I now have a stack of the magnets, about a metre (3') high. I am certain that the backing/mount plates are more than plain low carbon steel, based on the sound they make as the hit together in the bucket. they have a much higher resonant sound than any steels I have experience with. They have a high pitched ring to them when tapped with a screwdriver, a bit like a cymbal. I am saving all my brackets up to melt and cast into ingots, at which point an XRF reading will tell me what the composition is.
I have had great luck removing the magnets by holding the bracket in a vice, then with pliers, bend the brackets slightly. Resisting the urge just to lever the magnets off (they tend to break) I spin the magnet on the bracket and slide it off from there. Sliding them off the bent bracket has made it so much easier to get the magnet off in one piece.
I have been experimenting (playing) with magnetic levitation for a while now, and as soon as I get enough of these little Neo's, I am going to make a hoverboard, a replica of the one from "Back to the future"
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