low cost rare earth magnet source?

[Randy Smith]

It seems I always find uses for rare earth magnets both in the shop and in my furniture. Hartville tools has a good price on a large set (http://www.hartvilletool.com/product/13195), but I was wondering if anyone has a better source at a lower price.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Randy, I buy from Lee Valley. Good selection too.

[Tony Joyce]

I don't know about cost, but these people seem to have every size and shape.
http://www.rare-earth-magnets.com/

Tony

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I don't know about cost, but these people seem to have every size and shape.
http://www.rare-earth-magnets.com/

Tony

I've used them they are fine. Not too pricey.

[Mike Henderson]

I've bought them on eBay. No problems.

Mike

[Randy Smith]

Thanks for the input. I just realized that it will be hard to compare prices because the Hartville deal doesn't list magnet thicknesses. Magcraft looks like a great source.

[Doug Shepard]

i dont know how their costs compare but I've gotten good service here
http://www.kjmagnetics.com/categories.asp?gclid=CPmVz8D8sJwCFRHxDAodEh5ckA

[Cliff Holmes]

Lee Valley has a nice assortment pack

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=59362&cat=1,42363,42348

[Derrell W Sloan]

If your looking for just the small round ones you can get them at Harbor Freight if you have a local store. I think I got a pack of 10 for $2

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=98371

[george wilson]

Miami Magnet Co. Google them. They have always been very cheap on alnico. Maybe rare earth too. This is worth checking into.

[Matt Sollars]

Being a middle school science teacher, I've ordered quite a few over the past few years. (cool stuff in science seems to 'grow legs and walk away' )

www.gaussboys.com has always been great. I also have used kjmagnetics.com either are great.

matt

[george wilson]

I got magnets from Miami Magnet for 1/5 what others charged. Don't know about rare earth. Google them. Leonard Lee told me that he had the best prices several years ago,and that other dealers bought from him(IIRC)

[Zach England]

Did you look on amazon? I just looked and they have a seller there who sells types of rare earth magnets I have never seen, and they seem inexpensive (though admittedly I did not shop around to compare). I really like to use rare earth magnets to attach speaker grills. You can sink the magnet in the mdf baffle then veneer over it, and put a corresponding magnet in the grill frame. I have been wanting to turn some fridge magnets in mushroom shapes, with rare earth magnets in them, but more on that later.

[John Schreiber]

This won't work for every application, but you can "harvest" very powerful magnets from old hard drives. I stopped by my local repair place and offered them $5 for dead drives and they gave them to me for free.

[Rod Sheridan]

Randy, wouldn't you expect something "rare" to have a premium price?:D

Regards, Rod.

[James Gillespie, Jr.]

This won't work for every application, but you can "harvest" very powerful magnets from old hard drives. I stopped by my local repair place and offered them $5 for dead drives and they gave them to me for free.

How do you get them off the the steel backer plates they are glued to? I've been unsuccessful so far... :(

[John Schreiber]

How do you get them off the the steel backer plates they are glued to? I've been unsuccessful so far... :(
I've used them with the steel plate attached. It adds substantially to the strength of the magnet, so I've used them with the plate attached. They are also quite fragile when removed. I use store-bought magnets when the plate would get in the way.

They can be removed by filing down one of the bumps which indexes them in place. Then you can slide them off by pushing on the other side. There is some glue, but it doesn't seem to be a factor.

[James Gillespie, Jr.]

Good to know, thanks. I'll have to give it a shot. Got a bunch of them from a business that destroys hard drives. They gave up trying to remove them from the plates. They tried all types of solvents to dissolve the glue, didn't work. They tried heat, which renders RE magnets useless.