Magnet Zappers

[Cosmic Bilby]

G'day Guys,

Am after some info on magnet zappers, I was wondering what brands etc are out there and what would people recommend.

I'm after affordable/decent quality, would like to use it for home racing slot car motors (preferably be able to do Mabuchi's without pulling them apart).

Also have the capacity to do up to 16D size motors....

Would greatly appreciate any advice as I am new to this :)

[HomeRacingWorld]

Remember that it won't increase a magnet's power. It will only "restore" it to it's original maximum potential.

Good luck hot rod.

[Florida_Slotter]

Cosmic,

I have read much about zappers. As a matter of fact I own one. Back in the days when I was racing Wing Cars with Group-12 motors, it was necessary to have one, usually in your pit area at the racetrack. Nothing like a quick tear down, re-zap, fresh brushes and such between the end of practice and the start of the race!

Unless you buy one of those super large zappers, you are going to need to do a tear down on the motor. I have one from RGEO Products that will handle up to a 16D sized motor in the well. I use a 'slug' inside the motor to allow for a full zapping of the magnets.

If you are serious about high horsepower, I totally suggest getting a magnet zapper.

Hopefully this will help.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

I repaired a zapper for a guy a few years ago. I tested it to make sure it worked, and was unimpressed. I wouldn't pay more than $40 for one, if I wanted it, and I could care less about having it.

[Cosmic Bilby]

Thanks H!

...Just working out what I need for some serious motor re-building....

Marty and Rob thank you for your opinions, they are quite expensive to buy from what I've seen on the net (most definitely more than $40 :) ), maybe I might be wiser to put the money into a Hudy comm lathe or something????

[RichD]

Back in the early days of slot racing a lot of the motors used Alnico magnets and those needed to be zapped from time to time for optimal performance. Eventually ceramic magnets became the norm and those hold their magnetism much better. Remagnetizers for slot car magnets used to be found at any commercial raceway and a lot of people had their own. Today remagnetizers are expensive and hard to come by. I thought that I had a supplier bookmarked, but I could not find it. The outfits that do high end 1/24th motors can zap your magnets. Koford charges $3 to zap them in the can and another $2 to take Gauss readings. ProSlot zaps magnets in or out of the can for $1.25. At that price it hardly seems worth it to buy your own zapper.

[ddyke]

I thought putting a pile of neo magnets on for several hours had the same effect? This is one area I have not been into very much but it worked traction magnets.

[Florida_Slotter]

A bit of a suggestion . . . . . when zapping traction magnet!

When I say a piece of tape to hold a traction magnet on a popsicle stick is NOT an adequate way to secure your traction magnet, I am speaking the pure, unadulterated truth. I am still looking for that little sucket! After charging up the zapper, taping the traction magnet to the popsicle stick and then hitting the 'ZAP" button on my zapper, it was like one of those scenes from "The Roadrunner"! All I heard was this little magnet ricocheting off equipment in the slot car room, round and round it went and where it landed, no body knows!

Just make sure you have it SAFELY secured before zapping one of those. Remember that "Rail Gun" in "Eraser"? That was also a use of magnet propulsion! Trust me, it does work!

[Foamy]

WrightWay has what I think is the best zapper now. Small, light weight, comes with a magnet matching gizmo. Price is about 300bux. FK size motors fit no problem, c-cans and 16-d cans need to be un-assembled to fit in the machine. You cannot zap traction magnets in this unit, it does not have the power to do anything.

They have a zapper for rare earth magnets, but it is around 2000bux.

[RichD]

NCP Hobbies sells the Carlisle zapper, it should be good for any sort of ceramic magnet.