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I have these tiny plastic kobold miniatures. They come with an attached base which is too thin to drill a small magnet into it. So I bought some magnetic tape and super-glued it to the bottom of one of the bases then cut around the edge.

At first it worked. The magnetic attraction was not strong, but strong enough to keep a tiny plastic miniature sideways on the fridge.

Now I did something with another magnet and it seems to have screwed up the tape I super-glued on the base. Now when I try and put the miniature on the fridge I get a slight repulsive effect (as in it "pushes away") instead of an attractive one!

I tried to peel the tape off the bottom, but for once super-glue seems to have worked. It's not going anywhere. I can't even get it off with a hobby knife.

Does anyone have any experience with this?

If no, does anyone have any alternate suggestions on how I can magnetise the rest of them? (I only tried it on one)

The flexible magnetic sheeting (adhesive backed) tape?

The fridge should not be repelling them - the sheet steel of the fridge really shouldn't even care about the polarity of a magnet sticking to it (at least my fridge doesn't).

any chance the area youre trying to place the magnet on is magnetic itself?
you can reverse the polarity of a magnet but it isnt easy.

forgot... very cool guys by the way

 chromedog wrote:
The flexible magnetic sheeting (adhesive backed) tape?

The fridge should not be repelling them - the sheet steel of the fridge really shouldn't even care about the polarity of a magnet sticking to it (at least my fridge doesn't).

Yeah it doesn't really make sense. The force in them is so low maybe I'm just imagining it.

In any case, it certainly doesn't stick anymore. There's zero magnetic force at all. It feels like it's pushing away, but if that's in my imagination, then at best it's zero. When I first put it on, it was weak, but strong enough to keep him sideways half way up the fridge.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 usernamesareannoying wrote:
any chance the area youre trying to place the magnet on is magnetic itself?
you can reverse the polarity of a magnet but it isnt easy.

forgot... very cool guys by the way

Thanks. They were fun because they're so small and easy to paint I could blast through them all in no time at all. Which is a nice sense of satisfaction to get something finished.

I spent about as much time as those guys combined as I'd typically spend on one or two space marines of comparable paint-job quality.

This is possibly the weirdest question I've seen on here! xD

I've got to ask: why are you putting miniatures on the side of a fridge?

Have you tried putting a second strip of magnet sheet under the first and seeing if that improves the grip? As with others on here, I can't really believe the fridge itself has become magnetised and is repelling the magnets on your minis... but I guess it's theoretically possible.

From what I can remember of high school lessons on magnets, they can lose their magnetic charge through impact or through stronger magnets interfering with the weaker magnets fields. Equally, though, you can improve the magnetic field, too. If you've got some really powerful magnets, try letting one attach to the magnetic strip, that might improve the 'pull' of the strip when you take the strong magnet away.

The minis themselves look great, by the way!

 CancelledApocalypse wrote:
This is possibly the weirdest question I've seen on here! xD

I've got to ask: why are you putting miniatures on the side of a fridge?

Have you tried putting a second strip of magnet sheet under the first and seeing if that improves the grip? As with others on here, I can't really believe the fridge itself has become magnetised and is repelling the magnets on your minis... but I guess it's theoretically possible.

From what I can remember of high school lessons on magnets, they can lose their magnetic charge through impact or through stronger magnets interfering with the weaker magnets fields. Equally, though, you can improve the magnetic field, too. If you've got some really powerful magnets, try letting one attach to the magnetic strip, that might improve the 'pull' of the strip when you take the strong magnet away.

The minis themselves look great, by the way!

Thanks for the compliment on the minis.

Yeah, maybe it's not repelling. I felt it was, but maybe that was just my imagination.

In any case, it's certainly lost it's magnetic attraction, and yes, it was after I played with attaching it to a stronger magnet. So that's probably would messed it up. I wish I knew how to get it back!

P.S. I don't want to put two strips under there because it will just make the bases too bulky for tiny miniatures.

oh crap... you put a stronger magnet on it?

like pig faced orc said you demagnetized it.

you can remagnetize it by rubbing another magnet it on it.
google is your friend on this

i wont guarantee it will work but it wont hurt to try.
https://sciencing.com/magnetize-demagnetize-metal-8498102.html

Just piggybacking on this while we're discussing magnets, I have a question about magnet strength: would placing a second magnet over the first one provide a stronger bond?

 Valkyrie wrote:
Just piggybacking on this while we're discussing magnets, I have a question about magnet strength: would placing a second magnet over the first one provide a stronger bond?

In general yes.

In practice, there are diminishing returns.

The farther you are from the magnet, the weaker the pull. So stacking two will add some strength, but will not double it, as the one further back is not contributing as much to the point of contact.

When talking about magnetizing bases, where you generally have space to spread out, putting two separately on the base, where they can both be in full contact, is better.

I have stacked magnets a few times, when I didn’t have a lot of space but needed more pull. Like the flight stem on a vyper,

 usernamesareannoying wrote:
oh crap... you put a stronger magnet on it?

like pig faced orc said you demagnetized it.

you can remagnetize it by rubbing another magnet it on it.
google is your friend on this

i wont guarantee it will work but it wont hurt to try.
https://sciencing.com/magnetize-demagnetize-metal-8498102.html

I (pig-faced-orc) is the OP and the person you referenced.

That's not relevant, just saying. Thanks for the advice, I will try that!

Magnetic tape is a 'halbach array' - you can't remagnetize it to do the same thing any more.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halbach_array

 Nevelon wrote:

 Valkyrie wrote:
Just piggybacking on this while we're discussing magnets, I have a question about magnet strength: would placing a second magnet over the first one provide a stronger bond?

In general yes.

In practice, there are diminishing returns.

The farther you are from the magnet, the weaker the pull. So stacking two will add some strength, but will not double it, as the one further back is not contributing as much to the point of contact.

When talking about magnetizing bases, where you generally have space to spread out, putting two separately on the base, where they can both be in full contact, is better.

I have stacked magnets a few times, when I didn’t have a lot of space but needed more pull. Like the flight stem on a vyper,

I see, thanks for the info

 The Pig-Faced Orc wrote:
I (pig-faced-orc) is the OP and the person you referenced.

lol... too many words
sounds like what SirDonlad says means you might be in trouble.
worse case scenario they make super tiny neodymium magnets.
maybe drill the bottom out and insert one?
sounds like a pain though.
hope you find a happy solution.