How to Make Your Own Metal Pulse Magnetizer

Four weeks ago I was searching for an magnetizer that can revive my dead magnets (I killed them heating up at a high temperature, trying to encapsulate in a piece of glass), but I haven't found a instructable project that can help me, so with physics teacher's support  I made one that works.
With it's help you can revive dead or old magnets, or you can magnetize things like screwdrivers, nails, paperclips, or any metal which can be a good magnet.
It looks like a game console, isn't it ?
This device is only a PROTOTYPE, so maybe I will try to make a big one that can magnetize your hammer.
Now let's start the work.

Step 1: Materials

The materials you need for this project are:

- a 1N4007 diode
- a DPST switch (I get mine from an old computer)
- a Push button switch (or how it is called)
- a jack and a capacitor(230 uF and 400 V) from an old power supply unit
- a plastic, wood, Plexiglas, or any material you found, but NO metals like iron, steel, aluminum, copper or any metal that are atracted
by magnets.
- a 15 W, 220 V lamp
- copper wire for making a coil (0.6 mm diameter for 800 turns)
- something on you can spool your coil (I use a plastic support from solder with inner diameter 20 mm [don't use something that have the inner diameter bigger than 20 mm because then your magnetizer will not work])
- a cable for your jack (I use an ordinary cable for PC supply), why I use it ? because it can be removed.
-two plastic panels (I made them because my case needs panels )
- 20 cm of thick copper wire (2-3 mm diameter) 
Tips:
Watch out how you handle the capacitor. If it is charged, and you touch it, you can die.
Try to make the capacitor's links with push button switch and with coil as short as you can,

Step 2: Make the Coil, the Panels, Paint Them and the Case

You are free to choose your own case, so you're free to make it how do you like.
You can see in the third image the color of case before painting in black.
I make the panels from keyboard's back.
The hole from the fourth images is made for the DPST switch.
Tips:
Be careful when you make the coil because if you let the wire from your hand, you must start again.

Step 3: Make the Circuit

Let's start soldering.
Tips:
The links which need thick wire are between capacitor and push button switch and between coil and capacitor.

Step 4: Assembling the Pulse Magnetizer

I stick the coil with hot glue on the back of the front panel, and the capacitor on the bottom of the case.
I drill a hole through the top of the case and stick a piece of blue transparent plastic to see the light.
I stick a piece of plastic on a side of inner space from the coil because when you push the button of the switch, the magnet or the thing you use will be throw out, depends of the size of the thing. If you are touching the thing while you push the button, you will feel the pulse passing through the thing. Stick it as good as you can, because little things like nails can detach your plastic.
I stick the DPST switch and the PC power supply jack of their panel putting hot glue among them.
I drill a hole through the top of the case for the push button switch. 
I stick of the bottom of the case four pieces of rubber which can be found on the bottom of a keyboard to increase the stability of my device.

Step 5: How It Works

The diode D1 rectifies mains voltage and charge the capacitor via the lamp (which limit the current).
The lamp glows during the capacitor's charging. The light is diminishing as the capacitor is charging. When the capacitor is charged,  the lamp is off. 
After few seconds the capacitor is charged and the light goes off.
By pushing the S2 button, a pulse of high current (aprox 50 A) passes through the coil magnetizing the object placed inside the coil.
This process can be repeated.
The magnetizer is simple, effective, made from salvanged parts.
To understand better how it works look at the first two images, watch the video below and then view the other images.

Step 6: Further Research

I connect a oscilloscope with my pulse magnetizer via a probe.
Then I try to take a shot of the pulse, but unfortunately I caught only the tail of the pulse, the peak is too fast for my camera.

Step 7: Future Projects

You can see that the pulse throw out the object, so a future project could be a magnetic rifle.
If I modify the circuit and I make it bigger, I can make an EMP.
And that's it my Pulse Magnetizer.
Thanks to my phisycs teacher for supporting me.

Comments

[Scotrail]

Would you know how to build a re magnitizer like the attached? I have British model Railways and I need sone motors re magnitizer
Thanks

[Triplanetary]

Is it possible to convert a demagnetizer to a magnetiser ? I have a couple of large demagnetizers for audiotape that I no longer need for that use.

[Walter1952]

Hi,
I order from China 4 X 6 X 1 inch magnetized barium ferrite blocs however they send me non-magnetized blocs. Can somebody help me to magnetize them? Any idea?
Thank you.

[atlanteanscion]

Does it only magnetize iron?

[andreyeurope]

Only iron nails and iron screwdrivers I had then, but I think this article will tell you more than I can.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnet

[PaoloG38]

You should really try it with a ferrite magnet, although I kindly doubt this setup can produce the H field required to fully magnetize it ( ~900,000 A/m).
Ferrite magnets are considered the easiest to magnetize among the generally available materials.

There's a programm called FEMM (finite element method magnetics) which lets you simulate and calculate the minimum current, turns and solenoid size you need to produce the very strong field necessary to build a useful magnetizer that can revive ferrite magnets.
Not that this device is useless, it's really a nice proof of concept, but any small magnet can successfully magnetize an iron nail...
The real deal is to remagnetize high coercivity materials such as hard ferrite such as the common C5, C8 or Y30 grades..

[LimingZ]

I would suggest the usage of a GFCI receptacle to improve safety, even for prototyping.

[MarkT7]

With regards to the tip on making the coil, "Be careful when you make the coil because if you let the wire from your hand, you must start again"... I'm not sure what this means... the above instructions give no explicit direction for how to make the coil in the first place, so I'm unclear how is it supposed to be built without using your hands. Between that and the fact that the photo appears to show someone touching it with their finger, I'm very uncertain what is being said here.

[andreyeurope]

I meant if When you are making the coil, be careful in order not to let the wire go, because if you let it go, you will need to start over,
Making a coil is really easy, you need a certain type of wire that depends on what you want to do with that coil. If you intend to learn how to make a coil, you can read this article.
http://www.ehow.com/how_7816989_make-copper-wire-coils.html
I'm sorry if I confused you.
Have a nice day.

[yveg]

Please e-mail me if you can help.
Thanks.
[e-mail]

[yveg]

I would like to have a very small emp device. I am willing to pay for all the expenses. Please let me know if any of you can help.

[andreyeurope]

OK. I will research a little about mini Emp, but tell me, what do you wanna do with it ?

[AlbinoMoose308]

Any chance you can make a demagnetizer? I have this huge magnet that magnetizes anything it touches. Not very much, but enough to cling to things and get annoying.

[andreyeurope]

Maybe I'll make one just for you. You could demagnetize almost every magnet heating it.

[nerd7473]

I love magnetism

[mbrito1]

Hi, I`m sure that in digital scope you have the option to set a specific level of tension in the trigger, that capture a screen from that moment (single capture ore something like that), but I don`t remember if exits the same in a analog one, take a look at the trigger options.

[andreyeurope]

I don't think it have one. That oscilloscope wasn't very expensive, so I don't think it have something to take a snap.

[Treknology]

Imagine the pulse you could get using the transformer and capacitor from a microwave oven...

[Treknology]

I am still angered at how many people have negatively criticised this project. The author is a school student and this is only his second project. We all had to start somewhere. Even if the capacitor is rated at 400V, it is never going to charge beyond the mains voltage of 220-240V. There are many un-earthed appliances that rely on plastic insulation to keep the electricity inside, among the most dangerous being hair dryers and hand-held kitchen mixers.

Yet no one has mentioned just how dangerous my suggestion above would be!

1. The capacitor, on average, is capable of holding 3kVDC maybe even as high as 5kVDC. It would have to remain properly housed in the modified microwave oven just in case it exploded.

2. The button to dump the capacitor into the magnetizing coil would have to be a very heavy industrial switch----if a 'domestic' switch did not start arcing almost immediately, the contacts would probably weld together into a short circuit on its very first use.

If you must "criticise", then please use the "be nice" policy. Why would andreyeurope want to post a third project if it was only going to attract the same negative responses?

[ElectroFrank]

Mr Treknology, please stop trying to teach when you obviously know very little about mains AC electricity.

I have to be firm about this for everyone's safety, including yours.

Any home-built mains powered circuit should be checked by an electrician or properly qualified person for safety BEFORE it is connected to the mains supply.

On 250 Volt AC mains, the capacitor will charge to 350 Volts.

A capacitor must never be charged above its rated voltage.   It is liable to explode.

But you are correct about the requirement for a high current switch.