Magnets to attach fence faces?

[Jason White]

I just made some replacement faces for my Biesemeyer out of some scrap walnut. I made them both 5/8" thick and want to attach them to the fence without any visible fasteners.

Was thinking of drilling shallow holes in the back of each face and gluing in rare earth magnets to attach the faces to the square steel tube.

Anybody here ever try something like this with magnets? Are they strong enough to keep the faces in place?

Jason

[David G Baker]

They will work fine if your fence is not aluminum. I use rare earth magnets for a lot of things and have found them to be dangerously strong. I bought a bunch of them off of Ebay and have used almost everyone of them for all kind of fastening.

[Jim Rimmer]

Don't know but would like to hear about your experience if you try it. I may try it, too.

[glenn bradley]

1" rare earth magnets have a teriffic grip. Hartville carries them in small quantities as does Lee Valley I believe. I would err on the side of 2 to many magnets rather than 1 to few but this should work. You might also add some sort of a stop at the far end just in case something went hinky.

[Chip Lindley]

Only experimentation will tell for sure. IMO, i would rely on double-sided tape before magnets. DS tape can be shimmed by slipping a shim between fence and face if needed. Anything slipped between fence and magnetic face may lessen the magnetic holding power.

[Bill Huber]

Rare earth magnets would work find, I use the ones with cups on a project and they are strong. I would put a slot or a bevel at the top so you can get the face of easier.

I got them from Lee Valley and they come with an instruction sheet and a warning about not letting them pinch your fingers. I used the 1/2" ones and they will pinch your fingers and cause a blood blister, well that what I have heard:rolleyes:.

Make sure that you get everything drilled right and the cups just were you want them before you put the magnets in because they are really really hard to get out.

http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=58750&cat=1,42363,42348&ap=1

[Jason White]

Was actually thinking of affixing a couple of dowel pins that would keep the steel fence and faces aligned. The magnets would do the actual holding.




1" rare earth magnets have a teriffic grip. Hartville carries them in small quantities as does Lee Valley I believe. I would err on the side of 2 to many magnets rather than 1 to few but this should work. You might also add some sort of a stop at the far end just in case something went hinky.

[Keith Westfall]

Make sure that you get everything drilled right and the cups just were you want them before you put the magnets in because they are really really hard to get out.

If you file a groove across them with a small round file right down to the base, you can then use a sharp pointed pick or awl to life the magnet back out.

[Lee Koepke]

I built a taller 'sacrificial' fence that slips over my biesemeyer fence, I put 2 3/4 rare earth magnets on the bottom of the fence so it snugs itself to the fence and doesnt slip.

Works fine, this fence I have a T-Track on top for featherboards and such .. I would imagine it would work for a replacement fence too ..

something like this should work .. (mines taller though)

http://images.meredith.com/wood/images/p_wood_words3.jpg