What is this thing?

[Indy_Guy_77]

Appears to be steel. It's too heavy to be Al or Mg or their alloys.

Found it in a neighbor's yard near where they set out the trash.

 

[K_W]

Hard drive magnet. Be careful with it, they're strong and will pinch you good if you get between it and ferrous metal. (Iron / steel)

I use one to hold my derringer under a table for discrete access.

The smaller curved part is the actual magnet, called a neodymium magnet.

 

[parsimonious]

kinda hard to judge the scale but it kinda looks like some kinda brake.
you know, like a pad for a rotor. Maybe its a brake part.

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

ze 9 men's ring for scale.

 

[K_W]

Definitely a hard drive magnet. 100% certain.

 

[MadBomber]

 

[cbseniour]

Looks like a very small brake pad

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

Just went and fished it out of the recycle bin. It is indeed magnetic. Not terribly magnetic, no finger issues near steel food cans.

INGO to the rescue again!

 

[Doug]

I believe the magnet is attached to a mu metal base.
The magnet will stick directly to a steel cabinet but will not stick if the base is placed against the cabinet.

I use a pair of them with knobs attached to put knobs on the front of my gun cabinet.

 

[K_W]

Just went and fished it out of the recycle bin. It is indeed magnetic. Not terribly magnetic, no finger issues near steel food cans.

INGO to the rescue again!

Don't throw it out... they're awesome to have around. If you're near Carmel I'll take it off your hands.

 

[BogWalker]

This will wipe storage devices won't they? Might not want to get it too close to your cell phone if I've been told correctly.

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

Don't throw it out... they're awesome to have around. If you're near Carmel I'll take it off your hands.

In Greenwood...sorry.

I may move it to the work bench / tool chest rather than the recycle bin, then.

Lord knows I could've used a good magnet several months ago when I lost an itty bitty teeny tiny sear-reset spring.

 

[iChokePeople]

This will wipe storage devices won't they? Might not want to get it too close to your cell phone if I've been told correctly.

Only if the storage device in question is an old floppy disk, a credit card, etc. Those magnets came from the inside of a hard drive.

 

[scottka]

Although you've already figured it out, it does remarkedly resemble a small brake pad.

 

[nsolimini]

For sure a hard drive magnet. I have 19 of them in my view right now. When a drive dies, I take them out and keep them for random things. A little glue actually holds the magnet onto the metal backplate.

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

One of my original thoughts was that it may have been some kind of door knob / lock innards.

Silly me - I've never had a hard drive go "bad" on me - therefore I've not taken one apart to see how they're constructed!

 

[Scutter01]

Definitely a hard drive magnet. 100% certain.

Agreed. That is exactly what that is.

 

[hoosierdoc]

Buy some bucky balls and try them out if you want to play with magnets, but keep 'em away from the little ones.

It's possible the company that made them went bankrupt though...

 

[Ericpwp]

without looking at the other posts, it looks to be a rare earth magnet from a hard drive spindle.


EDIT:What do I win? They come in pairs. There should be another one that has bent ends that fit into the notches. When assembled, there will be about .5cm space between the two magnets. I like to pull them apart and get them back together w/out getting my finger caught when waiting for a computer to run tasks.

 

[theblackhat]

Here's an example off the web to compare. Also a HD magnet.