Introduction: Dr. Magnetic Dinosaur (Or How I Learned to Stop Searching and Love the Earbuds)

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About: Less active, but always curious.

 This instructable was generated by two things mainly, first, I know everyone wanted to learn to make a plastic dinosaur magnetic, and the Super-Magnets in Ear buds. I've been hearing all over these fancy interwebs that you can get super-strong magnets out of ear buds, but none of the things that I looked at actually told you how to get the magnets out of it, so here's my two-part Instructable thing. 

Hooray?

Step 1: Materials? Materials.

 Here's what I used, in a pinch, you could probably get away with changing some of these items, even though these were found in a pinch... Huh...

You'll need: 

@ 1 Plastic Dinosaur! I used a Ceratosaurus model, mostly because it had two feet, and I had two magnets. You could probably use a four-legged dinosaur, but you would have to alternate the magnets between the legs somehow. Also, I encountered a problem later with the fact that the two feet weren't exactly level, which may prove a problem if you're trying to stick it on a fridge, but the tail helps.

@ 1 Pair of Broken Earbuds, I'm reasonably sure all of you have one of these. I have at lest four pairs where one "bud" died, so I've moved on to over-the ear headphones... (Also, check out These Ones!)

@ Super Glue, Epoxy, or another glue. You might be able to use plastic cement, but I haven't tried yet. The most important thing is that there is a strong bond.

@ Pliers for Smashing! I used a Mini Quasi-Leatherman. A Full sized one may be overkill. Also, it includes a knife for a later part.

@ A Trashcan. You'll be glad, trust me.

Step 2: Earbud Deconstruction!

 So, take one of the earbuds, and crush/SAMSH the tip, if you are using the type that goes into your ear canal, otherwise, you can take the faeplate piece off. What you want is to at least partially expose the workings. Then, pull the samshed tip off, and you'll have what looks like the second picture. Then, separate the workigns from the backing of the bud. Either it'll come right off, or you'll have to cut it with a knife, but it really isn't that hard to do, see picture #3, then, just rip the two sections apart, the wire is soo fragile, there's a strong chance that this'll happen before this stage. Then, using the pliers, begin to peel off the plastic covering the metal parts, this is pretty easy to do, as the greatest quality plastic isn't used here... (Picture 4). Then, once all the plastic is gone, remove the copper that surrounds the magnet. It should be pretty obvious, as it's the only copper colored part in the metal sections, but if you need more help, check out picture #5. So, now there should be a small gap in between the magnet in the center and the housing. I separated them by sticking the mini saw, you could probably use a knife, pliers won't fit, and prying the magnet off the center where it's glued down. The you can pry it up an pull it out.

Good job, you just got yourself one strong little magnet, out of something you were going to throw away!

Step 3: Fancy Footwork

  So here's where that dinosaur comes in. You'll need to cut out a hole the size of a magnet in each of it's feet. It doesn't sound that hard, and it's mostly just more time consuming than you would expect, or at least for me, I used the tip of a knife.  I needed to make a semi-straight down walled hole for the magnet, so the magnet would lay flush against the foot of the dinosaur, you can see the beginins of the hole in Picture #2, and some carving later, the magnet placed in in picture #3. After you finish both feet, put some super glue in the hole and push the magnet in, preferably not with anyhting magnetic though, fingers work fine. Successful magnetifying- Picture #4.

Edit: Dr. What has pointed out that a dremel would accomplish this step a whole lot faster and more easilly, and there's less chance of you slicing your thumb. In Half!

Step 4: Photo Op!

 So, here's the wrap up, and some pictures of Dr. Magnetic Dinosaur on my fridge. The problem was that the feet aren't perfectly level, but as long as Sr. Magnetic Dinosaur is placed in a line perpendicular to the gound, teh tail will keep him form falling over. Becsaue, you know, dinosaurs probably used their tails for balence. But, I was planning on sticing this on the ceiling/ roof of a pedestrian bridge near my house, and it's curved, so that might help overcome that problem. Thanks for reading, check out the pictures on the bottom, go make you own, and stick them to bridges! Thanks again!