[roll1later]

Does anyone know who can 'zap' the magnets in this country? and what's the cost?

cheers
Paul

 

[montoya1]

The cost is miniscule, but nobody over here does it. The difference before and after can be startling.

I believe it only works with ceramic and cobalt magnets, not neo and polymers (which are just neo bits anyway).

 

[woodcote]

There's The Engine Works - a model train place in Canterbury.

 

[montoya1]

Very interesting. Obviously they are train people but in theory that should make no difference.

Perhaps if the Tyco runners do some of the tweaks out there and get zapping, the question this thread posed will get another twist!

 

[cryer-evo]

The engine works charges £6 a car for a set of 4 mags 2x motor and 2 x traction

 

[cryer-evo]

Right then sending of 6 cars with of tyco motor and traction mags to be re zaped

 

[trenchtownbilly]

Found these people, missile motor services, based in Croyden, they zap ceramic magnets in the can for £1.50. Dont know if they can do HO stuff but worth a phone call. For an ultrasonic clean, comm true and precision balance all for only £4.75 we should all be able to do it in all classes, lol.

http://www.missile.co.uk

 

[cryer-evo]

i should have my re zaped mags back tomorrow so will let you all no haw they are

 

[mission65]

where did you send them ? and how much a zap ?

 

[cryer-evo]

£40 for 6 cars worth with postage

 

[cryer-evo]

wast of time and money dont feel any stronger to me and all the motor mags naw force apart insted of pulling together
well you win som you lose some i will send them back to him and hopfally he will sort the motor mags out

 

[300SLR]

Zapping magnets simply restores magnets to full strength.
You'd expect they started out from new at full strength, and may deteriorate a bit with age and use.
If the mags are more or less still at full strength, there's no point in zapping them.

Magnets should be zapped in the direction they are already magnetised. If the operator makes a mistake and puts them in the machine backwards the direction of magnetisation will be reversed.

 

[cryer-evo]

yes i think he as zapped them all one way

were can i get a gauss metre that is good but not stupidly costly ?

 

[woodcote]

Bat-Jet / BRP do a simple one, or you can build your own with the simple plans here for less than a tenner. You wont get a true calibrated gauss measurement, but you'll be able to match magnets and compare strengths.

Another way to measure magnet strength is one of these:

and a plastic ruler

 

[montoya1]

I think the best way to do the zapping is to send one set of magnets at a time, even better if you know they are matched.

By doing some laps before and after you can quantify the gain. I don't think you will be able to 'feel' much difference, bu the stopwatch will reveal all.

The motor mags being incorrectly zapped is a mistake, and one that suprises me.

 

[Jimb0]

I apologise as this is slightly off topic, but when reassembling the motor in a tyco for example how can you be sure the mags are in the right way?

 

[slowracer]

When viewing the chassis from the top, with the front towards you, the magnet with the white paint on, should be on the right.

 

[montoya1]

If there is a stripe in the white paint, blue is best.

 

[Gareth]

Alright geezers,

Blast from the past in terms of threads but Jon and I have been mucking about with Tycos so I was looking at some of the older threads for some advice.

Anyway magnet zapping. All well and good and it makes sense to me in theory but how do you know which magnets are deteriorated and therefore need zapping? How do you tell if they are deteriorated or were just weak in the first place?

Also, does anyone know what value in grams, a Tyco magnet new would read as?

For example my motor magnets variously read between 25 and 30 grams of downforce on an On Balance DK-1000 scale. Is that good or bad?

My traction magnets are between 12 and 14 grams.

Anyone have any idea what good values are?

Cheers

Gareth