Forgot to follow up sooner, but just mentioned the 200' or so of base,
shoe and crown molding I put up, and that reminded me.

Somebody here mentioned hard drive magnets.
Stuck a piece of masking tape on one, because it's pretty thin and I
was dropping it.
Then I just lightly ran it on the walls.ceiling with my thumb on it
and the tape tucked between my thumb and forefinger.
You can move it fast too. I used light pressure because it was brand
new paint. Circular pattern of about a foot moving along.
Beat the hell out of my 2 studfinders.
And some studs weren't where I expected, especially near doors.
Stops dead when it runs over a nail/screw.
Then I stuck a little piece of masking tape there and moved on.
Saved me a whole lot of time.

--Vic

On Jan 2, 4:28*pm, Vic Smith wrote:
Forgot to follow up sooner, but just mentioned the 200' or so of base,
shoe and crown molding I put up, and that reminded me.

Somebody here mentioned hard drive magnets.
Stuck a piece of masking tape on one, because it's pretty thin and I
was dropping it.
Then I just lightly ran it on the walls.ceiling with my thumb on it
and the tape tucked between my thumb and forefinger.
You can move it fast too. *I used light pressure because it was brand
new paint. *Circular pattern of about a foot moving along. *
Beat the hell out of my 2 studfinders.
And some studs weren't where I expected, especially near doors.
Stops dead when it runs over a nail/screw.
Then I stuck a little piece of masking tape there and moved on.
Saved me a whole lot of time.

Nifty trick, eh? I use some of the little neodymium magnets with the
countersunk hole in them (alarm installer's use them a lot) to mark
out the exact center of a screw. The countersunk magnet is about the
same size as the head of a drywall screw, and it almost self-centers
on the screw, then I just make a mark with a pencil through the
center. Then I can dig out the Philips recess with a dental tool and
back the screw out cleanly.

I now use this as standard procedure when I have to gain access
through drywall. I've removed a 30" x 48" piece (including the taped
joint between boards), did the work, and was able to reinstall it
using the same screw holes. It made patching the access hole a snap.

R

Vic Smith wrote:
Forgot to follow up sooner, but just mentioned the 200' or so of base,
shoe and crown molding I put up, and that reminded me.

Somebody here mentioned hard drive magnets.
Stuck a piece of masking tape on one, because it's pretty thin and I
was dropping it.
Then I just lightly ran it on the walls.ceiling with my thumb on it
and the tape tucked between my thumb and forefinger.
You can move it fast too. I used light pressure because it was brand
new paint. Circular pattern of about a foot moving along.
Beat the hell out of my 2 studfinders.
And some studs weren't where I expected, especially near doors.
Stops dead when it runs over a nail/screw.
Then I stuck a little piece of masking tape there and moved on.
Saved me a whole lot of time.


You're welcome!

"RicodJour" wrote in message
...

Nifty trick, eh? I use some of the little neodymium magnets with the
countersunk hole in them (alarm installer's use them a lot) to mark
out the exact center of a screw. The countersunk magnet is about the
same size as the head of a drywall screw, and it almost self-centers
on the screw, then I just make a mark with a pencil through the
center. Then I can dig out the Philips recess with a dental tool and
back the screw out cleanly.

Slick!

On Sun, 2 Jan 2011 15:31:25 -0800, "Bob F"
wrote:

Vic Smith wrote:
Forgot to follow up sooner, but just mentioned the 200' or so of base,
shoe and crown molding I put up, and that reminded me.

Somebody here mentioned hard drive magnets.
Stuck a piece of masking tape on one, because it's pretty thin and I
was dropping it.
Then I just lightly ran it on the walls.ceiling with my thumb on it
and the tape tucked between my thumb and forefinger.
You can move it fast too. I used light pressure because it was brand
new paint. Circular pattern of about a foot moving along.
Beat the hell out of my 2 studfinders.
And some studs weren't where I expected, especially near doors.
Stops dead when it runs over a nail/screw.
Then I stuck a little piece of masking tape there and moved on.
Saved me a whole lot of time.


You're welcome!


I have 11 HDDs I need to harvest the magnets from. When I get up the
gumption.

Locally (hour south across the U.S. Nevada border into California) a
rare earth mineral mine is about to come on line again after many
years of closure.

Magnets are made from the mineral harvested there. An article I read
stated that China had a strangle hold -- maybe this with help the
U.S..

It will create 700 jobs. The article mentioned many products that
require magnets.

On Jan 3, 12:51*am, Oren wrote:
On Sun, 2 Jan 2011 15:31:25 -0800, "Bob F"
wrote:



Vic Smith wrote:
Forgot to follow up sooner, but just mentioned the 200' or so of base,
shoe and crown molding I put up, and that reminded me.

Somebody here mentioned hard drive magnets.
Stuck a piece of masking tape on one, because it's pretty thin and I
was dropping it.
Then I just lightly ran it on the walls.ceiling with my thumb on it
and the tape tucked between my thumb and forefinger.
You can move it fast too. *I used light pressure because it was brand
new paint. *Circular pattern of about a foot moving along.
Beat the hell out of my 2 studfinders.
And some studs weren't where I expected, especially near doors.
Stops dead when it runs over a nail/screw.
Then I stuck a little piece of masking tape there and moved on.
Saved me a whole lot of time.

You're welcome!

I have 11 HDDs *I need to harvest the magnets from. When I get up the
gumption.

Locally (hour south across the U.S. Nevada *border into California) a
rare earth mineral mine is about to come on line again after many
years of closure.

Magnets are made from the mineral harvested there. *An article I read
stated that China had a strangle hold -- maybe this with help the
U.S..

It will create 700 jobs. The article mentioned many products that
require magnets.

Like half of my Christmas projects!

There's a good company - K&J Magnetics. Found the guy through eBay,
but their web site has all the information and a nifty magnetic field
calculator which helps you figure out the magnetic force based on a
particular magnet at a particular distance. Very useful when
embedding magnets and requiring a specific force to hold a load.

R