Attach anything to anything with sugru and magnets | Hacker News Reader

Attach anything to anything with sugru and magnets

sugru.com

109 points3stripe37 comments

> Once you make your lights magnetic, you might wonder why all lights aren’t like this.

You lose the ability to adjust the beam up or down. That's probably why all lights aren't like this.

Why do you need to adjust the beam? Once it is right, its right.

What happens when you use a different bit length with that drill? Or multiple people share a bike? Or you want to move that light to a different frame and you need the magnet at a different angle?

When I used a bicycle I would often change the position depending on the road type. If in a city the beam would be directed down with a larger angle to prevent from blinding the other drivers and pedestrians, as the road itself is lit and the light is used merely to bring attention to yourself. Also the angle varies regarding to driving speed and type of ground surface(gravel, asphalt ) when on unlit roads.

To elaborate on that last part, aiming down in the city is helpful because you can see far away objects with the street lights already and the bike light is helpful for spotting potholes

You could make two mount points.

I'm curious if this will fall victim to the same regulatory nightmares Buckyballs is currently facing. [1]

Though Sugru is clearly more than just a 'toy'.

[1]http://www.forbes.com/sites/richardlevick/2013/11/25/buckyba...

The US Government (Consumer Product Safety Commission) destroyed Buckyballs strictly out of spite / vindictiveness. I suspect all Sugru has to do is bow down to the regulators if they come knocking (and as you noted, the tool aspect of it makes the case even easier).

Don't be so dramatic. Governments around the world shut it down because kids kept getting horrific internal injuries from them. Note that it's not their fault that irresponsible people let children play with them, but there was a greater good served.

It's not just that they took down buckyballs. It's that they're going after the founder personally for $50 million after he taunted them. http://beforeitsnews.com/libertarian/2013/10/from-the-angry-...

Wait until you hear how many kids get killed every year by handguns. Those put little magnets to shame in terms of killing power.

Children ingesting magnets is growing problem that can be fatal. For use in a household setting, it is irresponsible to sell smooth, shiny magnets that are of a size that can be swallowed.

http://www.medpagetoday.com/Pediatrics/GeneralPediatrics/408...

No, it's irresponsible to BUY magnets that are smooth, shiny and of a size that can be swallowed.

If you have children in the house.

What makes you think I'm not buying them to use in the shop or at work? There are many industrial uses for such a basic part.

Yes, it's irresponsible to let them get anywhere near children, this includes in the house where they will get all over. They work great on refrigerators. That is until you overload them with pictures and art at which point they fall off and roll away to stick somewhere at baby level that won't be touched by a broom (ask me how I know).

It's also irresponsible to market them as toys.

They seem approximately as dangerous as deceptively innocent looking razor blades. What we need are magnetic toys which are equally or more fun to build with while being simultaneously less attractive to ingest. Surprised the market hasn't come up with something yet.

I don't know. It's an interesting question. Will doctors increasingly start appealing to the CPSC as a result of repeated surgeries resulting from sugru? Because that's what started the CPSC "Buckyball" investigation: doctors, complaining about having to open up the intestines of children to recover magnets.

How do you prevent rotation of the magnets when they are stuck together. The light on a bike will experience a force in that direction sooner or later and move.

When I saw the dimple I though that was the solution, but it is only a marker for the north side. Maybe the solution would be to apply a thin layer of substance with high friction between the magnets.

The hack in picture 1 has semi-circular magnets. If you use two magnets with opposite polarities then you can get it to be able to lock in only one position. Also, easy enough to make "wavy" mating surfaces to avoid rotation.

You can force that with diametrically magnetized discs[1]. It's not the usual way these discs are magnetized, but this will not allow rotation under light forces. On the other hand, if you manage to rotate them 90 degrees, they will pop out, as the magnets will start to repel.

With big discs, the force needed to rotate even axial magnetized discs (like the ones they seem to use) is not trivial if the magnet surfaces are clean. By the size of the discs they use, their adhesive force can be ~3-5 kg, and it's not easy to rotate such magnets. You can add a layer of thin cloth over the magnets to increase the friction, and it will also protect the magnets from scratching and damp the hits when sticking.

No idea what kind of magnets they use, but treating them like they do in the presentation (throwing them one against another, or against objects) is a sure way to crack the nickel plating in the long run.

[1] like this one: http://www.supermagnete.de/eng/data_sheet_S-12-06-DN.pdf

Yes, you can force that with magnets designed for that, but these appear not to be magnetised like that, so if you want to avoid the rotation, you need to do something about it.

As I say in my other comment, easy enough to do with non-symmetrical mating surfaces.

You could do it with the sugru itself, no? Have one side with indentations, make the other side align with those indentations. You don't need it to resist forceful rotation so much as casual bumps. Or just include a small pin or dowel with one side that sticks into the other side. You can attach more than just magnets.

Use two pairs.

On a thin bicycle handle? You could if the flashlight is wide enough. ( two pairs seems like a waste )

They should include a pair of slightly equally dented magnets or magnets with a little dent like the one that marks the north, but this on is positioned with an offset from center.

As you might imagine, others have encountered and solved this problem already with stick on high friction disks. They've also used cheap, steel cups to direct and strengthen the magnetic field:

http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=32066&cat=1,423...

Also, I've used those nice shiny magnets in outdoor applications and can attest that they rust in fairly short order. But one might be able to address this by enveloping the magnet in sugru. Of course, this too is an already solved problem - plastic and rubber coated magnets:

http://www.kjmagnetics.com/products.asp?cat=164

Given all this, I'm not sure what this use of sugru is "hacking". It's performing the function of glue? Expensive glue in a nice package.

Glue? Gluing the magnet to the light is tricky unless you get the right shape case and the right glue. Gluing the other magnet to the bike is tricky for the same reasons.

Sugru solves both of them.

Epoxy putty, caulk and silicone adhesive also solve the glue shape issue. All available at your local hardware store for less than 20% the cost of sugru and with a shelf life greater than 6 months.

You're gonna secure something to a bike with caulk? Not so sure about that...

Easy of use, Sugru is trivial to apply with minimal effort.

It is a user interface victory. Pay more for easy of use.

Why even use two magnets instead of one magnet (optionally in a magnet cup to increase the attractive strength) and a steel plate?

I suspect it forces the magnets to have a certain alignment. E.g. the bike light ends up pointing exactly in the right direction even when he just tosses it on. With one magnet and a steel plate you wouldn't have that behaviour. In some cases that might be a good thing, though.

+1 for a solution to the falling crutch problem.

Not sure if sarcastic. If you have to use a crutch it is probably a hassle to pick it lying on the floor.

not sarcastic at all. falling crutches were a constant source of trauma for me

It's flippin (using their terminology) annoying that they disable pinchzoom for mobile devices. I wanted to zoom in on the tiny video. They feel they want to limit my browsing experience. Why would I buy or invest in their product?

They probably eat babies, too.

So, neodymium magnets and epoxy?

Close. Neodymium and some silicone rubber putty stuff (that may or may not contain an epoxy component, I don't know the chemistry behind Sugru.) But it's not a two-part product--you don't have to mix the “A” and the “B” compound to start it curing. It reacts with moisture in the air to begin curing, and remains rubbery once done.

EDIT: Epoxy putty is pretty cheap though, and what I'd probably use unless I needed it to be flexible.

b... but how do they work?

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