Is this even possible? (Holding notice board with magnets)

butler_helen

Does anyone know where I could buy a magnet strong enough to hold this metal notice board onto my fridge?

http://www.snow-home.co.uk/product/pantone-wallstore/

In our house it would be perfect to put on the side of the fridge but I have spent a fortune on magnets, none of which hold it.

So I thought I would ask if any of you even think its possible?

In total with some papers inside and a few business cards it weighs at least 2kg and empty it's at least 1.5kg which is proving too heavy.

Valli

it is possible to buy magnets which are strong - I googled 'strong magnets' and neodymium magnets came up

mind you they're not cheap

some here

(don't know anything about them - this was just a google hit)

Myser

Find some old medium sized speakers. The magnets on the back of them should be strong enough to hold your noticeboard.

You may need two or four depending on the speaker size.

notanewuser

Can't you just use loads of those sticky fixer pad things?

Nilrem

neodymium magnets are what you need*, depending on the weight of the notice board you may need several largish ones (I'd suggest trying something like a 10mm by 3-4mm round one in each corner).

However you need to be a little careful as they are quite nasty if you get your fingers caught between two of the larger ones, and they can very easily dent thin metal if you let them slam onto it.

Ebay tends to have a lot of people selling them in various shapes and sizes, the higher the N rating the stronger they are.

I know people who use them for model making because even very small ones are capable of holding several tens of times of their own weight.
You can get some larger ring versions that people use to go "fishing" for metal objects on the beach/in the water - very very handy if you ever drop your keys down a drain as long as you've got at least one decent sized ferrous item on the keyring (I have a couple of smaller ones that I use when I drop screws in the garage)...


*They're usually found in things like earphones, consumer electronics (the covers for things like Kindles and Ipads often use them to hold them closed), and Hard drives - basically anywhere you need a strong, small, permanent magnet.

emg

If you have no luck with magnets you could try heavy-duty velcro (the stick on kind). It's surprising the weight that will hold (people use it to hold blinds up and all sorts!). It wont be as moveable as with magnets but the velcro tape will come off again with a bit of care.

butler_helen

Hmmmmm seems like you're all on the same lines as me. I tried 8 10mm x 4mm little ones but the board just slid down. I could try Velcro but it needs to take much more weight than a blind.

I have a friend who fishes, so I might see if he has a magnet I can test with (I assume you mean the c.10cm diameter ones with a hole through them?). How do you get these off again?

Worst case scenario I shall be drilling into my OH's freshly skimmed and gorgeously painted wall... Which would be so much easier!!

butler_helen

emg wrote: »

If you have no luck with magnets you could try heavy-duty velcro (the stick on kind). It's surprising the weight that will hold (people use it to hold blinds up and all sorts!). It wont be as moveable as with magnets but the velcro tape will come off again with a bit of care.

Good plan... I'm going to try this:

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductMobileDisplay?catalogId=10151&storeId=10001&productId=208351&categoryId=255230&langId=-1

Which will come off with some elbow grease if we really want to. I will report back on whether it takes the weight!

torbrex

If you have an engineering supply place anywhere close you might want to see if they have any sticky-back magnetic strip.
I used to use it when I was a toolmaker and it was strong enough to hole things in place while I was machining it so would be plenty strong enough to hold 2kg.

ETA
Cromwell supply the strip I am talking about, not sure if it will be as strong as the stuff I used but might be worth a try.

Linky

butler_helen

Thank you for all the suggestions! Whilst wandering through Tesco this afternoon we found the super strong 3M Velcro tape, it was £3.95 for four small strips but they claim to hold 7kg.

After adapting the noticeboard design a bit (it has bits which stick out as they assume you attach it by nails), we used all 4 and it holds everything we need.

I'm hoping it doesn't fall but just incase I've put a pillow under it!

I was put off magnets as I wasn't sure how I'd get them off if needed. Knowing my luck it wouldn't work and I'd be stuck with them forever.

ValHaller

A magnet might hold an aluminium notice board to a steel fridge. But it is unlikely to hold a steel noticee board to a steel fridge, because the notice board steel will 'short circuit' the magnetic flux and prevent it penetrating into the fridge casing