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“What could possibly be better than an OpenLOCK clip? Why, a magnetic OpenLOCK clip, of course!”
The OpenLOCK Magnetic is an OpenLOCK magnetic adapter clip. It is interchangeable with other OpenLOCK clips, but is cut in half with two holes for magnets to be inserted.
The two holes are designed to use 3mm x 4mm barrel magnets (1/8” x 1/8” will work too).
This product is compatible with all OpenLOCK tiles.
This product is delivered as a .ZIP file pack containing STL files for use on a home 3D Printer. The files are set to 28mm scale but can be rescaled before printing.
Updates:
Notes:
Below are links to where you can purchase the barrel magnets.
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My Account 
Nathan Turner (verified owner) –
Note: Aussie Magnets is 1/3rd cheaper for a batch of 100 magnets than magnet.com.au, and I’ve always found them to be fast shipping & great quality. https://aussiemagnets.com.au/product/–3-x—4mm-Rod-%28Rare-Earth%29–%28Pack-of-100%29.html
Rex Foot –
Good suggestion, i had added it to the list in the notes.
Josephscalet (verified owner) –
I really like this design and I am going to make a bunch up once I get some magnets, however I was just curious why you went with 4mm deep slots as opposed to like 1 or 2 mm deep slots?
Thank you
Sam Campbell –
You can use magnets up to 4mm thick, these offer the best connection.
Ryan Fitch (verified owner) –
Any chance of getting a sphere magnet clips similar to what infinitylock did?
https://3dgeeks.2b.work/pages/view-thing.html?id=3101091
Sam Campbell –
We can add this to the suggestion list for development queue.
arthur.lawry –
How do you use these on standalone columns at wall junctions since you can’t fill both sides of a port? I imagine I could cut down a clip and glue it in place, or just use walls with connected columns/longer walls, but it seems like there would be no way to make sure your columns work in every configuration with just one clip per port
Sam Campbell –
The columns can only ever have 2 clips inserted from any direction. An alternative would be to print with magnetic clips in the print or cut and glue them afterwards.
vanerie (verified owner) –
Where did you find the 3 mm drill bit vise (the orange thing) ?
Sam Campbell –
These you can usually get from your local hobby shop.
Matthew Horbund (verified owner) –
Printed these along with the standard 5.4 clip and some “springy” clips i found on MMF. I cant get them into the parts to save my life. Either the clips snap or pieces of the floor/wall snap.
I’m using a high quality HTPLA with 0.2mm layer height, 15% infill, 3 shells/perimeters, and 4 top/bottom layers as recommended for both clips and floors/walls.
Am i supposed to cut vertical pieces out of the floor so the pegs fit in ok? Or should they just snap in (which for me they dont).
Nicholas Jebson –
Hey Matthew, You should just be able to remove the supports in the tiles and put the clips straight in. If you are having difficulty try re-sizing the clips to 95%, it will leave them a little wiggle room but they still hold well.
brent (verified owner) –
I regret the dozens of hours I spent implementing these magnetic clips! If I were to do it again, I’d stick with the regular clips (which are a pain to snap in and pull apart at times) or try a single larger magnet alternative I’ve seen elsewhere (thingiverse I think) that doesn’t have the polarity issues.
I built a massive (beautiful) Rampage castle with a pair of 3 story round towers, 4 walls, and a 3 story square keep. That said, I ran into many frustrating issues that was a nightmare, mainly related to these magnets. Some could have been avoided with better documentation, but really, I wouldn’t recommend these magnets to anyone.
1. Polarity with the magnets causes multiple problems. With walls of a fully modular castle that connect inward and outward, the polarity of a corner column piece differs for each, making it frustrating to create and later find a corner that will work (you have to turn it various ways and upsidedown, then it may still be the wrong piece). I wanted magnets partly so my grandkids could easily build things, but this makes it next to impossible unless I can figure out a clear way to label them. Regular clips would be simpler if they have the strength to pull them out.
2. Polarity makes it VERY easy to create clips with an inconsistent polarity. You’ll want to shoot yourself when you find you’ve snapped in 3 dozen pieces that all fit together fine but because of one mistake, all the pieces in pile A are incompatible with pile B. (A single magnet like https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3809057 or https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3865115 may be a better design? though not perfect. I’ve not tried them)
3. Removing a magnetic clip is almost impossible with many pieces. I finally figured out how to drill a tiny starter hole in bad clips and screw in a hook, then use pliars to wrestle them out. Very time-consuming.
4. Installing the magnets often requires burrowing them out with a hand drill. But fail to get it deep enough every single time, then the magnet sticks out by a millimeter and you’re screwed (or it just bulges anyway). After wasting hours, I finally bought 3x3mm magnets instead of the 3x4mm you seem to recommend. They seem to have the same strength but less issues getting the magnets to fit fully into the hole.
5. I learned some tricks I wish were in a video tutorial or docs, but even with them, making these magnets is extremely time consuming. Consider only recommending a single large magnet system (with cautionary statements) and then having an option to buy them somewhere in bulk would be immensely helpful.
6. If you’re building anything multi-level, then I’ve read the magnets aren’t strong enough to hold together reliability while using minis. I’ve not tested it yet, but I can see it being true, which is why I used clips for all the floors and their wall connections. But this pretty much negates the advantage of the magnets as so much of the castle still uses regular clips. I wish there were a solution to this.
Let me know if you have any suggestions. In any case, people should have their eyes open before committing to this system.
Sam Campbell –
Thanks for the feedback. With larger buildings the recommendation is to use OpenLOCK clips. Magnetic clips are more useful for doing quick rearrangements of dungeons for dungeon crawls.
bizznbizz (verified owner) –
Hi Sam. Do you know if you’ve got any further on the ball-magnetic clip (as per Ryan’s suggestion above). It would be nice to have the option (even mix them, perhaps) and would have gone a long way to sorting out Brent’s issues (above). Thanks and keep up the good work. Mark.
Sam Campbell (verified owner) –
I’ll add it to list of suggest improvements.
t.andersson (verified owner) –
In what orientation do you print these? Lying down like normal clips, or standing up with the magnet holes towards the surface?
Sam Campbell (verified owner) –
The default we provide in the zip is the recommended orientation.
Enrique Avalos (verified owner) –
Just double checking. If I get 3×3 mm barrel magnets these will work too? Is the issue others had with 3×4 mm that they had to drill the hole out deeper?
I ordered 3×4 mm but am now worried that I should order 3×3. Suggestions from the pros? Am I worried about nothing?
Sam Campbell (verified owner) –
You may have to make up the extra 1mm to get the best magnetic adhesion, but a little bit of epoxy or fill will help to space the magnet to the edge of the clips.
EAA00 (verified owner) –
Thank you Sam. I cannot print these to save my life. I have tried on simplify3d with several settings and different layer heights. The slicer either ignores the top and bottom walls and makes an open “U” shape instead of holes. Or if I set my slicer to print single layer walls it makes a flat sided hole that can’t fit either 3mm magnets into it. Do you have any suggestions?
Sam Campbell (verified owner) –
A few suggestions; You can try printing at a finer resolution, with increased top and bottom layers and/or print at 100% infill.
Joe Cenizal (verified owner) –
What is the difference between the flat and other version of the clips?
Nicholas Jebson –
The normal version has 3mm holes, the flat version has no holes so you can bullion or drill holes for whatever size magnets you require.
Chris Houston (verified owner) –
Can you share your slicer settings? I’ve tried 0.12 layer height with 7 top and bottom layers, and the 3mm x 4mm magnets do not fit. The holes are clean with no debris, I double checked the size of the magnets to see if the tolerance is off, but they are perfect.
Has anyone gotten these to print successfully? If so, what layer height, top / bottom layers, infill, etc. are you using?
Mike (verified owner) –
Hi Chris,
Try a 0.06 layer height and 4 top and bottom layers. 15% infill is usually good for these.
Let us know how you go. Worst case you can try the clip without holes and drill them to your size magnets but the ones with holes should work.
Chris Houston (verified owner) –
The dimensional accuracy of my Ender 3 was off. I ended up scaling these by 102% in the X and Y, and 115% in the Z, and the clips were big enough. If anyone else is having issues, try to tune your printer correctly, or take the lazy approach (like me) and scale them until it works.
Mike (verified owner) –
Hi Chris,
Glad to hear you got it sorted 🙂