<Blam!>ing magnets! How do they work?!

No not really, I know how they work. But I did have a question for everyone using their 'Forge. It seems to be universally recommended to use magnets to hold your material(s) down. I was just wondering if anyone could recommend what pull-strength I should be looking for, or the range of pull-strengths, depending on the materials. Thanks!

I just use neodymium magnets. Here’s a link. The large quarter sized 2 or 3mm thick ones work fine for almost everything I do so I don’t mess with others (although I have lots of smaller ones). I do have some rectangle ones (4"x1/2"x1/4" thick) but those are so strong I only use them when the space doesn’t allow for a round one and still get my cut.

I’ve used the smaller dime sized ones and some thicker but then you have to be careful of the head (air shroud) or a bunch of them scattered all over the board.

All available on Amazon for decent prices.

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I’m using these with the eyelets removed (they’re too tall). They hold strong enough to keep things in place but not so strong that they’re difficult to remove.

http://amzn.to/2zXgaEb

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I just picked some up at Hone Depot. The ones that are about the same size as hearing aid batteries.

Wrap them in a bit of tape so they don’t shatter when they jump at each other. I learned that the hard way.

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Neos are great for holding materials down (and even removing minor warps during prints), but I still use these 3/8" thick ceramic magnets (wrapped with gorilla tape) to secure the edges of materials (from the sides, not the top). They make great temporary jigs.

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These are the ones I use mostly.

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I might use ceramics on the base minus the honeycomb. For the honeycomb, pretty much always use neos. Most of mine are discs about 5mm thick and 25-50 mm across.

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I use the ceramic rectangle ones like @dwardio posted, wrapped in blue painters tape. They do make good temporary jigs, and also temporary stands with the honeycomb removed.

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Remember, GF staff have said that the only supported work holding is scrap proof grade materials and not magnets. I am not saying don’t use them, just recognize that GF does not recommend or support their use.

I thought @dan said they selected the material used in the crumb tray specifically so that magnets could be used…

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He did mention it, and it was brought up in that post I linked as well. I am not sure what to advise other than regardless of how you handle your GF, do so with a lot of caution and hesitation.

Quite sure the lawyers got involved. Can’t think of why except they are very careful to only support or mention Proofgrade. So standard practice is discussed in Beyond the Manual.

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Agreed, most certainly lawyers.

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Yeah, it’s got to be difficult being a lawyer for a company selling lasers to consumers. But not using magnets on the “crumb tray,” when being able to use magnets to hold material in place on the crumb tray is a feature, is about as silly as telling people not to cut cardboard when they have cardboard cutouts in the promotional video. In both cases, telling people to always watch while the laser is cutting, and to be prepared to shut the unit off, ought to be enough…

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Yeah, we’ll be glad to tell anyone common practices in Beyond the manual.

Many of the marketing video products use materials that are unsupported :slightly_smiling_face: Things like cardboard, paper, rocks, aluminum, laptops, etc have no PG equivalents so according to the FNLs they are not condoned.

I’m waiting for my Pro to arrive so I can put in a support request for being unable to cut a PG board that’s slightly warped and the “PG scraps piled on it” suggested method of holding or flattening things doesn’t work either due to insufficient weight. Since both tape & magnets are not to be used, all of my PG that arrives warped will need to be replaced under warranty :slight_smile:

Sometimes you have to remind lawyers that all lawsuits, even frivolous ones, cannot be prevented and even some will be lost. Their job isn’t to raise barriers to business but to facilitate it. “Tell me how, not why we can’t.”

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I have had warp that would take more than the weight of a full sheet to flatten. Stacks of scrap doesn’t make sense when a small magnet does the trick.
Really glad the company choose a steel honeycomb rather than aluminum!

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Perhaps we’ll be getting :proofgrade: lead at some point. :smile:

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