Pulling apart a desktop hard drive to get rare earth magnets.

Step 6 Cool... Metal Disk

You now have access to the first of the two magnets.
See that thing that has a number on it... Thats a magnet. You will have to pull really hard to get it off.
Directly underneath that is the second magnet. you may need to use a knife to get it off.


You now have 2 rare earth magnets. But wait... you have to be careful with these.

Comments

[WardXmodem]

I do dozens of these.

Several things work.

if you have one magnet that is on a purely flat piece of metal, grip the metal in a vice, and use a pliers to bend the admittedly pretty heavy duty metal, away from the magnet, until you can slide something thin under one end of the magnet - a knife blade, razor blade, or bending far enough, screwdriver.

HOWEVER when you pry it off, I find maybe 20-30% of the time, the nickle plating comes off, leaving the raw magnet under that area.

NOW, if you have one side of the 2 magnets whose metal bracket has lots of bends (bent up sections) you may be able to drop it on a cement floor or sidewalk in such a way as the G force of stopping suddenly, pops the magnet off. This has worked several times for me.

THE REAL QUESTION IS: What SOLVENT, if any, will gently remove the magnets? It might work best (if there is one) to have bent the metal to expose more of the underside to the solvent.

I have MEK, Lacquer thinner, and could buy some "super glue remover", and try them - if anyone has some try it and post back.

Thanks!

[ajohnson54]

I like B12 Chemtool you can find it at most autoparts stores.

[mcarrell]

Agree. Was looking for instructions on how to remove the magnet from the housing / brace it's attached to. This is an unfinished instructable without that critical info because it completely mutes magnetivity on the flat side of the magnet and the side that is magnetic has 1/4 " standoffs that make it useless for many applications because they get in the way. It seems fiercely attached to this. What method do you (or did you?) use to remove this thing??

[idiotjohn]

Hi there,
As i remember, used a vice and some heavy duty pliers to be the plate that is connected to the magnet, this allowed me to use a screwdriver to pry the magnet from the plate.

John

[txtsttoo]

Agree with TMOCA ,can you show how to get ,them braces off ? you can e- mail me at [e-mail] thanks.

[tmoca]

Nice, but you left out the post important part. Getting those darn magnets off the metal brace. They are pretty much useless when attached to the brace.