Pop Quiz: Hard Disk Magnet in Garbage Disposal

[Sqwertz]

Rare earth hard disk magnet stuck flat to bottom of garbage
disposal between crunchers.

Hand is too small to get in there. Smallest hands in the house are
too weak to get it up (I probably would have trouble getting it up
even if my hands did fit in there).

Tools don't open side enough to grab object due to narrow
clearance.

BBQ lighter does not get the magnet hot enough.

Torch goes out due to near-instant lack of oxygen.

Hand held fan above drain blows out torch or doesn't provide
enough oxygen.

Removing drain from side of GD does not prove enough air even with
fan under sink sucking air in.

Removing garbage disposal would not buy me any more wrist room or
get me any closer.

Throwing more magnets ate it doesn't work. The most polarized side
of the magnet is DOWN. And now there's 2 magnets in there.

Your turn! I gotta go out to do some work <gasp> but I expect
y'all will have these out by the time I get back. But just in
case, I'll be stopping at Harbor Freight to look at cheap gizmo
thingies.

-sw

[Thomas]

Grab long needlenose while shopping or use a magnet from the outside to push it up.

[Mike Duffy]

On 2023-06-12, Sqwertz wrote:

> Rare earth hard disk magnet stuck

> [...] Your turn!

Do you need the magnet(s) intact?

I seem to recall that the metal is
much more brittle than the pipe they
are stuck to.

If you can touch them with an engraving
tool, or even a long drill bit, you should
be able to at least split the magnet in two.

Immediately, the pieces will re-orient
to minimize potential magnetic energy(*).

If you cannot grab a piece with your
needle-nose, just keep smashing until
the residual magnetic field out of the
constantly re-organized fragments is less
than the field strength of a new magnet
firmly glued to a non-magnetic stick.


(*) There is no such thing. It is actually
the relativistic transform of potential
electrical energy.

[Cindy Hamilton]

My engineer thinks you're going to end up buying a new garbage
disposal. I think you should exercise more caution.

--
Cindy Hamilton

[Sqwertz]

On Mon, 12 Jun 2023 11:37:23 -0700 (PDT), Thomas wrote:

> Grab long needlenose while shopping

I did that:

https://www.harborfreight.com/11-in-straight-90-offset-long-reach-pliers-2-piece-64081.html

Fuckers are heavyweight, too. Haven't tried them yet.

> or use a magnet from the outside to push it up.

I pretty sure there's another set of magnets right under these -
in the garbage disposal motor. Even if it's an induction motor,
ain't no magnetism getting through that.

-sw

[Sqwertz]

Assuming your engineer is your husband, I like his contribution
better.

I would put magnets under the PVC P-trap and grind the mother
fucker up if I was ready to buy a new disposal. I don't think I
can fish the fragments out with a bigger magnet - they like the
cold hard iron of the garbage disposal.

-sw

[jmcquown]

I do not even want to know how you got a magnet into the gears of your
garbage disposal. This has to be one of the most odd posts I've seen in
a while.

Jill

[Sqwertz]

On Mon, 12 Jun 2023 11:37:23 -0700 (PDT), Thomas wrote:

> Grab long needlenose while shopping....

Captain Obvious saves the day!

I think I'll just hang them here on the side of the fridge where
they can keep a close eye on the magnets.

https://i.postimg.cc/ZRV832mY/Pliers.jpg

(Those are hanging by half of a hard disk magnet each and they're
not lightweight)

The set of pliers only cost $8 but the trip to Harbor Freight cost
me $92. Don't you just hate that?

-sw
-sw

[Bruce]

On Mon, 12 Jun 2023 20:31:48 -0400, jmcquown <j_mc...@comcast.net>
wrote:

Well, he mentions rum rather often.

[Thomas]

Captain obvious has tools that do not require a special trip to fix something that should not have happened.
Twice.
I do need a small wood chisel. Did you buy one?

[GM]

You could do abortions with those, Steve...

--
GM

[songbird]

Sqwertz wrote:
> Rare earth hard disk magnet stuck flat to bottom of garbage
> disposal between crunchers.

...

why are you putting that in there for to begin with?


songbird

[Sqwertz]

"You have no call to get snippy with me. I'm just doing my job
here."

That was probably your longest ever sentence here in RFC. You got
a two long-handled 11" needle nosed pliers, do you? Why did YOU
buy them?

I almost bought the 16"ers for shits and giggles, but they had
handles that bent under pressure. These don't at all. They're
very nice.

It wasn't a special trip. I was already planning on getting a
popular jigsaw that was on sale for 40% off.

> I do need a small wood chisel. Did you buy one?

I don't make special trips to the store to buy tools that I
already have for things that should have been foreseen or needed
earlier in life. I got this from Amazon when I found out the
subfloor sheathing was glued to the joists (and used it just this
morning at my desk to whack 24" of ground wire from a 10/4 cable).
It's a very good chisel and I haven't dented it at all.

https://i.postimg.cc/R02s8LT9/Chisel.jpg

Neither the subfloor glue or the magnet in the GD were my fault,
BTW (OK, the second magnet was my fault, but what's the
difference?).

Do you have one of these?

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-Universal-Disposer-Magnetic-Metal-Catch-20-MSM-34/312863448

[Sqwertz]

On Mon, 12 Jun 2023 20:31:48 -0400, jmcquown wrote:

> I do not even want to know how you got a magnet into the gears of your
> garbage disposal. This has to be one of the most odd posts I've seen in
> a while.

Two people who couldn't hit a barn door with a tennis ball at 5
feet were trying to make two hard disk magnets from the fridge
collide in mid air. One of those people was not me.

(wait for it....)

-sw

[Thomas]

I do not have a garbage chewer. If it does not squish down the drain holes it goes into the 13 gallon can.

[Sqwertz]

Oh, it's great fun! Another good game is to swallow one and hold
another one to your stomach or diaphragm. When the second one
sticks, you WIN!

-sw

[Thomas]

Can't make that shit up lol. Have a good day!

[Cindy Hamilton]

I'm picturing an "old lady who swallowed a fly" scenario. He sent
in the magnet to retrieve something else that was dropped into the
disposal, then couldn't get it out. If only he had a robotic arm
to send in after the magnet.

--
Cindy Hamilton

[Cindy Hamilton]

Well, I was wrong about the scenario.

Maybe you should consider using normal fridge magnets. What
are you trying to hang from the fridge--Volkswagens?

--
Cindy Hamilton

[Bruce]

Maybe his ego, when he's tired.

[f...@sdf.org]

On 2023-06-12, Sqwertz <sqwe...@gmail.compost> wrote:

> Torch goes out due to near-instant lack of oxygen.

> Hand held fan above drain blows out torch or doesn't provide
> enough oxygen.

> Removing drain from side of GD does not prove enough air even with
> fan under sink sucking air in.

An oxy-acetylene torch might work. Careful to not singe your face, never
stuck one in a cavity myself. Closest I've come to that is using a
cutting torch to slice bearing races pressed in the ends of Chevy rear
axle housings because I couldn't be arsed to buy the right puller for the
job because I'm a Ford guy. Friggin' Chevy crap; a wasted axle bearing
usually takes the axle with it too. Are there even straight axles on
anything but trucks anymore? :sigh:

Anywho...

If you managed to get it hot enough to release the magnet, the bearing
seal(s) in the disposal would likely be roasted. If you can't disassemble
it on a bench, methinks you're screwed. But it went together so it will
come apart. Whether it can be re-assembled and functional again is another
story, but at least you'll have retrieved the magnet. :)

--
SDF Public Access UNIX System - https://sdf.org

That which does not kill you makes you stranger.
-- Trevor Goodchild - AEon Flux