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Looking to start magnitizing units! Any advice on which ones to use?

you'll want neodymium, preferably N52. As for the size it depends on what your using them for. Like I magnetize the bases for transportation and I use magnetes with a 3mm diameter and 2mm height for bases up to 40mm

I use mostly 2mm and 3mm magnets, N42. 2mm high.

I've got a huge range of different sizes. They're all Neodymium, various grades based on what deals I came across at different times. Really, most Neodymium grades will do fine, except perhaps at the very smallest magnets where you'll want a high grade to make sure you've got plenty of pull. The higher numbers are stronger - N52 is generally the highest, and the lowest you'll see is normally N35.

I've got 2x1mm N52 as my smallest, they can be handy for magnetising small bits and pieces on models. A lot of 3x1mm (lower grade I think), they're a good general purpose type. I use them under the bases of my plastic infantry minis, a piece of washer and then a magnet (I use the washer just to space it so that the magnet is closer to the bottom of the base so it has a better pull to the steel sheet). A single 3x1 of not particularly high grade does a perfectly adequate job of holding a regular plastic infantry model in place.

5x1s are quite handy in general, I usually have a couple of those under the bases of my metal infantry and plastic dreadnought-sized models, and they're also the size of magnet that the Adeptus Titanicus Warlords/Warbringers are designed for.

I've got a variety of other, larger diameter 1mm thick magnets that I've not used all that much.

10mm diameter 3mm deep magnets that I got a good deal on and use under the bases of bigger (e.g. knight sized) models.

Up at the more ridiculous end, I've also go 10mm diameter 10mm deep (5kg pull) magnets that I bought to hold the guns on my 40k titan, and 25mm diameter 20mm thick (22kg pull) to hold it at the waist!

Two neodymium magnets together at each joint is usually standard. However, magnetic polarity may be an issue, when you want to interchange parts or limbs.

In that case you will want to use the very first unit you magnetize as the "polarity standard" for subsequent minis.
That is if you want to interchange limbs or attachments.

If you don't want to deal with polarity issues, you can use plain old scrap metal materials in the torso as attachment points, and use neo-magnets for the attachment limbs.
(or vice versa). This method is also more cost effective. But the limbs will not attach as strongly as it would between two magnets.
So you would need the strongest magnets that will physically fit the part using that method.

 jdouglas wrote:
Two neodymium magnets together at each joint is usually standard. However, magnetic polarity may be an issue, when you want to interchange parts or limbs.

In that case you will want to use the very first unit you magnetize as the "polarity standard" for subsequent minis.
That is if you want to interchange limbs or attachments.

If you don't want to deal with polarity issues, you can use plain old scrap metal materials in the torso as attachment points, and use neo-magnets for the attachment limbs.
(or vice versa). This method is also more cost effective. But the limbs will not attach as strongly as it would between two magnets.
So you would need the strongest magnets that will physically fit the part using that method.

I do both of these. When it comes time to sink magnets into a model, I grab and old guy off the shelf and make sure everything matches.

For light/small parts, I clip the heads off small finishing nails and use those little disks. No need (or ability) to double magnetize everything.

 jdouglas wrote:
But the limbs will not attach as strongly as it would between two magnets.

Depends how big your piece of steel is!

If the piece of steel is fairly large and you've got direct contact, magnet-to-steel contact has the same strength as magnet-to-magnet. Where magnet-to-steel is less strong than magnet-to-magnet is if the piece of steel is smaller or if there's any air gap. And generally speaking in miniatures you're not going to have a very large piece of steel.

As for cost, most of the magnets I have came through cheap overseas sellers via amazon and ebay, and cost literally pennies per magnet, so I just magnet-to-magnet everything.