Welding Tips and Tricks

Hello all,

Looking to get a 1,000 lb-ish lifting magnet to help move material around. I was looking at the MagSwitch MLAY-3. I see a lot of people using the generic (Vevor, etc) lifting magnets. The MagSwitch is about 10x more expensive. I don’t want to skimp on something like this for safety reasons, but I also know the generic ones have been around for a lot longer than MagSwitch so I don’t know if I’d just be paying for a name brand or if there really are some big benefits.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences.

Thanks,

j

First and foremost I would like to say lifting magnets are the cause of many safety persons nightmares. So my advice is to NEVER trust a lifting magnet of any quality.

That being said, if I were to buy one I would by a Vevor. I would also stress the importance of testing it on a regular basis. Contact the company and ask what to test it at. Probably 3 times it's lifting capacity, should they say, " well your magnet lifts 1,000 pounds, so test it at a 1,000". That would not be a good brand to buy, or buy one that is 3 times bigger than you want (3,000 lbs) and test it at 2,000 lbs once a week, outside would be bi-weekly.

I have a large lifting magnet I got from a company that closed their plant that resembles the Vevor style except it will lift pipe as well. No tag on it, and was slotted for the trash because it had no tag. I never lift anything past the sole of my boot without a tag line. While I was there I used it to lift my table made from 4'x8'x1" plate with a 6"x6"x1/4" legs with 3"x3"x3/8" bracing. I still don't trust it with a 1/4" plate of steel.

A fun fact, a magnet is only as strong as the thickness of the material it's connected to.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge / experience. I appreciate it.

I'm pretty sure the ratings are based off a certain metal thickness as well.

Think it has something to do with the pull force the magnet can achieve on different thickness of material.

Also I believe direction of pull whether straight up and down or on a slight angle affects the lifting cap as well.

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Yep, the magnetic permeability is what the property is called. It dictates just how much magnetic field (in gauss) can be induced into a specific part (defined by it's size and geometry) before it becomes saturated with field lines and then cannot accept a stronger field no matter what.

A 1000lb object isn't necessarily going to be a static 1000lb load to the magnet either, what happens if the magnet swings to a stop or the piece being moved hits something by mistake?

I thought it was a thing just never knew the science terms of it. It's the main reason I've never bought a mag lifter since the heavy steel things I need to move and flip are mainly bulky odd shaped tanks, always felt a mag lift would be sketchy for any kind of kinetic forces when the load shifts during the flip at the lovely teeter totter point you get with a manually moved trolley

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