Magnets Discussion and Help thread

[RennuR]

Yeah I know it wasnt finished, but yeah haha. The Mars Magnet lol.

 

[SenorJuan]

Mark's Marvellous Magnetic Mars.

Thixotropic (gel) gap-filling super-glue would be a good glue to use if you wanted a permanent fix. I've used it for work-related jobs, a little 3 gram tube is pretty cheap.
In the electronics industry we use a product called Loctite Blacktak 4105, which is a rubbery super-glue, with a seperate spray activator. If it weren't really expensive, I would recommend it.

 

[newtonbase]

Mark's Marvellous Magnetic Mars.

Thixotropic (gel) gap-filling super-glue would be a good glue to use if you wanted a permanent fix. I've used it for work-related jobs, a little 3 gram tube is pretty cheap.
In the electronics industry we use a product called Loctite Blacktak 4105, which is a rubbery super-glue, with a seperate spray activator. If it weren't really expensive, I would recommend it.

After watching videos I've gone for a slow drying epoxy that should give me time to fix mistakes. These magnets have a habit of jumping around so I need to work out how to control them.

 

[pipkiksass]

After watching videos I've gone for a slow drying epoxy that should give me time to fix mistakes. These magnets have a habit of jumping around so I need to work out how to control them.

Can I ask which particular brand of epoxy you've gone for? Let me know how you get on with the stronger magnets in the Valk, and I'll order mine accordingly!

 

[newtonbase]

Can I ask which particular brand of epoxy you've gone for? Let me know how you get on with the stronger magnets in the Valk, and I'll order mine accordingly!

I went for this as it was the only one that said it's slow drying.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/400799280919
DMCubing mentioned one on YouTube but I couldn't find it. You should watch his videos if you haven't already. There's some decent tips.
I'm hoping to start one tonight.

 

[pipkiksass]

DMCubing mentioned one on YouTube but I couldn't find it. You should watch his videos if you haven't already. There's some decent tips.
I'm hoping to start one tonight.

Have done so, I think he recommended Gorilla Glue, but their UK range is a little different. Their "super glue" sets in 30-60 seconds. I'm not sure how much positioning time I'll need, I'd be interested to hear what you think. IMHO 30-60 seconds SHOULD be plenty... right? Also with wife/kids I'm not sure I can leave cubes dismantled and curing for several hours, a happy medium would be nice for me.

I did email DMCubing about his choice of magnets, as he suggested that N35 are too weak for the Valk, and he replied almost instantly. I don't want him getting bombarded with emails thanks to me(!), but he's done a lot or prototyping, and his latest Valk video has his email address in the comments section. He says N35 should be fine for the Valk, so I await your feedback once again!

Good luck.

 

[newtonbase]

IMHO 30-60 seconds SHOULD be plenty... right?

If you know exactly where it's going then that should be fine.
I did have a query about where the magnets should go in the Valk and I asked him about it on the YouTube comments but I'm not sure I made myself clear. I think that for the cube to align perfectly no matter what the orientation of the pieces then would the magnet not need to be across the join of the cubie pieces? The way he does it I think that a flipped edge would be slightly misaligned. I'm sure it would make little difference and it would be perfect when solved but I like things to be neat. What do you think?

 

[pipkiksass]

Interesting thought. I did wonder about relative positions of magnets in general- if you match up pairs when setting the glue, perhaps the magnet will only be PERFECTLY aligned with the 1/3 corner next to it. Again, good when solved, less so when solving.

I haven't taken a valk edge apart yet to investigate, but when I've heard your feedback I'll get my order in for magnets and glue, and post my thoughts here.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[One Wheel]

This is slightly off topic, but has anybody tried using a little bit stronger magnets to make a good foot cube? I had a Big Sail that I got intending for it to be a foot cube. It wouldn't stay aligned, so it made a hopeless foot cube and I gave it to my sister. I could imagine slightly stronger magnets in a big sail making a fantastic foot cube. If anybody tries/has tried something like that I'd love to hear the results, to see if it's worth trying to reproduce.

 

[newtonbase]

Interesting thought. I did wonder about relative positions of magnets in general- if you match up pairs when setting the glue, perhaps the magnet will only be PERFECTLY aligned with the 1/3 corner next to it. Again, good when solved, less so when solving.

Once you've got a magnet in a corner you can use it to match up against all the edges and then use them to line up against the other corners so it shouldn't be too much of a problem. Also, with a cube like the Weilong GTS there's not a lot of space to go wrong.
My epoxy didn't arrive today so I've just popped into Poundland and they have Loctite gel superglue. It's good stuff but I'll have to work fast.

 

[newtonbase]

Project M4 begins.

 

[One Wheel]

Once you've got a magnet in a corner you can use it to match up against all the edges and then use them to line up against the other corners so it shouldn't be too much of a problem. Also, with a cube like the Weilong GTS there's not a lot of space to go wrong.
My epoxy didn't arrive today so I've just popped into Poundland and they have Loctite gel superglue. It's good stuff but I'll have to work fast.

I don't know if you'd have it in the UK, what it would be called, or even if it would work, but there's some stuff in the US called shoe goo, that's some sort of cross between rubber cement and superglue. As I recall it takes 5- 10 minutes to set up.

 

[SenorJuan]

Shoe Goo is available here, a few sports retailers sell it, though mail order would be the easiest way.

Gel superglues can take a long time to cure, thin layers / small gaps still work best, but most people tend to use the gel variant when they want to fill gaps, or use blobs. If you're having curing problems, you can homebrew activator liquid. There's 'recipes' on the tinternet, usually involving baking soda dissolved in water to make an alkali solution.

 

[RennuR]

Little off topic, since im not a magnet nor speedcubing expert. Are we sticking with Marvellous Magnetic Mars. Or The Mighty Mars Magnet (MMM) either way,

 

[newtonbase]

Thomas Edison - I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
That was interesting. It took me about 70 minutes to magnetize the Mars. It's hard work and very fiddly. I think I could halve the time on this particular cube if I did a couple more but that's not going to happen.
At the suggestion of @SenorJuan I mixed up the magnets to get an effect somewhere between the N35 and the N52. I used the Loctite gel superglue.
The results are not quite what I was expecting. The main problem is that the Mars is not a very good cube and it is certainly not a smooth cube. If you want the full benefit of magnets then you need something that is exceptionally smooth and fast otherwise the magnets will simply not be able to pull the pieces together. I do now have a fairly unique cube and I'm going to do some work to get it as quick as possible.
My next project will be the Valk but the positioning of the the magnets looks like it will be tricky. I'll stick with the same glue and probably the same magnets as I'm sure the N35s would be too weak on their own. It might happen at the weekend.
I'll write up some tips soon for anyone interested so they can save a bit of time but here's one for free

1. Don't glue your tweezers together 20s into the process.

 

[RennuR]

I guess the Mars will always suck. Cant wait to see what else you come up with newtonbase!

Keep up the good work.

 

[newtonbase]

Little off topic, since im not a magnet nor speedcubing expert. Are we sticking with Marvellous Magnetic Mars. Or The Mighty Mars Magnet (MMM) either way,

Missed your post while typing my essay. I'd go with Meh.

 

[One Wheel]

Nevermind what I said about somebody else trying it, I think I'm going to make a foot cube or two myself. Just a quick question: is this plus glue, a SS big Legend, and a Qiyi big sail probably about right to make two decent magnetized cubes? Or do I need bigger/smaller/weaker/stronger magnets?

 

[newtonbase]

Nevermind what I said about somebody else trying it, I think I'm going to make a foot cube or two myself. Just a quick question: is this plus glue, a SS big Legend, and a Qiyi big sail probably about right to make two decent magnetized cubes? Or do I need bigger/smaller/weaker/stronger magnets?

They are pretty strong magnets but given that it's for feet then I'd imagine they'll be OK if you are sure they fit? I have no idea how big those cubes are or how the cubies look on the inside.

 

[newtonbase]

The Valk is an evil, fiddly little b***h compared to the Mars and I'm not sure that I'll be able to do it how I wanted to. Thinking cap on. Capped cubes for the win.

Edit: I've given up. I'm going to buy a replacement cubie for my Weilong GTS and magnetize that.