Mighty Mag w/Quick Release (1 Each)

On advice from a couple other kind buyers of this product, mine arrived today. I agree with one reviewer, the paint was flaking off which probably is no big deal, though in a humid environment I suspect rust would set in quickly. The magnet is VERY strong, and the cam lever makes removal/repositioning much easier. The tapped holes were not positioned where I could use them for lateral mounting to a shop-made wood fence. I called the company; a representative said that drilling through the side of the magnet for additional mounting points would not affect the magnetic holding power. My available drill bits dulled out quickly and I'm too impatient to buy harder/better quality drill bits. Since the paint was already flaking I abraded off all the paint on the mounting side and carefully Gorilla glued it to my fence. I'll follow up with another edit after it's cured and put through its paces. I suspect I might need two of these to make the fence rock stable, but maybe one will do. This is for my small band saw and I only cut very small pieces of wood on it, so it doesn't need the rigidity for resawing and such. Stay tuned!Update, many months later: I haven't had to add another unit to my fence.....it stays put fairly well as long as I don't apply too much lateral pressure against it, which is needed for my application. It still holds great.

The quick release lever is super basic not a great design. I assume it works better than not having the lever at all because the magnet is quite strong. I would’ve preferred some more thought be put in to this so 4 stars. I also am unable to use those on my 3d printer due to the weight. I would suggest this only for heavy duty machining.

This is an okay little magnet, but the small, cube shaped indicator bases for sale on Amazon (the ones that have the knob on the front to turn the magnet on or off) are WAY stronger, and they're not that much bigger! As a matter of fact, since they're cube shaped, their "footprint" is actually smaller than the mighty mag, they just sit taller, and they're about 2x as wide as M-Mag.If you aren't limited on space, where you need to install this in a tight "channel" somewhere (Because this one is long, skinny, and short) I would go with the switchable generic indicator base instead! Not only is the magnet a lot stronger (in the vertical direction) you can also switch the magnetic "power" on and off, making it very easy to place, and remove.The mighty mag shines when space is tight, or you need more magnetic pull in a twisting/rotational direction. The cube style likes to easily twist or spin on whatever surface it's stuck to, but since the mighty mag is long and skinny, it resists spinning around when you pull on or move your indicator.Mine was promised to have a quick release with it, which is basically just that little "lever" on the end to help pry it up/off the surface you stick it to.. and mine came shipped with NO such part! It lists it on the label, but it was not inside the box or inside the shipping envelope it came in either. It's not the end of the world to me, since I'll probably never really use the release lever, but it would have been nice to at least get it with the item since it was promised.

👍

Mighty Mag is pretty much the standard for magnetic indicator bases where I work, as well as for a tool box version of refrigerator magnets. The only thing I didn't like was that the quick release cam was a shoddy workmanship example of aluminum diecasting. Signs of drag from the die and smashed over flash around the eject pins were unsightly but didn't affect performance. The problem was that the thickness (from dieblow maybe, or the core pin wasn't designated as a MILTP41 job?) was too thick for the provided shoulder bolt, and it wouldn't toggle once you snugged down the bolt. I milled the back surface down a bit and while I was at it cleaned up the cosmetic flaws, and it works smoothly now. Other than that, Mighty Mag has always been 5 stars in my book, and all the techs and mechs I work with seem to agree..

Does the job for which it was intended

I was expecting the lever to remove the magnetic field, as it would on a traditional mag base indicator holder. However the lever actually just acts as a simply cam, which physically prys the mag up away from the surface and allows you to install or remove it much easier. This is a good thing because the Mighty Mag works so well that it tends to slam down when you place it. That can be hard on the precision instruments mounted to it. Especially when you've got a nice $200 dial indicator attached as I often do. This simple little cam lever helps you place and remove the indicator more carefully, and for not much more money than a traditional Mighty Mag. I'll be buying all of my Mighty Mags with the lever from now on.

Very strong magnet that can hold several different indicators!!!