Magnetic Track Debris Pickup

Very good idea.  Gotta look for the right car.

Thanks John

From experience you need one with plastic wheels and no significant metal in the trucks.  This one was perfect, the only steel is in the axles.  Even so, they rotate a bit stiffer than normal, simply because of the pull of the magnet. 

If you lay this magnet flat on a steel surface, it's almost impossible to get it off again!  I stuck one to my workbench legs, and it was a real fight to remove it!

John, I need to build one of these. How do you release the metal you pick up? Thanks for the motivation!

I made a similar car from a junk postwar flat car, and glued a rather large speaker magnet to the modified bottom. Works!

hokie71 posted:

John, I need to build one of these. How do you release the metal you pick up? Thanks for the motivation!

Simple as pie, just take the fake coal load off and lift the magnet, all the stuff falls off!   That's why I like the REALLY powerful magnet, it can be farther from the item and still pick it up.  The magnet will pick up a screw or nut from several inches away.

DUH, I assumed it was glued there!  Thanks 

Not glued for that very reason, it would be a PITA to pry the stuff off if I couldn't remove the magnet.

For anyone thinking of getting smaller magnets than GRJ recommends (1x2x1/2), I tried a 1/2 x 2 x 1/4 that I had around the work bench and this did not quite have the reach for use on traditional track- it is along way from the bottom of the car to the table top under the track, where metal may be lurking.   

One thing I did discover: even one of my smaller magnets likes the metal side of the 364 log loader   very much!  As the car passed the 364, The magnet flew like a rocket out of the gondola car it was resting in for the test I was running to find small nails seeded around the track.  What a PITA to remove! 

My "recommendation" was really based on the fact that I had a few of these kicking around.

Better than the ones I had kicking around it appears!

How do you keep the magnet from sticking to tubular track?

I have not built mine yet but that is why GRJ has the magnet separated by the bottom of the car from the track.  On my test the magnet sat on the bottom of one of the old postwar plastic gondolas with plastic trucks.   the magnet  does exert some attractive pressure on the car toward the rail.  trick is to be sure you can pick up the metal but not bog down on the rails.  There was at least one thread several months ago where forumites shared designs on these cars but for some reason my searches do not find it.  

gftiv posted:

How do you keep the magnet from sticking to tubular track?

Look at the pictures in the first post.

Funny - this magnetic debris problem wasn't common when we all used Magnetraction....I had a Warhorse J that kept "finding" things, then bringing them home to me.

Just kidding (mostly); good idea.

D500 posted:

I had a Warhorse J that kept "finding" things, then bringing them home to me.

Something that I'm trying to avoid!   Usually, when the locomotive picks up the stuff, bad things frequently happen.

hokie71 posted:

I have not built mine yet but that is why GRJ has the magnet separated by the bottom of the car from the track.  On my test the magnet sat on the bottom of one of the old postwar plastic gondolas with plastic trucks.   the magnet  does exert some attractive pressure on the car toward the rail.  trick is to be sure you can pick up the metal but not bog down on the rails.  There was at least one thread several months ago where forumites shared designs on these cars but for some reason my searches do not find it.  

Think of the high SPEEDS one could obtain if they used a magnet in every car!!! 

Great idea for the next Lionel or MTH catalogs.... a car which picks up metal debris and also does the "maglev" thingy.  We could get rid of those pesky transformers!  I love it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x8Vf8UtElQ  

GRJ, you are an inexhaustible source of information regarding sources for unique components.  Where does one find these magnets?

Somewhere I have a wooden drop-center flat car I made decades ago to hold a camera.  Now to find it.

So as not to violate any copyright laws, I'll post a link rather than copy the text.  Danger warnings for these magnets.  https://totalelement.com/pages...gnets-safety-warning