Last year for Christmas, I gave Noelle four Neodymium rare earth (NdFeB) magnets that I purchased on eBay. They are each one-inch cubes coated with nickle and are N48 strong. When two of them stick together, they are amazingly hard to separate without a vise. They were intended to help her find lost screws, etc. around her farm (which might otherwise injure the horses).
For her birthday, I made a magnet holder for them. I went to Tap Plastics and bought some plastic cement and quarter-inch thick polycarbonate plastic, which is very strong stuff. The plastic I machined and cut to form a container for up to eight magnets like the ones mentioned above. The plastic is held together mostly by tongue-in-groove joints, but it wasn't finished, though. I still had to glue it together and she wanted a handle. She kept forgetting to lend me the magnets, so I finished it only today (six months after her birthday).
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Only two magnets have been inserted. The handle was originally from a paint roller; here it is shown retracted to the minimum length. |
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Here the handle is locked in the fully extended position. A yardstick is juxtaposed for comparison. |
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The Velcro is pulled back and the plastic is slid partially open so the magnets may be accessed. |
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There is a knob that allows the end to tilt. The black on the end is Velcro. |