Hey. I am looking to use rare earth magnets to magnetize my army to special movement trays made for skirmsihers. The question I have is "What size magnets should I use?"

Would 1/8" x 1/16" Disc be strong enough or would I need something stronger?

The tray will have Hard Board under sheet metal and will be covered with sand and flock.

I should add that many of the models I will be using this one are metal.

Thanks in advacne

I had been using 1/4" wide x 1/8" deep (can lift 2.5lbs supposedly).

You may find less wide ones don't have enough surface to stay glued on to the underside of the base, or you can epoxy them in place.

And these suckers are strong enough that you don't need much in the way of size.

Are the models going to be sitting on sand and flock? It would be better to have as much contact between the magnet and the metal as possible, but if not you can put a "backer" on the rare earth magnet (some other thinner metal) to actually direct and enhance the pull of the magnet.

Awesome info here: http://www.leevalley.com/shopping/Instr ... px?p=54198

Here is a link to the style of tray I am going to make. Looks like this person used your backer idea on the base...

http://karakeinherjar.floogy.com/thewildherd/wh-pics-tran.html

Thanks for the tip on the magnet size. It sounds like the ones I was looking at would be too small. I just don't want to spend more then I need to on bigger magnets if smaller and cheaper ones would work. However it's more important that it works.

I don't know why he put magnets in the movement tray... shouldn't be necessary, and if he is doing:

model
magnet
metal plate
magnet

Then the magnet on the bottom will have it's field directed down (away from the model) if it is in contact with the plate...

Curious...

Maybe it is to hold the movement tray still during transport?

Another theory: If the polarity of the tray magnet and the model magnet were opposite wouldn't they attract have more attraction? Also wouldn't the magnet touching the metal magnify the metal sheet as well creating a stronger bond?

From the link I originally posted, a magnet in contact with a backer will have it's field altered to direct away from the backer (hence down, away from the model). The flat sides of the magnets are the poles, so having them lined up would be necessary. Perhaps they are magnetizing the sheet... you'd have to experiment to find what works for you I suppose.

Pherhaps he does want to be able to move the movement tray with the help of the fields by other magnets, without touching the models.

You know that some guys are just quite wierd...

That's what I was trying to say but you said it much better than I did!

I will order the magnets of the holiday break and will probably let you know how it works out end of January or Februaury-ish.