Magneto remagnetizing or rare earth?

I've got an off topic magneto (blasting machine) that I'd like to bump the power up on. Have any of you ever re-energized the magnets in a magneto or put rare earth magnets in instead? The rare earth magnet idea intrigues me but I don't think it's as simple as drilling holes and epoxying them in. I'd love to get some advice before I tear into this thing.

Thanks,
Kerry

 

I dunno **** about magnetos but I know a few things about magnets.

IF the existing magnets have lost some of their charge they can be remagnatized.

A person who works with speaker repairs can point you in the right direction.

Magnets only hold a certain charge so its not possible to "hot rod" or overcharge for more strength.

The way to measure the magnetic strength is by either a Gaussmeter or a magnetometer.Cheap accurate units are availiable.

But then you have to know the specs on the existing magnets in your magneto.

Hope this helps.

Oldmics

 

Kerry, you can't steer it and push that handle down fast enough to bring the rpm's up. Leave the vertex in it. Lippy

 

Kerry,
I was wondering about the mag coils as the likely loss-of-spark culprit?
Varnish, heat, age and cracking of the coil insulating coating.
Nothing wrong in re-magnetizing, just to see if it helps.

 

How about we wire it up to my seat so I don't sleep at the light?

 

So what is the right way to re-magnetize?

I had my magneto built by Spud Miller and he used rare earth magnets to crankup the amps. Made me wonder what the process was and if I could do that to this little ****er.

 

If the unit has been rebuilt with the new neodymium (rare earth) style magnetic material to replace the original magnets,its probably at its optimium preformance capacity now.

The neo magnets are smaller but stronger per size devices.

They are much more prone to loose Gauss (magnetism) from heat as opposed to a ceramic style magnetic material.

Just adding more magnetic power wont increase the preformance of the device.It would take an entire engineering change of the magneto to accomplish that.

Best to see what the specs are on the existing magnets and check them with a Gaussmeter to see if they are fully charged.

Some of the larger speaker repair shops will have access to a Gaussing machine to recharge your magnets.

Oldmics

 

Taking the magnets out of the vertex isnt that easy of a job . Just a tear down to that level takes some tools and some time for sure....

 

I should clarify that I was just referring to the Vertex on my digger, I'm actually working on a US Army 10 cap blasting machine. My son and I would like to use it to set off fireworks but it does not have enough amps for our homebrewed ignigters.

 

Needs a mil-spec capacitor???

OldMics, can you elaborate on loose gauss, and heat effects, as I thought heat would negatively impact, magnetic material strength.

 

Kerry
GMC Bubba has a friend that is Mr magneto. I'll bet he would give you a number and you could probably pick that guys brain.

Uh never mind I doubt that anyone would talk with you as unfriendly as you are.

 

Kerry, my Dad use to have a magnet recharger he used for his old one cyl gas engines he restored. You used a comp*** with it. It was a twin tower looking stack of coils about a foot and a half high. You hooked up jumper cables to a vehicles battery. I don't remember the process exactly , it was called a magnet recharger. (Imagine that). Lippy

 

Here ya go Kerry.

http://www.smokstak.com/articles/magnet_charger.html

 

I use a old magneto charger like you described to charge speedometer magnets for calibration, give your local speedo shop a try.

 

Any old time auto electric shop can recharge your magnets. They use the same growler they use to test armatures.

The last time I had this done, was for the magneto on a BMW motorcycle. It lost its umph after 15 or 20 years. The local auto electric shop charged it up (takes about 10 seconds) and it was good as new. They never even charged me any money.

 

****** are you talking about lenny hughes?

 

I found this wile trying to re-charge some of my mags.
Hope it helps..

 

I just use 2 12v batteries to recharge Model T magnetos. Pretty much the same process I believe.

 

Keesey, you mean the flywheel magnets on a T ?

 

Old style Bosch magnetos (with the large horseshoe magnets) were usually remagnetized as part of the reconditioning/rebuilding process.

 

The flywheel magnets and the coils attached to the rear of the engine making up the entire magneto.