harleyKmodel

I don't think "age hardening" has anything to do with the magnetism. I have a 1924 Witte 3hp engine that has the original Wico magneto on it. I dare ya to grab the spark plug lead and let me turn the flywheel over til it sparks once.

Credit:

http://Www.scienceing.com

That's awesome. Wonder why my 95 year old magnet still works just like it did when it was new? Just saying. Probably best to just throw your old magnetos way or sell them to me for $10 a piece and buy a new one for $1000 or so.

Mutt wrote:That's awesome. Wonder why my 95 year old magnet still works just like it did when it was new? Just saying. Probably best to just throw your old magnetos way or sell them to me for $10 a piece and buy a new one for $1000 or so.

No one said throw them away. This was just used as information as to why magnets loose magnetism over time in response to joes’ question earlier. Your 20’s mag was made with the best materials the world has probably ever seen, and it obviously has been taken care of.

why/when did magneto manufacturers stop using the best material in the world for their magnets then recently switch to rare earth?

Mutt wrote:why/when did magneto manufacturers stop using the best material in the world for their magnets then recently switch to rare earth?

That would be because Rare earth magnets were not developed until the late 70’s

WWII took a lot of pure metals/alloys, metal recycling became popular in the early 60’s.

It's likely that the availability of said raw material decreased and the cost of processing it increased to the point that alternatives became more cost effective. And maybe superior.
That's always been the nature of the mining biz.

i got one m3 for sale cheap. $350 plus ride.
pm me if interested.
it was desh and myself who founded morris mags.