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Magnet problems


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So, I just started playing with magnets yesterday. I was putting it off for fear of messing up and decided to just bite the bullet and go for it.

 

I messed something up.

 

So, I was really careful to put the magnets in right so they would not repel each other. Imagine my surprise when they repelled each other. At first I just assumed I had messed up but then after thinking more I decided to test that, and found that the magnets somehow repel all other magnets now! They worked perfectly before installing them, but now either pole of the unused magnets repels them. How did this happen?

 

I used 1/16" magnets, hand drilled the holes, used Krazy Glue to affix them. I don't know if any of that is relevant.

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Here's something to think about.  If you put one magnet in the torso for the left arm and then put another in the right arm, you might find that the second magnet flips if it's close enough to the other.  You need to check when you put the first one in, that the second one is placed the correct way around so as not to cause any repelling if you like.  When you start adding a torso to leg magnet (not sure why you would if you already did the arms), you might find the wrong way up conflicts with the two arm magnets.

 

I often found the issue when putting in the second arm magnet inside the torso, flips etc.  I setup a little system and perma mark one side as I do each one so when it goes in I can see the marking is correct.

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My tip with magnets is always attach a long stack of them when mounting them into the hole, it prevents them flipping around and causing issues.

As noted above, multiple magnets in close proximity can cause an issue with the overall field but never managed to set it up so that the force from one over-rides another further away.

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I know this thread is a little onld... but, another good trick is to only use magnets on one side of the joint. 

 

Find some Steel or Iron Nails or pins and they should stick well. and if your very dedicated once you have the attached you can apply some heat to add some additional magnetism. You want a nice soft steel for this. (The easy of metal to magnetise is equal to its mechanical hardness). 

 

That way you do not have to worry about polarity's at all. 

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I think one of the magnets was no good.  Since that first try, I've done a dozen weapons or so and they've all worked.  I was wondering about using metal but I don't know where I would get ideal metal chunks to use.

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You can buy hobby scale roundbar at hobby and craft stores, it'll take a bit  of effort to cut it, but you can choose the diameter that works best. I suppose you could also try using paperclip pieces or even something out of a pen.

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Another "trick" if magnetizing arms is to get the polarity matched up across all four magnets:

(left arm +-)(+- torso +-)(+-right arm)

Not only does this give you a more homogenous magnetic field, it also enables you to store left and right arms sticking to each other, for example if you have several sets of arms per body.

 

I have also heard about putting some waxed paper between the magnet you want to glue in and the stack you use to guide them, to avoid gluing the others together.

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Another "trick" if magnetizing arms is to get the polarity matched up across all four magnets:

(left arm +-)(+- torso +-)(+-right arm)

Not only does this give you a more homogenous magnetic field, it also enables you to store left and right arms sticking to each other, for example if you have several sets of arms per body.

 

I have also heard about putting some waxed paper between the magnet you want to glue in and the stack you use to guide them, to avoid gluing the others together.

 

That does depend on the size (and there for strenght) of the individual magnets. 

 

Oh I also forgot, you can also get apps on most phones that can measure Magnetic Fields, (as most phones have tri-axial magnetometers in). But you do need some experimentation to know what the results mean...   

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