Magnet as SMD tool

Trouble is, you don't get to choose which parts are magnetic, or what section of the part body is sensitive in any particular polarity. You don't get to choose how the part is oriented, or where, on the magnetic tool in the first place (or any time afterwards, for that matter).

Demagnetising an accidentally magnetized tool is quite a job.

Keep magnets in controlled locations, where they can't screw things up.

RL

On a sunny day (Sat, 20 Feb 2010 09:32:25 -0500) it happened legg wrote in :

Well, I just soldered about 20 SMD zeners with this method, and the magnet is safely put away. An extra tool or method is always worth having. Only few people have a steel plate in their head.

That would probably be 316L stainless or some titanium alloy, so it should not be magnetic.

Some people in sed seem to have solid lead in their heads. :-) One possible extension of Jan's idea is to use a small battery-operated electromagnet with the field concentrated in a gap at one end. This will reduce the chance of accidentally magnetising something else.

That sounds like a pretty neat trick. Wish I had thought of it a year ago.... (really could have been useful on one particular project!!)

-mpm

Hmmm what about an electro magnent?

That's what I said earlier. With a non-locking microswitch at the side, it could be a handy little tool.