codedmag › Behaviours
what they do

The eight behaviours

A buyer arrives knowing what the magnet has to do, not what size it should be. This is that list.

hold on contact

Attach

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.

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self-centring

Align

The pair finds its own position. Used where two parts must locate precisely without the person fitting them lining anything up by eye.

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holds shut, releases at a threshold

Latch

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.

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discrete positions

Detent

Clicks into set rotational positions — commonly four, six or twelve. A click stop with nothing mechanical to wear out.

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force varies with gap

Spring

Behaves like a spring across a short travel, without fatigue, corrosion or a housing. Repels at a distance and can still latch on contact.

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resists sliding

Shear resistance

Holds against lateral movement rather than only against being pulled straight off. Often combined with attach.

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turning force

Torque

Drives or resists rotation. Used in contactless couplings, where torque passes through a wall with no shaft and no seal.

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held until rotated

Twist and release

Firm until turned, then it lets go. A release that cannot happen by pull alone, which matters when vibration would defeat an ordinary latch.

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They combine. A part is commonly attach plus shear resistance, or align plus latch. Describing the job rather than picking a single word from this list will get you a better answer.

Describe the job

Need an actual part, not just an explanation?

The catalogue is sorted by what the magnet has to do — hold, align, latch, turn, resist a sideways pull — because that is what you know when you start looking. If nothing there fits, describe the job and we will tell you honestly whether it can be done.

Browse by behaviour Describe the job
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