable jaw to the screw. It simply fits in a grove (circled in grey) in the jaw screw. The Harbor Freight 4" vise has a cheesy little M6 screw rather than the roll pin. I'm not sure which is more dangerous but I don't feel at all comfortable using it.

This one would work also.
Drill Press Vise w/ 4" Jaw

See my above post Terry, they're just not safe with magnets big enough to fully charge bar magnets. Just flip one over and you'll see what I mean.
I have two more new 4" magnets but I'm waiting until I find a good quality used USA made bench vise to mount them to because I don't want to use my 60 year shop vise for a designated charger as I use it for many other projects and much more often than I charge alnico bars.

I'll say it again, a drill press vise is built to clamp down on materials, it's not built to hold back 100's of lbs of pull.

[Stratz]

???

They have a threaded screw to open and close the jaws, just like any other vice. A couple of neo magnets can't pull the jaws shut. Nothing can pull the jaws shut unless it turns the screw.

If you get the two jaws too close the neos will pull off and stick together. But you can get them very close.

If the magnets I use were to "pull off" they would crush most anything in their way (fingers included) and shatter all over the place if they collided.

[Stratz]

Why was my post edited?

David, can I ask why you edited my post (#21)
I'm fairly certain that there was nothing in it that violated any forum rules