An ordinary magnet is a one-maxel magnet
The whole face points one way. It is strong, it reaches a long way, and it has exactly one behaviour: it sticks.
Divide the face and it starts to behave
Set each region independently and the magnet acquires a designed response. Four of the common arrangements:
Where to go next
Common questions
What is a maxel?
A maxel is a single magnetic pixel: one small region of a magnet's face magnetised to point north or south. A conventional magnet has one north face and one south face. A coded magnet's face is divided into many maxels, each set individually, and the arrangement of those maxels is what gives the magnet its behaviour.
How is that different from an ordinary magnet?
An ordinary magnet is effectively a one-maxel magnet — the whole face points one way. Once you can set many small regions independently, the magnet stops being simply “strong” and starts having a designed response: it can align itself, latch, spring back, click into positions or release with a twist.
Does dividing the face into maxels make the magnet weaker?
At a distance, yes, and deliberately so. Adjacent opposite poles cancel each other out as you move away, so a coded magnet reaches out far less than a plain magnet of the same material. Up close, where the poles have not yet cancelled, it can hold very firmly. That trade is the entire point rather than a drawback.
Why would you want a magnet that does not reach far?
Because reach is usually the problem. A plain magnet collects swarf, wipes cards, interferes with nearby electronics and grabs at things you did not intend. A coded magnet with a short field does its job on contact and is comparatively inert an inch away.
Looking for an actual part?
This site explains the idea. The catalogue is organised by what the magnet has to do — attach, align, latch, torque, detent, spring, shear, twist and release.
Browse by behaviour Describe the job