Why does the coating of my magnets chip?
To protect our neodymium magnets
from corrosion, they have a thin coating of nickel-copper-nickel.
This coating can crack or chip due to collision or strong pressure.
Heavy blows can even break the magnets.
This is not a quality defect, but rather a typical product feature: The material neodymium-iron-boron is very magnetic but also brittle, because it is sintered from metal powders.
Therefore, careful handling of the magnets is recommended.
We also draw attention to this problem in our safety tips,
which are enclosed in all your orders.
Below, we compiled a few tips on how you can protect the magnets.
Tips on how to protect magnets
- Avoid collisions between magnets and repeated mechanical stress (e.g. impacts).
- Prevent magnet damage when separating large magnets. Please refer to our FAQ page "How do I separate two strong magnets? How do I combine them again?" for various tips on separating magnets in a safe manner.
- Store magnets separately, for example on a thick iron plate as described under project Board for magnet storage.
- If necessary, make your own protective cover for large magnets, see project Protection of big magnets.
- Use coated neodymium magnets, if light impacts are unavoidable.