Drilling Out A Magnet From A Lid

[jimthecarper]

A while back I made a small aluminium box with magnets to hold the lid closed.
The magnets are 5mm dia x 5mm deep in the body of the case. They were fixed with a little CA glue and have held perfectly well.
I now want to remove the magnets with as little damage to the case as possible.
These small Neodymium disc magnets are super hard and so far my attempts to drill them with a 2mm TC bit have proven fruitless.

Any ideas/tips would be greatly appreciated as I want to get this little project moving again.

 

[David S]

I think acetone will soften the CA glue. Is it possible to submerge the part overnight?

David

 

[mcostello]

Slightly warm the part might work.

 

[joshua43214]

Neodymium magnets are something like 46 Rockwell and very brittle.
You are not going to cut them with anything short of diamond tooling.

Either soak in acetone as mentioned, or use a diamond drill.

 

[RJSakowski]

+1 on the acetone if there is clearance for it to get to the CA. Heat will also work. Don't overheat as it will soften or possibly warp the aluminum.

 

[RJSakowski]

HF sells diamond burrs for Dremel type tools. They will cut the neodymium magnets. perhaps you have a similar outlet there? If not, try eBay. An example: http://www.ebay.com/itm/150-GRIT-30...977345?hash=item5427341441:g:KNcAAOSwj0NUb1em

 

[Alittlerusty]

How about just crush them up ? Every magnet I've had has been super brittle (never had neomidium that I know of) . Center punch might just crumble them

 

[British Steel]

Hold a largeish soldering iron on the magnet for a few minutes, the heat will break the CA glue bond fairly quickly without affecting the aluminium

Dave H. (the other one)

 

[Douglasr]

+ 1 on the soldering iron heat. In an done in minutes without any damage

 

[derf]

I 'd make a mini hole saw from some 1/4" drill rod and cut around them.