HDD Magnetic Doorstop

Simple doorstop made from powerful magnets, recycled from a broken hard disk. Works best with wooden floors and lightweight doors.

Step 1 You Will Need

Tools:
Screwdriver or battery drill
Pencil
Old chisel or door wedge.

Materials:
Old hard disk (To cannibalise for parts)

Comments

[JabariSmith]

Good idea! I honestly never would have thought of using magnets as a doorstop. Great for lazy people like me who don't want to knock over and prop back up a doorstop every time they want to close or hold open a door.
Unfortunately I can't do this project because I'm not allowed to create unsightly holes in the floor, but I'll keep it in mind for the future.

[lemonie]

Do you think it would have been possible to glue the magnet to the underside of the door? (And if so with what) L

[Nachimir]

Epoxy would probably do it as long as the magnets weren't too close or powerful. It can be very strong, but isn't so good when it comes to pulling or shearing forces. If it was strong enough, that would mean not having to take the door off and rehang, but rehanging is nowhere near as difficult as hanging a new door, and I prefer screws to nasty smelling glues :)

[lemonie]

Thanks, this is sort of what I expected. Where I live it's not uncommon to find very old and heavy doors with rusty-screws covered by 10 layers of paint. Just getting these off can be a tough job. L

[Oroka]

I did something similar to this at work for a screen door. The frame was metal, so I put 2 of these on the door itself. There is no mechanical latch, just the magnets, and it works great. I also use a few of these magnets for other things like on my fridge, that is where I put my keys. I can throw my keys at it from several feet away, and as long as I hit it, it will stay every time. I also have a few in my locker at work, I clip my pens to them (the ones with metal clips).

[CameronSS]

Good idea! My door tends to swing shut, but it needs to be left open for airflow. It has a little latching thing, but it requires way too much force to latch and unlatch. However, I think that I'll attach the magnet to the back of the door, as it needs more holding power than the bottom mounting seems to provide.

[TheScientist]

worth paying attention to his picture tips in step 4... (3rd pic) apparently that was one of his prototype ideas, so if you do it you might need to separate the magnets by a small distance so they can't latch together, or you'll end up damaging the door. really neat idea though. maybe if you put one inside the door (if it has space/you can make space) and one flush with the skirting board it could work and be invisible!

[CameronSS]

The door opens out over a stairwell, so it's not very easy to mount a magnet underneath. ;-)

[Nachimir]

(Thanks all) If it's a solid door, or even if it's a plywood skinned door with plenty of wood reinforcing the bottom, it should be fine to surface mount. The wood you see in the bottom of mine is only about 1/2 an inch thick, so when I tried surface mount the fixings for the magnet went straight over it. Might be a good idea to pad your magnets a little if they're going to touch, I was going to stick a layer of felt on one of mine if the first version had been workable.

[TheScientist]

i'm not saying it's a bad idea, just to be wary of them sticking together so hard that you wreck your door (as he shows in step 4) :) you could stick it on a pole/support on the stairs as an artistic piece though :)

[Transquesta]

See, this is the kind of stuff I really like: 'good old fashioned' innovation! In lieu of an HDD magnet, one could use a neodymium plug of the likes which can be had at any hardware store these days, but the idea itself is killer sound!