Hey All, I am attempting to make a small clam shell type presentation box (for a pen and pencil set I turned) using rare earth magnets to hold it shut. I resawed a nice piece of cherry and routed two opposing grooves on each of the bookmatched faces. The 1/4 inch diameter magnets will be positioned in each corner of each half so I would need four pair of magnets to hold the two halves together. I want the magnets hidden too so I thought I would place them as close to the inside face as possible from the outside and plug the holes with a cocobolo dowel (the same wood as the pen bodies) . I did a few test mounts drilling the 1/4 inch hole and leaving 1/8 inch wood face. The 1/4 inch magnets will not hold very well with two
1/8 inch layers of wood. They will attract when placed across 1/2 inch cherry but I know the strength of their attraction is less than the strength necessary to hold two pieces of wood together. (The magnets are placed so they attract.) I only have 1/4 magnets right now but can pick up larger ones tomorrow although I am not inclined to go over 3/8 inch. So I'd like to know if anyone here has any suggestions about the thickness of wood (2 pieces) or the size of magnets needed to hold stuff together. The faces are 7 by 4 inches so it's not a lot of weight but I think the 1/4 inch magnets are insufficient to do the job. I would prefer to keep the wall thickness 1/8 inch because I am concerned about damaging it when trying to seat the magnet. Would using two magnets in series in each hole make the attraction stronger? I did not test that set up yet. Any suggestions are welcome and thanks in advance, Marc- posted
12 years ago