The trade at the centre of it
Same material, same size. What changes is where the force lives.
Ordinary magnet
Reaches a long way and falls off slowly. Grabs debris, affects nearby electronics, and holds with whatever force it happens to have.
Coded magnet
Adjacent opposite poles cancel with distance, so the field collapses quickly. Grips hard on contact, comparatively inert an inch away — and the shape of that curve is designed rather than inherited.
Profiles are illustrative of the principle. Specify from the datasheet for a given part.
Eight behaviours, one part count
The same blank can be written as any of these. Behaviour is in the pattern, not the part.
Strong, steady holding force on a mating magnet or on steel. The everyday job, but with a far shorter reach than an ordinary magnet of the same strength.
The pair finds its own position. Used where two parts must locate precisely without the person fitting them lining anything up by eye.
Holds closed with a defined force and lets go at a known one, so a door or cover behaves the same way every time rather than depending on how it was pushed.
Clicks into set rotational positions — commonly four, six or twelve. A click stop with nothing mechanical to wear out.
Behaves like a spring across a short travel, without fatigue, corrosion or a housing. Repels at a distance and can still latch on contact.
Holds against lateral movement rather than only against being pulled straight off. Often combined with attach.
Drives or resists rotation. Used in contactless couplings, where torque passes through a wall with no shaft and no seal.
Firm until turned, then it lets go. A release that cannot happen by pull alone, which matters when vibration would defeat an ordinary latch.
Read further
How it works at pixel level
Each pole is a “maxel” — a magnetic pixel. The arrangement is the behaviour.
maxelmag.com →Where they are wrong
The cases where an ordinary magnet or a mechanical part is the better answer.
Limitations →