Side by side magnet rig design

[bowwinkles]

Another magnet fishing design that keeps the feet down and brings home the goodies.

This design gives a little wider search path while keeping its feet down by using a (Boost drink) bottle as a float and tail whiskers to keep it from standing up when it is pulled in close. A small T bracket from Home Depot with two holes drilled out to ¼ inch for the magnets and the center leg drilled and polished for the rope. The center leg also has a couple of bends to add a ski to the bottom to prevent hang-ups. The rope is put through “P” clamps and out through the center leg and tied. The whiskers are made of coaxial cable and attached with zip ties. The Boost bottle (float) is added to keep the feet down and it is also attached with zip ties. A couple hours at a friend’s swimming pool testing has allowed me to build another very successful magnet fishing tool. Several trips to the field proved the pool tests also work well in the wild.

 

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[Molewacker]

Love it!!!

 

[boogeyman]

Might be a suggestion for you. Use longer bolts and add two more magnets on the side where you have the bottle. Then you'd double your chances of a stick and wouldn't have to worry about losing your rig if the bottle snags.

 

[bowwinkles]

Might be a suggestion for you. Use longer bolts and add two more magnets on the side where you have the bottle. Then you'd double your chances of a stick and wouldn't have to worry about losing your rig if the bottle snags.

I originally had the idea of just that but the longer bolts meant that one side would have to have a big nut sticking out and that would kill the required flat surface needed for a solid hook up. I could not find anywhere a bolt system that short where both the bolt and the nut had a bevel and a flat head to eliminate the nut sticking out the front of one of the magnets. The float is on top and very seldom does it get hung up like the bottom does. The zip ties and the light plastic bottle are not very substantial so a magnet rig with a good rope would just break the ties and you would still have the frame and magnets but you may see the bottle pop up to the top in that situation. Not a worry for me. All those thoughts is what led me to design the other rig mentioned on my other thread here, where I used a device to solve the nut sticking out problem.

 

[boogeyman]

I originally had the idea of just that but the longer bolts meant that one side would have to have a big nut sticking out and that would kill the required flat surface needed for a solid hook up. I could not find anywhere a bolt system that short where both the bolt and the nut had a bevel and a flat head to eliminate the nut sticking out the front of one of the magnets. The float is on top and very seldom does it get hung up like the bottom does. The zip ties and the light plastic bottle are not very substantial so a magnet rig with a good rope would just break the ties and you would still have the frame and magnets but you may see the bottle pop up to the top in that situation. Not a worry for me. All those thoughts is what led me to design the other rig mentioned on my other thread here, where I used a device to solve the nut sticking out problem.

Simple solution for that. T-nuts. You just file the teeth down a little so they act as a lock washer. Or you can use one on each side and with a piece of all thread then file / saw off the excess. Used to use this when I was making grapnels before neomidium magnets were around. Hope that gives you a couple ideas. Tell you what, never thought I'd be using something you can throw like a baseball. Sure beats the old piece of rebar with four big weighted grapnels on it!

 

[bowwinkles]

Simple solution for that. T-nuts. You just file the teeth down a little so they act as a lock washer. Or you can use one on each side and with a piece of all thread then file / saw off the excess. Used to use this when I was making grapnels before neomidium magnets were around. Hope that gives you a couple ideas. Tell you what, never thought I'd be using something you can throw like a baseball. Sure beats the old piece of rebar with four big weighted grapnels on it!

Tried the T nut thing but no way to hold to tighten after removing the points. Gave the feeling that an expensive magnet was about to go for a swim without its safety line.

 

[boogeyman]

Didn't think to mention that you file the notch left after they bend the teeth out a little and use needle nose pliers to tighten the nuts. Sorry my bad. Just another trick, I use on everything going in the water or down a hole is thread lock.

Kinda cool to see someone trying all the options! Don't see many real experimenters going the whole route these days!

 

[bowwinkles]

The threaded leg of the T nut is to large for the hole in the magnet, so that required me to go a size smaller in bolt size which did not leave a lot of meat holding that expensive magnet. They do have a tendency to get hung up once in a while.

 

[bowwinkles]

These magnets that I work with also have metric holes and 1/4 inch will go but 5/16 will not. the hole is about 3 mm. Trying to shop for workable hardware is also a major problem. a #10 screw is not tough enough.

 

[bowwinkles]

For all of you potential new users and those who already are active in magnet fishing, I have a request. Many have googled "magnet fishing u tube" and seen a multitude of European users who have helped in bringing new ideas to the hobby. One of these is the multi magnet side by side with a empty soda bottle sealed as a float to insure that the unit lands business side down in the water. This idea I have tested with good results but I also have been testing yet another type of float. This is using short pieces of what is known as "a pool noodle" Which is a child's pool sponge float. You users and designers put your grey matter to work and give all of us some of your thoughts on how we can bring this new sport to more and make it even better than it already is.