Drilling, grinding, shaping, and cutting metal will all produce one thing —- SWARF (shavings, chips, & dust).
If you are like me, your least favorite part of a project is the cleanup. Unfortunately when it comes to metal working, that can be time consuming and difficult. Brooms & magnetic pickup tools do work — but don’t really work well.
A few years ago, I ran across a magnetic wand online & immediately saw the benefits that they had. Today I ended up finding a Bessey MagWand at a local hardware store and bought one.
Here are the specs :
- Entire unit = 16″ Long (retracted)
- Entire unit = 22-1/2″ Long (extended)
- Tube = 14″ Long
- Tube = 1″ Wide
- Stroke Length = 7-1/2″
- Collar = 2-1/2″ Wide
- Weight = 1.5 lbs
It is a simple design — stainless steel tube, aluminum push-rod, plastic stop collar, and internal rare earth magnets.
After looking at some other units online, it appears they are NOT all created equal. Some manufacturers are using cheap steel tubes as the housing — meaning the TUBE becomes magnetized! If you pull the plunger, surprise! The shavings stay in place!
Waving the MagWand over a pile of shavings — it immediately picked everything up. For small jobs, you would definitely want to pull the collar forward (leaving a few inches at the end). However, for big jobs — such as a lathe or mill — it is designed to hold up to 12lbs of shavings/chips/dust at once.
To remove the SWARF, pull the plunger & everything falls right off.
Since the Bessey is constructed with no ferrous metals, it wont become magnetic over time. The entire tool is non-magnetic (except for the rare earth magnets inside). Overall the size will work for most applications, but if you do have a very tight area it possibly wouldn’t fit.
Like any tool, it has it’s limitations. Since it relies on magnets….non-ferrous metals wont stick to it (copper, stainless steel, aluminum, etc). For steel — it works great.
This is one of those purchases that I am already asking — why didn’t I buy this sooner?