Buying guide
Where to buy programmable magnets
Coded magnets are engineered to a pattern, so you order them from the maker rather than pick them off a shelf. They are produced and sold commercially under the Polymagnet brand by Correlated Magnetics Research.
The first thing to understand is why you can’t just search a marketplace for “coded magnet” and add one to a cart the way you would a pack of fridge magnets. A programmable magnet’s value is in its pattern - the specific arrangement of North and South maxels that gives it a chosen behavior. That pattern has to be designed and then written onto the magnet with specialized magnetizing equipment. So these are made-to-a-design products, not generic stock.
Who makes them
Coded magnets are commercialized under the Polymagnet brand by Correlated Magnetics Research (CMR), the company built on Larry Fullerton’s correlated-magnetics inventions. That is the authoritative source for the genuine technology described across this site.
Three ways people usually buy
A demo kit, to learn the feel
The most common starting point is a demonstration kit that showcases the core behaviors - attach, align, latch, spring - so you can feel how a coded pair differs from an ordinary magnet before you design anything.
Standard cataloged functions
A range of pre-designed Polymagnet functions is offered in the catalog. If one of the standard behaviors fits your idea, you can specify it directly rather than starting from scratch.
Custom design for production
For a real product, you work with the maker to design a code for your exact hold force, gap, alignment, and release, then move toward production quantities.
How to choose what you need
Before you reach out, it helps to know roughly what job the magnet must do. A few questions to answer:
- What behavior? Should the pair attach hard, hold at a set gap, self-align, latch-and-release, or key to a matching partner? See the behaviors table.
- How much force, and over what distance? Hold strength and the gap it acts across drive the code and magnet choice.
- How is it released or aligned? A twist, a slide, a lift - the release motion is part of the design.
- What size envelope? The available face area sets how many maxels, and therefore how selective, the code can be.
A word on price and honesty
Because coded magnets are engineered products - a demo kit is priced differently from a custom production run - this independent reference does not quote figures that could go stale or mislead. For current pricing, lead times, and what a specific design would cost, get an accurate quote straight from the maker at polymagnet.com. Be cautious of listings elsewhere that advertise “coded” or “programmable” magnets without describing the actual pattern or behavior; the genuine technology is specific and documented.
Keep reading
Related guides
What is a programmable magnet?
Plain-language definition and how it differs from an ordinary magnet.
THE MECHANISMHow coded magnets work
Correlation codes, maxels, and the align-shift-repel effect, step by step.
WATCHCoded magnet videos
Authoritative demonstrations of attach, align, latch, and spring behaviors.
REFERENCEGlossary
Maxel, correlation code, Barker code, multipole and more, defined simply.
Ready to build
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Coded magnets are made and sold commercially under the Polymagnet brand, based on Larry Fullerton’s correlated magnetics work — including demo kits and custom design.
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