Magnetised?

[HaXiT0X]

Hi again, I have another question. I'm in the process of cutting the window for my case right now using a dremmel. My question is, could the dremmel end up magnetising my case? The reason I'm asking is because when I was cutting on it tonight, noticed some of the metal shavings looked like they were clinging to the case still, like there was a magnetic field acting on them. Also, someone told me that it was possible to magnetise your case while cutting into it. Have any of you experienced this before or know anything about it?

[Gizmo]

It would be fairly difficult to magnetize your entire case to any significant degree while dremmeling on it, but it is quite common for the filings to become magnetized, at least temporarily.

It is, in my experience, harmless. Just make sure you get all the filings cleaned up so that they don't end up in places where they don't belong.

[HaXiT0X]

ok, thanks for putting my mind at ease =)

[Aedan]

If you did manage to magnatize something, it'd be because the something was sitting in the Earth's magnetic field. As there's absolutely nothing you can do about the Earth's magnetic field, I wouldn't worry about it. Hard disks and other magnetic storage media are designed with this in mind!

[MiGGinZ]

and monitors, Apparently you cant use a southern hemisphre CRT or TV up here as they will go funny and vice versa.

[Aedan]

I have to say, that's not something I'd noticed when moving a TV from North America to Australia and then to the UK.

[stigweed]

Doesn't it happen because the shavings are heated up as you cut them then because they cool in the magnetic field, they get aligned with it. In my experienc they are a pain to clean out of the corners of the case.

In a similar thread someone recommended putting some grease or oil aorund the case before cutting so that the filings are easier to wipe away. Never tried it myself.

[robbie]

Why not do what I did to one of my copiers and put a magnet at the bottom of the case while cutting?!?!

One of the machines that I work on will (cut down) the staples that is makes depending on the thickness of the stack of papers it's going to staple. So when it does a small stack of paper (2-50 sheets) it makes a "short" staple. The "extra" pieces of the staple get dropped down a shoot were they drop into a bin that the customer can empty when the bin get's heavy enough to active the sensor. Sometimes they "extra" pieces of the staple don't always make it into the bin and fall to the bottom of the copier. So I put a magnet on a piece of paper right next to the bin (on the bottom) of the machine. I put the magnet on the paper that way it's easier to pick up the magnet when it's time to clean up the "extra" pieces. (the bottom the copier is metal)
Hope that helps,
Rob

[Gizmo]

Originally Posted by MiGGinZ

and monitors, Apparently you cant use a southern hemisphre CRT or TV up here as they will go funny and vice versa.

You can use it, but your horizontal and vertical centering will be changed, due to the difference in the earth's magnetic field. When I was in the monitor business, we used to build some units for export to South America. We had a special Hemholz chamber we had built that would allow us to set the magnetic field to coordinates in South America so that we could get the size and centering set properly. I used to also use it when I did some testing where I wanted to cancel the earth's magnetic field entirely.