Comment by tombrossman | Hacker News Reader

Comment by tombrossman | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

Confirmed not banned in the UK, here's some for sale right now on Amazon's UK site: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bargain-Neodymium-Strong-Magnets-Mo...

I have ordered rare earth magnets several times and it's always interesting to inspect the packaging when they show up. Clearly there are a lot of metal parts in Royal Mail's sorting machines as they frequently arrive in an absolutely tattered padded envelope, usually with tape patches over big holes ripped in the side.

If you can find some N52 grade magnets it's worth ordering them just for the novelty value. Hand someone a roll and ask them to peel one off the end. Or, stick one on the refrigerator with a note "pull this magnet off" and see who falls for it. They are so strong it's like seeing an alien technology in a sci-fi flick.

Probably worth finding a more reputable supplier. Mine come packaged inside a specially designed large EPS container that put enough distance between the magnets and the outer carton to not cause problems in shipping or storage.

If you can find some N52 grade magnets it's worth ordering them just for the novelty value

This 1013 lb pull N52 magnet could also be entertaining. Maybe also useful for checking grilled meat for metallic objects.

https://www.kjmagnetics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=BZX0Z0Y0-N52...

I'm guessing one that large would simply pull any metallic objects straight out of the meat, even if it were on the other side. Seriously, they sell smaller ones than that coated in epoxy for pulling up boat anchors when the anchor chain has broken. The ones I have are tiny, watch battery size and I can barely pull them apart. It simply isn't possible to hook your fingernail under one and lift it from a metal surface. You have to slide it to a corner and grab it. Hard to describe, but when you first handle them it's like "how the hell is this possible?".

Can confirm entertainment levels. Used similar magnets for a research project. They would start to shuffle and move ~30cm from any large magnetic metal piece. The fear was real when handling them.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com