Good rare earth magnet source?

[Jamie Straw]

I've always ordered my rare earth magnets from Lee Valley -- good price for great quality, small quantities, and great selection. However, it takes forever to get the shipment on the West Coast. Do any of you have a source that's either closer to me geographically, or that can ship USPS Priority Mail instead of UPS?? I mostly shop for the disc-shaped magnets, sometimes the small rods.

 

[Dwight R Rutherford]

Found a lot of choices on Amazon. With Prime shipping is free.

 

[Glenn Barber]

Jamie,
I have used K&J Magnetics in the past. A huge selecton of various types and strengths of magnets. Their site lists USPS, UPS, and FedEx for shipping.

Glenn

 

[Bill Boehme]

I generally buy them at the local Rockler Hardware store. They've always been very high quality, but just recently I noticed that the nickel plating isn't quite as polished looking. I have been stacking my magnets which is convenient, but the extreme high force has caused some of them to crumble. A stack of about twenty magnets sure does create a powerful force.

 

[stu senator]

I have gotten some from HF.

Recently I have seen them at HD. Forgot which department.

The HF ones do the job and I have seen no problem with the plating.

The size they carry is 5/16" dia. Not a large selection but the store is close.

Stu

 

[Jamie Straw]

I generally buy them at the local Rockler Hardware store. They've always been very high quality, but just recently I noticed that the nickel plating isn't quite as polished looking. I have been stacking my magnets which is convenient, but the extreme high force has caused some of them to crumble. A stack of about twenty magnets sure does create a powerful force.

Rockler's selection (online anyways) is very, very limited and their cost is up to 2x what Lee Valley sells them for. Wow. Yep, they can be very powerful. If you go to their Rare Earth Magnet page and click on the blue "Inst" there will be a pop-up that gives tips for handling them. I haven't had any strong enough to need special handling so far.

 

[Jamie Straw]

Found a lot of choices on Amazon. With Prime shipping is free.

Yep, first place I checked (I'm a Prime Member) but didn't see the sizes I'm looking for. I also check, reluctantly, on eBay -- found a few, but the quality was obviously lacking.

 

[Jamie Straw]

Jamie,
I have used K&J Magnetics in the past. A huge selecton of various types and strengths of magnets. Their site lists USPS, UPS, and FedEx for shipping.

Glenn

I think K&J popped up in a search, but I didn't get to them yet. Will check tomorrow. Thanks, Glenn.

 

[Jamie Straw]

I have gotten some from HF.

Recently I have seen them at HD. Forgot which department.

The HF ones do the job and I have seen no problem with the plating.

The size they carry is 5/16" dia. Not a large selection but the store is close.

Stu

I'll take a look there, hadn't thought of them. No store in our neighborhood (rural) but if they ship from the Tacoma store, that would be really quick. I can search online at HD, then drive there if they have them. Thanks!

 

[Bill Boehme]

There are many sizes and formulations for rare earth magnets.. It might be worth comparing them. Sometimes price isn't the only difference.

 

[hockenbery]

Rare earth magnets are usually sold with n numbers which relates to the "pull" of the magnet or the "gauses"under the hood.
The n numbers are useful for comparing the pull among magnets of the same size.

N50 or n52 have the most pull available,and what you want to use if making a box hinge where two magnets hold the lid in and let it swing without coming off.

Also if you order from Amazon read the small print. Some of the magnets with really good prices for n50 ship from overseas so the ship the next day with arrival times of 1-2 months.

 

[DON FRANK]

Dittos on K&J but if you check their "surplus" section you can usually find anything you need for about half the price. You might have to search for the tab but they usually have quite a selection of various sizes.

 

[Justin Stephen]

Just checked my Amazon order history. I have ordered three different sizes from Amazon from three different sellers in the past year or so. I have always received them within a week. If it is marked as "Prime", it should be a domestic warehouse and ship fast. Something that is not marked "Prime" and for which there are not some amount of positive reviews (slow shipping practices is likely to result in negative reviews that mention it), I would avoid for the reasons hockenbery mentioned. I am especially fond of the ones with countersunk holes for accepting a small screw and my homemade lathe indexing indicator was made using them. Kind of pricey though, about $20 for 10.

Harbor Freight also sells cheap 5/16" x 1/8" neodymium disc magnets for about $3 per 10. Never used them, but the reviews are good.

 

[Steve Worcester]

I haven't bought from them, but these guys are local to me and seem to be cheaper.
www.appliedmagnets.com

 

[Joe Windsor]

Source for Rare Earth Magnets

Try www.supermagnetman.net I have bought from him several times. Prices are good and shipping is quick.

 

[Bill Boehme]

I have purchased things from China that was shipped by epacket and the typical time before I receive the package is about a week. Just verify that the package will be shipped by epacket.

 

[Hy Tran]

What's your application?

I've bought magnets from amazon (the small itty-bitty 1/4" diameter x 1/8" thick or smaller), etc. I've bought from American Science & Surplus (www.sciplus.com); I've bought from Penn State Ind. I've also disassembled disk drives to salvage the magnet for refrigerator magnets. My most "popular" source right now is used Philips Sonicare toothbrushes. A little surgery, and I have great sandpaper holders on my lathe. You have to do a bit of hunting on Amazon, but you can get good deals on a pack of button NdFe magnets with prime shipping.

Re: N number. Without getting into gruesome math, it's pretty immaterial for modern NdFe magnets. You'll get better pull strength by having an iron/steel cup wrapped around most of the magnet (so-called "back iron").

Don't use AlNiCo magnets (you may find them as surplus items) for applications to pull things together/pull things apart. They will *significantly* demagnetize.

 

[Jamie Straw]

I have purchased things from China that was shipped by epacket and the typical time before I receive the package is about a week. Just verify that the package will be shipped by epacket.

I really try not to buy stuff directly from China. Bad enough such a huge percentage of our tools, etc., are made there without cutting out someone in this country as a middleman. My goal here is to get a US source that can get quality magnets to me in 4-5 days.

 

[Jamie Straw]

There are many sizes and formulations for rare earth magnets.. It might be worth comparing them. Sometimes price isn't the only difference.

Yep, definitely! One eBay seller lists the "pounds" (pull strength or whatever the technical term would be) and the same size magnet at Lee Valley is something like 20-25% stronger. I'd guess also that the coating could be really cheap on some brands. I've had magnets from LV for over 7 years, sitting out in the shop when it wasn't heated for 5 of those years, and they still look new.

 

[Jamie Straw]

Thanks to Don, Justin, Steve and Joe for the additional ideas of specific vendors. Thanks to Al and Hy for details on the specs (N numbers).

 

[Jamie Straw]

What's your application?

I've bought magnets from amazon (the small itty-bitty 1/4" diameter x 1/8" thick or smaller), etc. I've bought from American Science & Surplus (www.sciplus.com); I've bought from Penn State Ind. I've also disassembled disk drives to salvage the magnet for refrigerator magnets. My most "popular" source right now is used Philips Sonicare toothbrushes. A little surgery, and I have great sandpaper holders on my lathe. You have to do a bit of hunting on Amazon, but you can get good deals on a pack of button NdFe magnets with prime shipping.

Re: N number. Without getting into gruesome math, it's pretty immaterial for modern NdFe magnets. You'll get better pull strength by having an iron/steel cup wrapped around most of the magnet (so-called "back iron").

Don't use AlNiCo magnets (you may find them as surplus items) for applications to pull things together/pull things apart. They will *significantly* demagnetize.

I need some to just keep around the shop for miscellaneous uses, and a few to put on the door of my new convection oven (a big countertop model) to keep the cat from opening it up to see what's inside. I assume the magnets I've been buying and like are the neodymium ones. Have stayed away from so-called ceramic, and haven't seen any that were AlNiCo. Will take a look at your source company. Not wanting to get into dismantling appliances or computers really. At some point, I want to make a magnet-mounted band saw fence, but I'll probably net the switched magnets for that.

 

[Tony Rozendaal]

Here's another possible vendor. I have used them and was satisfied with speed of response. they are located in West Virginia.

https://www.apexmagnets.com/

 

[Douglas Ladendorf]

I always buy them from Lee Valley too. They are a better quality than I generally find elsewhere, and to me they are a trusted vendor with quality products at a fair price. If you find you need them ASAP then I suggest keeping a small selection on hand.

Doug

 

[n7bsn]

I'll take a look there, hadn't thought of them. No store in our neighborhood (rural) but if they ship from the Tacoma store, that would be really quick. I can search online at HD, then drive there if they have them. Thanks!

If you mean HF, they ship from Calf not Tacoma or Seattle. Actually the SoDo store in Seattle is probably closer then Tacoma

As for HD, I haven't been impressed with the selection at either Poulsbo or Silverdale.

Lately I've been getting mine from Amazon. I got a large N52 that is taped to a dowel that I use to "find" things on the floor. Like the 100 screws I dropped last week.