Another computer-related source (in addition to old hard-drives) are old cd-rom drives, some of them (not all) that is, if you can find an old, out of date one (the older ones are actually the ones which have the magnet on them, and are extremely cheap), at a computer store, (be sure to check if it has a magnet on it by the following procedure).

Look on the bottom of the cd-rom, it also sometimes has a warning label on the top warning about the strong magnet mounted to the bottom, anyways, look at the bottom of the drive for a piece of metal which is a slightly different colour than the rest of the casing, check if it is actually a magnet with a paperclip, or something magnetic, if it sticks, you're in luck.

The manget is usually attached to the casing by two small screws. When these are unscrewed, you have an extremly thin, fairly large (about 1" x 3" x 1/32") magnet. This is the only place I know of that you can find a magnet this thin. It is useful for many things --use your imagination. For example, it can slide into places most other magnets cannot (please realize that all cd-roms do not have this magnet, don't stress out if you can't find it, just don't buy it)

Unless you position the magnet a few inches from someone's wallet credit cards will not be erased. Well most credit cards anyway.

If you look at any credit card you may have the magnetic stripe will likely be either a very dark brown (almost black) or a light brown. The dark stripe indicates that the mag stripe is high-corsivity and has a tremendous tolerance to magnetic fields. Visa and MC regulations require that all CC's bearing their brand must be Hi-Co. Amex and Discover have also followed and use Hi-Co. Some cards (such as CitiBank Plat) use colored mag stripe but it's Hi-Co.

"Non-secure" cards, such as gas cards, store credit card, etc., use low-corsivity mag stripe and this could be a problem. Lo-Co can be erased rather easily!

Just be careful where you position yourself and you shouldn't ever have a problem.

Possibly more accessible and commonly salvageable than an old hard drive are the strong donut shaped magnets which sit at the apex of the cone of old audio speakers. How many obsolete HiFis gather dust in attics and garages?

There is a "Restoration Hardware" store in the mall, here, and as I was checking out I noticed a pack of 6 really small, really strong magnets. They measure 1/4" diameter, and 1/8" thick. I grabbed a pack for the heck of it, I'll figure out something to do with them later, but as small as they are, and the strength they have, I couldn't resist. Just a thought.

Ed

I got six .47"dia. x .11"thk. neodymium super magnets from Hobby Lobby for $2.99. They had some other sizes too. I don't know if you all have a Hobby Lobby where you live but it is a great place to find magic supplies. I also got some Krylon Low Odor Clear Matte Finsh while I was there to use as roughing spray.

Another warning about powerful magnets: Don't get a quartz-controlled watch near one. The magnet can damage the little motor that runs the watch.

Are the hard drive mags nearly as powerful as a neo b/c? I know that a speaker mag
is not.

The magnets out of a hard drive are very strong. I use 4 of these magnets to hold my magic table together. One easily holds about 50 sheets of notebook paper to the refrigerator.

I use an hardrive magnet hidden in my sleeve to stop watch and it works sometimes when I hold the watch 2 inches away from it.

You can get some on ebay that can lift several hundred pounds!

Stopping a watch is a simple thing as the mechanism is light and delicate, the magnetic fields is large on a neo magnet. As an example my amp cabinet sits a little over 20" away from my TV set and you can still see the magnetic fields in the the extreme corners when you have a blue screen from a vcr on. Lifting power on magnets are useless as a gauge of distance strength. I have a micro 5 and it's very powerful, unfortunately not powerful enough for a killer routine I have worked out. I am still on a never-ending search for a magnet with twice to triple the power of a micro 5 in half the size, it seems that is what will be required for my routine to be work. It must from a 9" - 12" distance have a large enough field to reliably penetrate 1" - 1.25" of wood. In short it needs to be able to give heart attacks from across the room. The search continues.

Robert, good look with your search!
If you found the right one - would you post it here please?

I had the good fortune of getting several old hard drives to destroy and was able to stack several identical magnets together. I put it on a steel door frame and it very nearly supports my full weight.

I have a magnet from a hard drive. Is it a neo? It's not not as strong as a neo. What am I going to do with it? Any suggestions?

Small ones the size of a button are available at Jo Anne Fabrics.

Blade, The magnet from a hard drive is not a neo
but you can move objects with it.

Regards
Cornelius
France

For all the searchers of really strong magnets

BTW I have seen the new Micro 10 on e-bay
(its a double Micro pk5)
Be very carefull....

Regards

Cornelius
France

Strong magnet in a ring is very for various moves. The hard drive ones are especially good and easily available,

I have a strong magnet under the table in my dining room. When I think I might be doing magic there, I put my Riser/Loomis Micro chop cup under the table. I then do a one coin through the table move. (Just a false placement.) Hand with the coin palmed goes under the table, closed empty hand hits the table above the spot where the Chop Cup is. The hand under the table removes the Micro Chop and palms it, moving the coin to the fingertips. Hand is brought out into view, and the coin shown. I can now produce my Chop Cup any way I like to start my routine.
Dennis Loomis

This is the magnet for the M5, it has a pulling force of 110.5 lbs.

https://www.kjmagnetics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=BY0Y08

Thanks for the link but we sold this domain 3 years ago. We are still in business & you can find these at: https://www/indigoinstruments.com/magnets/rare_earth