I found some very tiny rare-earth magnets at Radio Shack, of all places.
They were about the size of a small pill. I drilled a hole on the inside
face of a drain plug, epoxied the "pill" in place. and staked the metal
surrounding it as well. I made the magnet come out flush with the plug
for easy cleaning. The rare earth magnets (typically Samarium-Cobalt) are
VERY powerful. The most powerful magnets in great supply currently are
from disk drives. The flattened kidney shape on these isn't too applicable
tho. You'd have to cut them down, and maybe drill them to attach to a
drain plug. You can usually find piles of them in surplus stores for $0.50
to $1.00 each. 30 years ago, I paid $20.00 to Edmund Scientific for a
Samarium-Cobalt magnet. Now they're everywhere. For a drain plug, you do
want a powerful magnet.
On drain plugs that have a socket head, you can drill them near the edge
for safety wire, provided the plug doesn't go all the way in to the case.
If it goes in too deep, another option is welding a small tab to the plug
where you put a hole for the wire. Make sure it doesn't get in the way of
the tool used to remove the plug.
Malcolm Cox wrote:
>
> Does anyone know of a source of a magnetic drain plug for my MGA (perhaps
> similar in MGB or sprite?) gearbox and back axle. This is a tapered pipe
> thread style, thread about 1" OD ( I can look it up if I get a lead)
> To be fussy, I also want one which ends in a hexagon which I can drill for
> safety wire, seems most drain plugs for this marque have either a square
> socket or hex socket which does not lend itself to safety wiring.
> Malcolm Cox
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