Over years of constant use, my favorite pair of tweezers has developed a slight magnetic attraction for metal parts. This isn't a problem with brass photoetch, but can be an aggravation when I'm trying to position small pieces of steel wire.
Can someone tell me how to demagnetize my tweezers?
Lee
If you have access to a wire solder gun you can thread the tweezers through its wire loop while the solder is lit, and they will be magically demagnetized. Be careful, the wire is HOT!
-- Luca Beato -
in article snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, Luca Beato at snipped-for-privacy@iol.it wrote on 8/4/05 12:55 am:
Drop them a few times on a hard floor. Works for me.
Drop them on a hard floor- you're kidding, right?
Well, it can be done by heating it sufficiently hot, but that may destroy the temper and ruin the tweezers.
Better to use an AC field to do it. If you want to spend the money, you can by a CRT demagnetizing coil (can you borrow one from someone?). Plug it in, hold the tweezers near it, slowly withdraw the tweezers and place them far away before unplugging coil. Do NOT unplug the coil with tweezers close.
Third, cheaper way. Find a 12 or 6 volt transformer (for safety). Wind a coil of many turns, hook it to tranformer. Place tweezers inside- then withdraw and follow instructions above.
Ah, good one- hadn't thought of that. However, as in my earlier message, withdraw tweezers and place them far away before releasing trigger on the gun.
I was going to suggest the same thing, but since I had a soldering gun and tweezers within arms reach I thought I'd try it first before I posted. The first pair of tweezers I grabbed was already magnetized a tiny bit. I could lift a common pin with it, but it was easily shaken off. I pulled the trigger on my gun, moved the tweezers into flux field inside the loop formed by the copper soldering tip. You can easily feel the force of the alternating magnetic field. The tweezers aren't pulled to either side, but any motion is resisted. I slowly pulled the tweezers away fully expecting the magnetism to be gone..but lo and behold the pin still clung to the tweezers! I tried it again, and again...no change. I tried releasing the trigger while the tweezers were still inside the loop...now I can't shake the pin off! I pulled them out slowly again and was back to residual magnetism. I thought "I'll fix 'em". I held the tweezers against the hot tip of the gun for a minute, then pulled slowly away...they still picked up the pin! The only thing I can think of to explain this is that these tweezers were used to hold something over a flame one time and were left over the flame so long they discolored. Maybe the heat created a permanent magnet. Seems counter-intuitive, but who knows. I'm not a physicist, I don't even play one on TV.
Doug Wagner
I have the perfect tool - a bulk tape eraser (from the reel-to-reel tape days).
I bought it on eBay. Search for "akai tape eraser" or degausser.
It ia a motha of an electromagnet (AC). You turn it on and bring your tweezers (or any other steel tools close to it. They get demagentized in an instant!
I just demagnetize my entre tool tray at a time (plastic tray with metal tools).
Works great! Peteski
it will all make tape recorders play better. wave the field around the play head in a circle and pull slowly away. you can degauss that old ega monitor. circle around the face of the tube and pull slowly away. run it around the surface of your steel bass boat and prevent those german magnetic mines in your bass lake from ruining the fishing. hold it to your mates head to confirm what you've always suspected about the metal content of her head...and vice verca. (we are not a chauvinist pig, honest)
No, he's not. Things get magnetic as their molecular structure get lined up. That's why you can make a nail magnetic by rubbing it with a magnet. (same direction, same pole) It usually doesn't stay magnatized though. That's why vibration or whaking something will demagnatize it. Randomizes the molecular alignment, no more magnetism.
WRF
"Nooooooo! Stop me before I build again."
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