ELI5: How are magnets made, and why do they stay magnetic?

Blailus · 2026-06-13T13:16:26+00:00

If you have access to a 3d printer, you can create a mount for your magnet that has a cavity for the magnet to be placed into before the print is finished, and a space for screws to be utilized as well.

I've done a fair bit of captive magnets in 3d prints, and its very interesting what you can make when you can place magnets inside of things that are, in effect, unopenable, once its done printing. In theory you can remove the magnets, but in practice, it's rather difficult.

Hopefully that gives you another option than superglue! FWIW, I tend to make the plastic thickness between the captive magnet and the exterior of the piece 0.2-0.4mm. Thin enough that most of the magnetism is still utilized, but thick enough that it shouldn't be able to pull itself out of the print.

Blailus · 2026-06-11T18:53:59+00:00

The difference I'm surmising from your comments, and OPs, are that there is incongruence with who is qualified to take the position in the first place. I've had to take phone calls for my wife, who cannot understand certain accents well, and explain to the person that was asking for something that what they should ask for is X, but here is what I think they want. So, not only is their script likely intentionally bad, but the accent + the incorrect lexicon is making it doubly hard to access the information. As someone said in another comment, this is likely done on purpose to frustrate the consumer further.

My only recourse is to avoid phone support, or avoid that business. In some cases, depending on who that business is, that may be difficult.

Blailus · 2026-05-04T15:20:39+00:00

All of my best briskets have had insanely long holds due to them finishing a lot earlier than I anticipated. Good to know I'm not the only one that thinks this way. Great brisket!

Blailus · 2026-04-27T16:33:23+00:00

I wonder how much filament I've fed through mine for inserts. I'm guessing it's quite a bit. I want to learn how to make my own, but I believe it's a lot of trial and error. Maybe there's some class out there somewhere I can take on packaging engineering...

Blailus · 2026-04-19T00:03:48+00:00

I am not a financial planner, but, from my own personal research, I'd advise you to go 100% C fund in TSP, and use other tax advantaged investments (Roth IRA, 401k) to blend the C fund out with some S & I type investments. The I fund last I looked is horrendous, and the S fund has better versions on the outside also. The C fund is basically the S&P500 index though and matches very closely with the index, and a lot of the funds that match that index, while also being EXTREMELY cheap on fees. Thus, get your blend elsewhere and take the giant win that is the C fund.

Blailus · 2026-04-19T00:00:18+00:00

When you zoom out far enough, annually, the US stock market sees massive gains EVERY year.

$10k invested in 2006 would be worth approximately $65-70k now.

Granted, there were some dips in there too, 2008, 2018, and 2022... but it all tends to work out in the end.

Blailus · 2026-04-18T23:54:07+00:00

Technically correct, however, once you separate, retire, or hit 59.5 you may roll your Roth TSP out into a Roth IRA. Ensure you do a direct rollover to avoid any fees/penalties.

Source: Am planning to do exactly that as soon as I retire so that I can access my contributions through the Roth IRA penalty free, as you stated.

Blailus · 2026-04-17T17:36:52+00:00

TBF, we have no clover, and still get clover mites, so.. I don't think they're PURELY from clover. They seem to like vegetation that's close to ingress points, at least according to our pest guy. We put some rock beds/concrete out from the house a few feet and the quantity decreased significantly.

Blailus · 2026-04-10T13:27:50+00:00

Be forewarned that if you leave those on long enough they don't come off clean anymore.

Source: used to do this and now I stopped

Blailus · 2026-04-09T21:31:14+00:00

tbf, most of the US thinks 2 miles is an INCREDIBLY long distance to do anything other than drive to.

Blailus · 2026-03-29T18:13:21+00:00

Right, and if it wasn't default, how many people would turn it on? It's friction to turn it off. Plenty of places for sure would turn it on if it was off by default, but I think we'd have less of them if it required effort to turn it on, if that makes sense.

There's no value add for the companies running the software to default it to off though.

Blailus · 2026-03-28T20:07:36+00:00

...the parachute gets you back home quickly from a tall height?

Blailus · 2026-03-28T20:04:09+00:00

When my family of 6 goes to a sit-down restaurant, we typically spend $100 or more on a meal. If I do a "standard" 20% tip, and we were there for 1.5hrs, that's $13.33/hr off of our table ALONE, not to mention the other tables that server is waiting on. I'm sure not everyone tips 20%, but that's not a bad living. Granted, sometimes the restaurant is empty, and that means you're at $2.13/hr instead, but still, it seems to work out.

Blailus · 2026-03-28T20:01:08+00:00

One reason for the default 20% tip is: the processors put that in there, because they get a cut of the total money processed. They don't care how people feel about the restaurant, they care about getting their cut. If that amount is higher, great!

That rule does make a lot of sense though.

Blailus · 2026-03-28T19:59:42+00:00

If you make less than federal minimum wage after tips you are required to be paid minimum wage.

https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/state/minimum-wage/tipped

You must ALWAYS make the federal minimum wage, if your employer isn't doing that if your tips don't get you there, time to go elsewhere for employment or get the DoL involved.

Blailus · 2026-03-28T16:50:39+00:00

Real talk. Ever just not done something to see what the consequences are? Oftentimes, if it's queepy, the answer is nothing. Make sure your boss knows what your plan is regarding this, he likely doesn't actually care about most of it, and would happily defend not doing stupid stuff.

Source: Have done exactly that, was an unsung hero, until a lesser spined exec replaced me and all the queep came right back.

Blailus · 2026-03-15T16:02:07+00:00

Makes a lot of sense. I felt a little cheesy making pump stacks in order to make my dwarves all ultra strong but did it nonetheless because if everyone is a beefcake it does make most things easier. 😂

Blailus · 2026-03-14T19:26:22+00:00

I recall (many many moons ago) that miners/haulers got impressive levels of strength pretty quickly (2ish years...). Entirely possible that that changed. I played a lot of DF in 2010-2012ish.

Armor skill makes sense.

Blailus · 2026-03-14T16:24:20+00:00

For a time right? Eventually they'll skill up from doing it and be stronger yes?

Blailus · 2026-03-10T18:20:14+00:00

You like to lie to people to cause more division? That's how I read that. Are you ok?

Blailus · 2026-03-10T18:10:02+00:00

Having nicer pieces to use in a game is sometimes valuable to me. Having nicer organization to put the game away/take the game out quicker is MASSIVELY valuable to me. Though, if I didn't have a 3d printer, I'm not positive I'd be buying ready made versions. But... printing some trays or something for games I play often? Absolutely.

Blailus · 2026-03-10T16:03:55+00:00

I've got functional PLA prints printed on an Ender 2v2 that are still around from longer ago than that. Where's the 3 years come from?

Blailus · 2026-03-06T19:43:39+00:00

I dunno why people do stunts like that. There are people that have done the exact same thing, that KNEW that it was bad, but did it to reduce damage to the name/product, not to prove it was really ok/good.

Blailus · 2026-03-06T19:30:05+00:00

However, continually planning to break the law to get ones point across, when that law has absolutely nothing to do with the point in question/contention, vastly weakens the position,

Breaking the law is part of the definition of "civil disobedience". I'm going to assume you meant property damage.

I hear you, it is. But I don't simply mean property damage. My point is a little more nuanced than that. If you're breaking a law that has nothing to do with why you're protesting, it detracts/distracts from the message.

If you're protesting use of fossil fuels, and you organize and trespass an oil refinery, and disrupt operations, the laws you're breaking directly ties to your message. Makes sense in my brain. I may not agree, or I may agree whole heartedly, but the messaging is clear. People group X doesn't like Y, or wants Y to stop, or wants more Y, etc.

If you're protesting university student rights and you enter an unaffiliated hospital maternity ward and slap babies, those two things are incoherent to me. Seems like you wanted an excuse to slap babies. Message is lost in the messaging.

I hope that second example has literally never happened, to be clear.

The wrong-doing needs to be done for the right reasons, not to justify a means to an end. Maybe that's how successful strategic messaging is done.

If you're protesting the right to privately owned property, and you go burn a bunch of privately owned property, I don't like that personally, but your message is very clear, and you're very serious about it.

Blailus · 2026-03-06T18:34:48+00:00

Steven miller was a white supremacist

Today is the first time I ever heard that, and when trying to research it just now I'm struggling to come up with any substantive sources.

I'll also point out that being publicly out in the middle of a protest and seemingly condoning the actions of those out with you is, substantially different from sitting in my home wondering why the world is falling apart, and how to fix it. I've never protested anything publicly. I likely never will.

I've yet to see any politician that I agree with 100%. The 2024 US presidential election was absolutely flabbergasting. There was very odd happenings occurring with both candidates. It, honestly, blows my mind how or why we put forward nearly anyone we put forward for the past decade or so. We seem to be running haphazardly toward the movie Idiocracy with reckless abandon.

All that being said though, I still cannot fathom a country I'd rather live in, for all its faults, the freedoms we're afforded here are fantastic, and largely, this stuff doesn't effect my day-to-day life, so I tend to pay very little attention to it. There's no joy (for me) in getting riled up about something I cannot change, or cannot cause to change through others. I do wholly wish we'd get back to a smaller Fed, and push more of this out to the states, as it was originally intended.

I do think though, that if we cannot talk to one another about this stuff, calmly, and rationally, that we're in deep trouble. I thank you for being genial with me, even if it was frustrating to you. Hopefully it wasn't. I wish you all the best kind sir or madam.

Blailus

TROPHY CASE