So as a new owner I am a little paranoid about what I can and can not use. I see all the other threads about what magnets are being used but none that answer my question.
We have several of these bar magnets that come from Harborfreight and are pretty cheap. They fit well in the GF and are low enough to have a good amount of clearance between the honeycomb and the head.
We just wanted to make sure that there was no issue with putting them in the GF before we continue to use them. They are metal cased but they are wrapped in ductape now.
OH! and if you look on the main page there is a FREE coupon for this magnet bar as of right now.
The head to honeycomb clearance is not what you want to check. There is an air assist port behind the head that hangs down significantly lower than the head. If it hits a magnet or material it may dislodge the gantry from the rails when moving.
I have one of those and use it to hold assorted weeding picks and tools (many of those are from HF,too). As others have said, it’s the bottom of the assist fan that’s the critical height. Don’t forget that the magnet will be sitting on top of your material, so you’ll have to add its height, too.
Here’s another gotcha when using thick magnets --I used to use some 1/4" thick ceramic magnets until I saw them jump off a sheet of plywood and attach themselves to the bottom of the gantry. Luckily I was watching and was able to lift the lid (stopping the print) before the head slammed into the magnet!
From that day on it was thin taped neos only, supplemented with the wood pegs when they arrived on the scene.
So far I’ve been using magnets I bought to sew into bags for closures (because I had them) and made lots of the pins (there are in the free design section), so far OK for the materials I use (mainly leathers and med PG ply & acrylics), though will need to get some new magnets soon (the ones I have tend to be brittle and break).
And be sure to verify the magnets are not near the path for any cuts or etching–until you are really comfortable with you alignment offset (between GFUI and actual), give yourself at least 1".
And a good tip is to etch before cut–if needed, drag the artwork up or down in the left bar of the GFUI.
this is one of the things i like about using salvaged hard drive magnets. mine are still attached to the metal plates they were mounted to in the hard drive. that gives me two benefits.
it means the top of the magnet has already dissipated much of the magnetism into the metal plate and despite the strong magnet, it’s unlikely to pull up at anything above it.
the metal plate is larger than the magnet, so i can hang just the edge of the metal plate over the material and have the actual magnet surface stay closer to the crumb tray, thus making the hold a little stronger. and they’re strong magnets to begin with.
I use the lip, overhang on the metal plate to put over the material I am trying to secure. That way I get very strong holding power to hold warped wood down.
