How to demagnetize tweezers, screwdrivers, etc?

[Joetrain59]

Have a pair of tweezers and a small precise Phillips driver that are magnetized. PITA a lot of times.
 What is the best way to demag them?
 Thanks,
 Joe D

[C855B]

I would say use a degaussing loop... but there are maybe two people left on the planet who knows what they were. Right, Peteski? 

Anyway, here you go: http://www.micromark.com/magnetizer-and-demagnetizer,7541.html

[nkalanaga]

Three.  I know what they were, and have seen them used, but not for a long time.  I'm sure there are still some in use, in factories and labs, where magnetized equipment can be a problem.

For those who DON"T know what they are, they were used mainly to demagnetize (gauss is a measure of magnetism) CRTs, including TV picture tubes, oscilloscopes, etc.  Old color TVs were especially sensitive to magnets, and getting one too close to the screen could magnetize the mask, resulting in bad pictures.  B&W TVs would be distorted by a magnet near the screen, but the effects usually ended when the magnet was removed.  The magnetic fields deflected the electron beams.

Another use was demagnetizing tape read/write heads.  One could buy "demagnetizing tapes" for cassette players, that did the same thing, by putting a special cassette in the player and running it.  We had a degaussing loop, although we called it a "degausser", at my first computer job, and used it every few months on the big tape drives.  We were also forbidden to get within 10 feet of a disk drive with the thing!

[Nato]

         I still have a bulk eraser /degausser for erasing VHS Tapes, I' am probably the only TRW member left to still has a player and watches and records in this medium.     Nat6e Goodman (Nato). Salt Lake, Utah.

[C855B]

What we're mostly doing here, guys, is simply confirming that we are all old nerds. 

[Joetrain59]

What we're mostly doing here, guys, is simply confirming that we are all old nerds. 

Nothing wrong with that. Had a Sony "bulk eraser" for tapes, but did not clear tapes completely.
 Joe D

[peteski]

I would say use a degaussing loop... but there are maybe two people left on the planet who knows what they were. Right, Peteski? 

Anyway, here you go: http://www.micromark.com/magnetizer-and-demagnetizer,7541.html

Right Mike!     I used to play with one while the monitor was still running (I know, I know...).   Talking about psychedelic colors! 

I tried several of the permanent-magnet do-hickeys and never had any success fully demagnetizing tools.  So I got myself an old Akai reel-to-reel mag-tape eraser (model ATE-7) on eBay.  It works like a charm!  I have my tools in a plastic tray and I demagnetize the whole tray at once! Just don't get any magnetic medial you want to preserve near that unit!   

[central.vermont]

Right Mike!     I used to play with one while the monitor was still running (I know, I know...).   Talking about psychedelic colors! 

 Just don't get any magnetic medial you want to preserve near that unit!   

Like the White House tapes. 

Jon

[Iain]

I used to run ac through a coil up by the tv for the colors; it was fun to watch the slow spin.


If you don't have a degauser, heat the tool to cherry red without any magnets around.  Quench quickly, leaving the tool very hard, and then heat again a few hundred degrees or so depending on what ultimate hardness you want and what steel you have, and allow to slowly cool from that.

(One of my other hobbies is blacksmithing).

[rschaffter]

I use my old-fashioned 200 Watt soldering gun.  I put the item in the loop, pull the trigger of the gun, and slowly pull the item out to arms length before releasing the trigger.  Repeat as needed.

One can also magnetize tools by putting them into the loop, turning it on for a few seconds, and turning it off with the tool still in the loop...

[towl1996]

What we're mostly doing here, guys, is simply confirming that we are all old nerds. 

I had no idea what you were talking about, I guess that makes me  . "Heeeeeeeeeeey" - Fonzi. 

[daniel_leavitt2000]

        I still have a bulk eraser /degausser for erasing VHS Tapes, I' am probably the only TRW member left to still has a player and watches and records in this medium.     Nat6e Goodman (Nato). Salt Lake, Utah.

What's a VHS? 

[John]

What we're mostly doing here, guys, is simply confirming that we are all old nerds. 

+1  now get off my lawn

[peteski]

If you don't have a degauser, heat the tool to cherry red without any magnets around.  Quench quickly, leaving the tool very hard, and then heat again a few hundred degrees or so depending on what ultimate hardness you want and what steel you have, and allow to slowly cool from that.

(One of my other hobbies is blacksmithing).

Not something I want to do with my micro-precision (and expensive) screwdrivers with plastic handles. Or with a pair of fine Swiss made tweezers.   This is N scale, not horseshoe fitting. 

[Joetrain59]

Just realized I have a plug-in tape head demagger I got from Techforless.com. I should give that a whirl. Yeah, don't want to do the heat thing.
 Just put that demagger away a few months ago, after maintenance of all cassette players I have.
 Joe D