Step-by-step guide
How to design a magnet and get an instant pull-force estimate
This walks through the Magnet Designer end to end — picking a shape, setting dimensions and material, reading the results, modeling a real installation, comparing options, and exporting what you build. Each step below shows exactly what you'll see on screen.
Start the configurator
When the page loads, it starts with a default 10 × 5mm disc in N38 neodymium, already showing a live preview and an estimated 8 lbs pull force. There's nothing to set up — every control on the page updates this same preview and spec sheet immediately, so you can treat the default as a starting point and adjust from there.
Choose a shape
Four shapes are available: disc, ring, block, and rod. Click any of them in the Shape row — the preview, dimension fields, and pull-force estimate all update instantly. Here we've switched to Ring, which adds an inner diameter field for the bore and immediately recalculates pull force for the hole in the middle.
Set the dimensions
Each shape has its own dimension sliders — a ring gets outer diameter, inner diameter, and thickness. Drag any slider or type directly into the number field beside it; both stay in sync. Switch units between mm and in at any time without losing your values. Here the ring is set to 35mm OD / 18mm ID / 8mm thick, and the pull force has jumped to 34.3 lbs as the magnet volume increased.
Pick material and grade
The Material & Finish section covers magnet material (NdFeB, SmCo, Ferrite, or Alnico), grade, coating, and heat tolerance series. Stronger grades mean higher pull force and a higher surface field reading — switching this ring from N38 to N52 raises the estimate to 45.5 lbs and the surface field to 2,220 G.
Set the magnetization direction
Just above the dimension fields, Magnetization direction controls which axis the poles sit on. For a ring, that's usually Axial (through thickness) — poles on the flat annular faces, the standard choice for holding and sensing. Switching to a diametric option (poles through the OD instead) noticeably lowers both pull force and surface field, since it's a fundamentally weaker configuration for most mounting setups.
Read the results
Scroll back up and the spec sheet on the right has everything in one place: estimated pull force in lbs, shape, dimensions, magnetization, tolerance, volume, material and grade, surface field in Gauss, heat series, coating, and more. The spec ID at the top (RM-NDRI52-361 here) encodes the material, shape, and grade, so it's easy to reference later.
Model a real installation
The default estimate assumes ideal, flush, steel-to-steel contact — rarely true in practice. Uncheck Ideal conditions under Application surface to reveal two more sliders: air gap (paint, plating, tape, rust, or any standoff) and steel thickness (thin sheet steel won't carry the full field). Adding a 1.5mm gap and dropping to 4mm steel here pulls the surface field reading down to 2,090 G — the spec sheet relabels it "Field at 1.5mm gap" so it's clear that's no longer the ideal-contact number.
Compare two designs
Click Add to compare to save the current configuration, then change a setting — like switching grade from N52 to N35 — and add it again. View comparison opens a side-by-side table of up to three designs at once, lining up every spec including pull force, so trade-offs between grades, coatings, or dimensions are easy to weigh before requesting a quote.
Export a drawing or spec sheet
When a design is ready, Export drawing offers two formats: a DXF CAD file with a dimensioned 2D outline and title block that opens directly in AutoCAD, Fusion 360, or SolidWorks, or a printable spec sheet that opens in a new browser tab — a clean one-page summary with an illustrative dimensioned drawing, ready to print or save as a PDF.
The printable spec sheet includes a simple dimensioned drawing of the magnet alongside the full spec table — handy for sending to a colleague or attaching to a quote request without needing CAD software to open it.
