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Hey guys!

I decided to start a new SM army, and I want to magnetise it a lot, i.e. put magnets even in tactical squads. I would really appreciate some advice regarding drills and magnets that you use. Basically, I'm looking for an electric drill, which would be suitable for plastic miniatures, and so far I was thinking about Dremel but may be there are some better options. Speaking about magnets, please share your favourites

Thank you!

Personally, I'd avoid an electric drill.
Most drilling is delicate so you don't want anything like that near it.
A small pin drill works fine and takes no time atall, even on metal.

I always use rare earth magnets but the size of them massively depends on the model.

I'll use 1.5mm ones for marine weapons etc, but my knight has a 5mm one in its arms.


As I say though, it's all dependant on what you want to magnetise.

I tend to do a lot of magnetization myself. A few tips/suggestions:
- use rare earth (Neodymium) magnets; they have a much higher strength than same size "normal" magnets.
- I never use an electric drill for plastic models, I swear by my hand drill. Unless you'll find a power drill that will scale back to really low rpm, you'll sacrifice control which on this scale is a no go imo.
- drill bits, I use bits designed for drilling metal, works great on plastic/resin and metal (duh).
- once you start gluing in the magnets, check polarity 2, 3 ,4 times at least, few things are more annoying than having to pry a super glued magnet out of a tight hole, messing your model up, just because your 2 parts repel each other. (As a tip, mark the side of the magnets that goes into the hole with a black marker or the like)
- don't go overboard with magnets, sometimes it's ok to just glue 2 parts together (I've been guilty of doing this myself on several models, some "options" are really just not necessary)

I hear tamia makes a nice little electric drill kit, but I just use an Army Painter pin vice.

Almost all my marine work I do with 2mmx2mm magnets. A little tight but doable for wrist mounts, and just fine for shoulders and backpacks.

I just finished magnetizing 50 or so marines (backpacks and both arms on each one.)

What i found works really well are the 1/8th" by 1/16th" rare earth magnets (I think i got mine off amazon or home depot), and a regular old power drill with a 1/8th of an inch bit.

I found the key is to go very slow with the trigger, clean out the drilled plastic from the bit every few seconds, and to check to make sure the hole is the right depth now and then. It's okay to go a little too deep by mistake, as the magnets still will still hold even if it isn't perfect. .

I definitely messed up a few of the arms in the beginning, but typically the shoulder pads hide anything but the worst mess-ups, and you get the hang of it before too long.

Thank you, guys, I guess I'll start with a hand drill and these rare earth magnets and see how it goes

The only decent electric drill for plastic is a Tamiya Hobby Drill.

It's does up to 3mm which is fine for magnetising.

It's also a cool model kits so go for it.

Best tool I ever bought!

Wrap some masking tape around the drill bit to mark the desired depth. That gives you a visual indication of when the hole is deep enough.

Also works for pinning too.

I use a couple of different pin vise drills (one of them handles up to 1/16", the other 1/16-1/8"), and then rare earth magnets from K&J Magnetics (link:http://www.kjmagnetics.com/?gclid=CIGnir6uh9ICFQmewAodHeIDPg). You can get 50 1/8"x1/16" magnets for like $10 plus shipping.

Niro wrote:
Hey guys!

I decided to start a new SM army, and I want to magnetise it a lot, i.e. put magnets even in tactical squads. I would really appreciate some advice regarding drills and magnets that you use. Basically, I'm looking for an electric drill, which would be suitable for plastic miniatures, and so far I was thinking about Dremel but may be there are some better options. Speaking about magnets, please share your favourites

Thank you!

Doesn't entirely answer your question, but my magnetising blog might help a little - https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/700058.page

I agree with most of the people here - use a hand pin vice drill rather than anything powered. Anything like this - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Modelcraft-Vice-Double-Ended-Swivel/dp/B0041NX1E4/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1486805272&sr=8-12&keywords=pin+drill

Magnet-wise, again I agree with others here - Neodymium rare earth magnets are great. I generally use 1mm x 2mm. These fit well in Space Marine shoulders and wrists. I go bigger when necessary, but the 2mm ones are the ones I use all the time. Anything similar to this - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Small-neodymium-disc-magnets-2mm-3mm-4mm-5mm-6mm-UK-stock-tiny-strong-craft-/162003918151?var=&hash=item25b82f9d47:m:mvxzPQqWXRRdo7W7WR-fHoQ

Hope this helps. Good luck!

Whittlesey40k, thank you for the links!