I left a message earlier this morning asking if anyone had any ideas on how to embed a small magnet into the tip of a felt marker. I must have really been hung over because I spelled every other work incorrectly. So this is just to correct the previous post.

I could still use some advice though. I'm trying to create an effect where someone would think of a card, write it down on a small post it note placed on a card box and then be able to proceed with brainwave or the invisible deck - without ever having to ask a spectator for the name of their card.

I have some magnetic sensitive film that I can put on the back of a joker and then place into the box with the rest of the cards but other than having to wash off tons of permanent marker ink - I've not been able to figure out how to insert a small magnet into the tip of the marker. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

The only thing I can think to do is to use an Exacto knife with a new #1 blade to carefully cut a notch in the side of the tip. A tiny neodymium magnet could be force-fit into the slot. I'm not sure, but it seems like it would still take up the ink so that it could be used.

Sharpie makes a retractable point marker, looking down the point it looks like there is emough side clearance to fit in a small magnet.

Why don't you use one of the max maven effects, its on one of his dvds & in book, forgot what called so sorry. no need for magnets. spec writes on post it note, and you know when getting cards out.

Thanks for the responses so far. I've tried Max's effect and it's what I'm going for but with "newer technology." Sure sometimes the old works better than the new, but I got this bug in my head and I wanted to try it out. The retractable sharpie looks interesting and I will most definitely try it out. Can't tell you how many sharpies I've sliced and diced trying to make this work.

Thanks again for the responses.

Dov

I would actually avoid the tip, as there will be marker on the back of your box in use. I would make use of the inside of the cap- that would mean no slicing or drilling, and less distance/material for the item to work through. Neods are strong, but really only up close, and the smaller you go, the closer you need to be.
k

Does it have to be a Sharpie? What about using a ball point pen, one with a cartridge that's magnetic? Perhaps you could hide a magnet in the barrel of the pen and have this in contact with a metal cartridge. That would make the ballpoint pen tip magnetic, if the pen cartridge is make out of a ferrous material. If it's too tough to build this into a retractable pen, it might be more doable to build this into a capped pen.

Ross Hironaka

Dfeder,
where do you get some magnetic sensitive film?

That magnet would have to be very small ... like half a millimeter and long...
I would drill in to the part of the marker using a dentist drill...
I believe they would sell it at a wood shop or carving shop...

good luck
Chuck

CDS,

I have a friend who is a mechanical engineer. He gave me some of the film. I'm sure I've seen it used before.

Thanks for the tip (no pun intended) on the actual magnet and drill.

Dov

Ross,

I like the concept of a felt marker (Sharpie) better than a ball point pen because I am doing more stage work and the writing can be seen better by the audience. I am going to try the idea of pushing a thin metal rod down the barrel of the marker and attaching the rod to a magnet (which should then magnetize the rod). I'll let you all know if that works.

Dov

Glad I could help!

Mark

Well, the idea is to get the magnet to transfer the image to the film, right?

Why not say the pen uses invisible ink. You could then use a dried out sharpie and avoid the problems associated with the ink on the fingers, and still have the magnet in the tip.

Gotcha, I can see why you'd want to use a felt pen.

FWIW, I've hacked Sharpies apart for other effects and one thing I've noticed is that my hacked Sharpies would often not write well after I hacked them, even when the pen was new to begin with. I solved this problem in one case by making sure I stored my pens tip-down at least 10 minutes or so prior to performance. You might not have this problem but I thought I'd mention it if you find it difficult to get the modified pen to write.

Sounds interesting! Good luck!

Ross

The new magnets are quite fragile why not break them into pieces and 'shove' them down inside next to the refill, making sure polarity is the same, it will be hard to push down as will try to attract each other. so you will need to make a harness for them so they can pushed down at same time and fixed in. could then push refill back in, as long as it touches tip, it should have ink flow.
hopefully this make sense???

This idea is currently in use in a commercialy available item.magnetic viewing film is available from forcefield.and its very easy to make a sharpie up.i have pmed you.

Sorry not forcefield.if youd like a sharpie with a magnet .ill be selling them soon along with my device.

Sorry not forcefield.if youd like a sharpie with a magnet .ill be selling them soon along with my device.

DUDE just use Jay Sankey's PRIVATE PROPERTY! works much better. I got it free as a promo trick form penguin.

Sorry to revive the post. I have some of that magnetic viewing film. how do you "erase" it? After it has been exposed to a magnet it goes dark, want to reset it so I can see what been put on again.

Maybe you could just paint the tip with magnetic paint.

-Max