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List of components:

• 4 x magnet 2x10x30 neodymium nickel plated N42
• 2 x dowel pin dia 4×24

Concept for the development of the magnetic clamp:

• Parts from 3D printer
• Inexpensive neodymium magnets
• Simple to use technology
• No round shape
• Stable and light construction

Implementation of the magnetic angle with 100 mm

STL files are required for the parts from the 3D printer. These can be generated by a CAD program. As always, I use Solidworks as CAD for designing.

The idea was to construct an angle similar to the one that is used as a support or holder when welding. For the magnetic board, of course, magnets are needed. I chose square magnets made of neodymium nickel-plated with dimensions 2 x 10 x 30 mm.

The magnet strength is “N42” and is neither too weak nor too strong. The value “N42” describes the energy density of the neodymium magnet and is mostly divided into N35 to N54.

The higher the number, the stronger the magnet. The nickel coating serves as protection against corrosion. The dimensions of the magnet determine the dimensions at the angle. For simplicity, this was constructed isosceles. A segment with a length of 100 mm and a width of 25 mm should not be a challenge for a small 3D printer.

To improve stability and torsional rigidity, I have constructed 10 mm high walls with a thickness of 3 mm. The magnets are recessed at the bottom with recesses. It should be noted that an oversize of 0.15 mm was planned for the recesses so that the glue has enough space to stick the magnets. A high-quality adhesive should be used if you want to enjoy the magnetic angle for a long time.

To remove the angle from the board, different variants would have been conceivable. One possibility would be a screw that presses the angle from the magnetic board when turning. The advantage would have been that only one thread would have had to be constructed in the angle. The disadvantage would have been that a screw without protection would damage the surface of the board and, in addition, many turns would have been necessary. A better solution was therefore a so-called excenter to be able to loosen the angle without much effort.

A few points had to be taken into account. The excenter could not be placed just anywhere, but had to be attached as close as possible to the magnet. The increase when actuating the excenter should be exponential, since the magnet loses strength with increasing distance. This means that in order to keep the lever length of the eccentric as short as possible, the distance between the magnets and the board was first increased only minimally and then more and more quickly. The fully opened eccentric has 3 mm. With this value, the angle can be easily removed from the board.

One excenter was fixed between the magnets for each leg. A non-hardened dowel pin with a diameter of 4 mm was used for the rotary axis of the eccentric. Alternatively, an M4 screw can be used, but it must be fixed with a nut.

The parts were printed, assembled, glued, and could then be tested. The result was more than satisfactory on various panels and steel sheets. The holding forces are excellent, but it should be fairly mentioned that the angles sometimes slip slightly. Therefore, an anti-slip tape was glued on some angles.

Please note when using the magnetic clamp:

• Attachment only with the open excenter
• Holding force depends mainly on the quality of the magnetic board
• Neodymium magnets are not toys (risk of injury!)
• Use good quality glue

Download files

• STL files for the magnetic clamp and the eccenter
• Alternative STL file for magnetic clamps

The post Magnetic clamp for strong neodym magnets appeared first on Nerd Corner.

My girlfriend and I collected a magnet from every vacation spot. In the post “How to transform old PC screen to beautiful magnetic wall” I gave my girlfriend a magnet board as a Christmas present. This was built from an old LCD screen. The stand of the magnetic board was designed in SolidWorks. The following steps show exactly how to recreate this stand construction.

Click here if you want to see the 3D print time lapse.

Step 1 – Designing the middle part

We divide the SolidWorks Tutorial stand design into 3 parts and plug them together to form a strip. If we would design the stand as a long, single piece, it would be too large for the 3D printer and could therefore not be realized.

It is advisable to start with the middle piece. After the construction of the middle piece we save it and can then use it as a template for the left and right pieces of the stand. The left and right part only needs to be slightly modified.

Step 2 – Designing the right part

As mentioned in the first step, the file of the centerpiece can be loaded here and only needs to be modified slightly.

Step 3 – Designing the left part

Here the middle piece can also serve as a template and only needs to be slightly modified. In addition, a few recesses are added for the electronics.

Optional: Step 4 – Assemble all parts together in SolidWorks

For our purpose, it is not necessary to put the individual pieces together in SolidWorks. But it is definitely a good practice for our Solid Works: Design stand tutorial!

Step 5 – Slicing with Cura and 3D printing the parts

After the work is done, you want to hold the result in your hands. Therefore, the following video shows how to print out the designed component.

Download files

• STL files for the magnet board

The post SolidWorks – Stand design and 3D print appeared first on Nerd Corner.

List of components to transform an old PC screen to a magnetic wall

• Old PC screen
• LED strip with remote control
• Epoxy glue 30 minutes
• Hot glue gun
• Soldering iron and tin solder
• Tools

Step 1 – Disassembling the PC screen

The screen is very compact. First, the screws on the back should be loosened. Then you can start to dismantle the frame. It is best to use a screwdriver to detach the frame from the socket. Once that’s done, the speakers are exposed. Never throw them away. The speakers can be recycled for other electronic projects! There is another casing under the plastic frame. Here you also have to loosen the screws to remove the casing. Now cut the connections to the board and you can expose the individual display layers. For the following steps, we only use the glass plate, because it is highly suitable for scattering light.

Step 2 – Cutting of the edges

The second step is to saw off and polish the salient parts of the glass plate with sandpaper. If you have the opportunity to fix the glass plate, it will make your work much easier. After sawing off the protruding corners, the edges of the glass pane are sanded to obtain a smooth surface. At the end of the procedure, the edges are deburred with a cutter knife.

Step 3 – Preparing the metal

Of course we need metal for a magnetic wall. Otherwise the magnets wouldn’t stick on the wall. We therefore got 3 metal pieces of the same size, which will later be glued to the glass plate. So that the metal adheres well and because it is already rusting slightly, we brushed it and polished the edges with sandpaper.

Step 4 – Gluing the metal

Now the 3 pieces of metal are prepared for gluing. The 2 component adhesive must be mixed in a ratio of 1: 1. A fine balance helps to check the mixing ratio. You should hurry, because the adhesive will harden after 30 minutes. A magnet is also glued to the back of the LED remote control. This means that the remote control won’t get lost easily. When gluing the metal pieces to the glass plate, you should check the distances to make sure that they are equal.

Optional – Design your own stands

The easiest way is to download the 3d printing files for the stands from this post. But you can also try to design your own stand like we did it. You find a step by step guide on how to design a stand with SolidWorks in this video tutorial. You can find the full SolidWorks Tutorial here.

Step 5 – Inserting the LED strip

In the last step, the LED strip is threaded into the legs, soldered and glued. The stands were created in a 3D printer. The files for printing can be found at the end of the blog post in the “Download files” section. If you don’t have a 3D printer at home, you can have your pillars printed cheaply online.
When threading the LED strip, you have to work carefully so that the LED strip won’t get damaged. This can happen very quickly. The connections are soldered and glued to the inside of the stands.

Optional – Engraving something

To give the magnetic wall the finishing touch, you can engrave something by a specialist company. There are no limits to the imagination and the result is really impressive:

Download files

• STL files for magnetic wall stands

The post How to transform old PC screen to beautiful magnetic wall appeared first on Nerd Corner.