On Wed, 04 May 2005 23:25:38 +1200, Barry Lennox
wrote:

:On Tue, 3 May 2005 08:22:37 +0100, "N Cook" wrote:
:
:
:"Dan" wrote in message
...
: I just had to post this. While ago the original hard drive went out in
: my pc. I replaced it & all went well, and since I'd never looked inside
: one of these, I took it apart. The beautiful, nearly "industrial art
: sculpture" of the mirror platter assembly/aluminum motor, casting, all
: held with cool fasteners was impressive enough, but then I started
: playing with the magnets from the pickup assembly. My god, they're
: strong! Neodymium, I think. So strong that I actually gave myself a
: small blood blister when the 2 snapped together as I played with them.
: About this same time, the door catch broke on my faithful 20 year old
: clothes dryer. Not a chance of getting a replacement catch, so for the
: past 2 weeks I've been propping the unused base from my drill press
: against the door to hold it shut. Then it dawned on me: "I bet those
: magnets from the HDD are more than strong enough to hold this thing shut
: against the seal & force of the door switch". Works like a charm, in
: fact I only need ONE of them! Judging from the pull now required to
: open the door, it's actually tighter than it was with the original
: catch! Further justification for my "never throw ANYTHING out" policy ;-)
:
: Dan
:
:A near neighbour managed to drop his car keys down a drain in the street
:just as he was to drive to an airport. I tied an ex-5 1/4 magnet to a piece
:of string vertically and he went fishing. It came up with his keys on first
:attempt.
:
:Diverse Devices, Southampton, England
:electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on
:
:A friend rolled a tin of (expensive) paint off his moored boat into
:about 15 feet of water, about 20 mins of fishing with a big magnet
:retrieved it, much to his relief.

Back when I was working on the docks one day something dropped into the
bilge of the boat. I dropped a large magnet from a piece of thin nylon
cord and found a great screwdriver that I have to this day. I have that
horseshoe magnet as well, bought for a pretty penny at the hardware
store.