good use for magnet?

[Len Kuffert]

Hi all,

I'm pouring a new shop floor, and wondered about the wisdom of embedding a strong magnet in the concrete just in front of the floor sweep inlet to my dust collector. Should grab any stray ferrous bit from the floor.

Is this an idiotic move, or genius?  Any better ways?

bye for now,

Len

 

[Picktool]

Sounds cool, but wouldnt that also grab all the tiny
metal particles, shavings & crumbs from elsewheres?
Would be a pain to remove and eventually rust in that
spot.

 

[waho6o9]

Great idea and make sure there's a way to remove it in case of

unintended consequences.

 

[HDClown]

Would be a pain to remove and eventually rust in that spot.

That's what I was thinking.  Without a way to "release" the magnet, you'd have to scrape items away from that magnet forcefully, and potentially end up pushing that stuff all over the place again, not to mention mess up whatever the floor coating is going to be.  If you're just doing raw concrete, then probably not a concern for damaging the surface.  But getting the stuff off the magnet still needs to be considered.

If you're talking about having a channel for a magnet to sit in, and you can pull the magnet out of the floor, then that would mean you can scrap off the magnet with a hand tool or such, right into a trash bin.

A magnetic floor sweeper you can just roll around gets the job done too.

 

[Len Kuffert]

I agree with everyone so far about releasing the metal that gets swept onto the magnet. The whole idea was not to have to go around with a magnetic sweeper. I had already thought of an electromagnet with a switch, but that seemed like too much fuss.

Maybe some sort of removable magnetic frame or lip around or below the sweep inlet? I'm not concerned about tiny filings so much as stray screws or nails or lost drill bits flying into my collector.

thanks for all the ideas.

 

[Kev]

I'm going with it being a bad idea. Not something I'd do as there's too many potential negatives.

 

[Sparktrician]

What about using some aluminum flat stock to make a framework to hold a long bar magnet (or series of smaller magnets) about 20mm above the sweep?  At the end of the day, you could lift off the magnet and wipe it clear over a trash can.  Just a thought... 

 

[rst]

Magswitch sells top quality and industrial magnets as well as the consumer ones they sell through woodworking suppliers.  I use their 400 series for all kinds of tasks, from jigs on my table saw and router table, to holding my framing square to lay out steel door lites while the door is hanging, and installing exit devices.  Just sit one or two of these in the opening, pick up turn the off lever and most of the steel drops off and the rest wipes off easily. Recently I tore of a shingle roof for my daughter and we used two of these attached to string to collect the nails from her driveway...no flats after 6 months.

 

[Cheese]

As [member=25351]rst[/member] suggests, Magswitch because you can turn them on or turn them off with a 180 degree turn of the knob. I use their magnetic feather board on the band saw & jointer. Pretty slick.

http://magswitch.com.au/product/magswitch-universal-featherboard/

http://magswitch.com.au/product/magswitch-magjig-95/

 

[rst]

The ones I use are 400s as they have awesome pull.  http://magswitch.com.au/product-category/welding/page/3/  My daughter, 115 lb, 27 years old at the time, had a two week route working for a water drainage maintenance co. that took care of Lowe's and Targets in the Northwest.  She would leave Portland OR, work her way through Washington. Idaho, Nevada, and Origon.  She used a wheeled magnetic lifter to pull man hole covers by herself.