apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Cool idea - but $400 for a steel sheet and another $395 for a plywood box with some magnets is a bit steep...

Looks like a great DIY landing strip to me.

Looks like I have a new idea for my cubicle. Sweet!

DIY is right; I definitely have to build one for my place...

Incidentally, for folks considering building their own, the magnets being used are almost certainly neodymium magnets -- there are a bunch of vendors online.

...just remember to check the "pull force" on the magnet(s) before buying them; amazingly powerful magnets can be remarkably inexpensive and if you're not extremely careful they can pinch your fingers/flesh like you would not believe. Ow.

Also, when attaching the magnets to your boxes (or whatever) remember that they don't like heat -- so don't try to solder them on. And if you glue them, be sure to use a glue that's stronger than the magnetic pull. I made that mistake once too.

Can magnets demagnetize credit cards, wipe out your hard drive or have any ill effects on things such as pacemakers? A friend told me that her hard drive failed due to the proximity of strong magnets. Is this a ridiculous theory or fact?

Awesome idea. I can haz knockoff?

The real question is where to get nice metal cut to spec and finished. I've been thinking about a metal wall as the base for hanging my tribal textile collection and finding something to use as the base is the problem.

I don't think magnetic paint would create a strong enough surface for things that have real weight.

The DIY "take away" I can think of is to make a magnetic box to fit over the back of your front door to cover the ugly hardware in the middle, especially if the door is visible from other parts of your apartment.

Where to get the metal: check your various local directories for "sheet metal fabricator". It'll take one of them about two seconds to shear off a sheet for you.

minimalia -- thanks for the tip on finding sheet metal.

taureg -- i, too, have been wanting to do something like this, but i'm thinking about integrating a metal strip into my kitchen wall & the prospect of a $400 hunk of metal isn't appealing.

wig3000 -- magnets can, indeed, wreck havoc on your credit cards & hard drives.

Thanks, loislane. This has me wondering about magnetic paint too.

Or, I should say, the magnetic objects that adhere to magnetic paint. I'd imagine that placing your laptop on one of those highly magnetized shelves would be a bad thing.