Official Luthiers Forum!

On my current build which is almost finished, I am making my wiring cavity covers magnetic, as opposed to screw in. so today, I inlaid my magnets on both the cover and the guitar, and I done gone f*d it up, lol. the magnets are pushing away from each other instead of attracting, and they are held in with super glue. is there a way to get these out of either the guitar or the cover without ruining them, or should I make another cover?I suppose I could try to drill them out, but I wondered if there might be a special trick for debonding the super glue and pop the magnets out? thanks

Drilled out and fixed. Quick and painless for anyone's future reference

I'm truly sorry about your mistake, but I don't think it'll take much to fix it. But this does raise a question for me: Apart from drilling out, would heat from a soldering iron applied right to the magnet make the glue release? I'm asking because I want to know. Is it practical to release super glue with heat applied in this fashion? I am certain someone out there has tried this. Please tell us about your results.

In the meantime, Mark, keep your chin up. I'll bet we get additional suggestions before morning....

If we don't, then you know they can be drilled out, and that's not the end of the world, either.

theoretically heat can debond any glue, but heat can damage the material that is glued.

_________________
Who cares about tone if you can look hardcore?

The heat from a soldering gun will make CA let go, but heat will also de-magnetize.
I'm not sure if the order of magnitude of heat required to release CA would damage a magnet.

_________________
A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon

Try some Acetone, which is supposed to be a solvent for CA glue.
Nothing to loose!

Once you do get them out use a piece of steel (or a flat screw) for one side. Two magnets stuck together can be a bear to get apart.