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Mine the warehouse.

Industrial electronics carry the biggest magnets. Search the dock, the sorting line, the data-centre bay and the motor bay, open up what you find, and decide what it holds. Fill the bin, then send it on for recovery.

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0 / 23 discoveries0 / 10 rare-earth finds identified

Cutaway drawing of an electronics recycling warehouse with its floor open to view

Click the drawing to explore · Scroll to move down the pageTap a discovery to see what’s inside.

Receiving dock

Electric forklift: no permanent magnet. Most electric forklifts drive through induction or series-wound motors, which work without a permanent magnet. The traction battery under the seat is a recovery stream of its own.
HVLS ceiling fan: a rare-earth magnet. A big slow fan like this is commonly turned by a direct-drive permanent-magnet motor, and compact high-torque motors of that kind commonly use neodymium. The design depends on the maker.
Pallet scale: no permanent magnet. A floor scale is load cells and a readout: strain gauges and electronics. No motor and no permanent magnet.
PA horn speaker: another kind of magnet. A horn loudspeaker’s driver carries a magnet, typically a large ferrite ring: heavy for its pull, and not a rare-earth source.

Sorting line

Conveyor drive: no permanent magnet. A belt conveyor is driven by a gearmotor, typically an induction motor: copper windings and a steel rotor with no permanent magnet. Plenty of copper, though.
Sorting robot arm: a rare-earth magnet. Each joint of an industrial robot arm is driven by a servo motor, and compact servos commonly use neodymium magnets for their torque. The alloy depends on the arm.
Laptops on the belt: a rare-earth magnet. Thin laptops fit speakers and fan motors into very little space, which commonly means rare-earth magnets. Whether a particular laptop does depends on its design.
Tote of phones: a rare-earth magnet. Its speakers, vibration motor and camera stabilizers all use tiny magnets, commonly rare-earth because space is so tight. The alloys depend on the phone.
Pallet of printers: another kind of magnet. Office printers move paper and print heads with small DC and stepper motors; the DC motors typically carry ferrite magnets. Not a rare-earth source, but a steady one of copper and steel.
Stack of monitors: no permanent magnet. A flat-panel monitor is glass, a backlight, electronics and a steel frame. Unless it has built-in speakers, there is no permanent magnet to find.

Data-centre bay

Server racks: a rare-earth magnet. A server’s hard disk drives carry voice-coil magnets, commonly neodymium, and each fan module turns on a small brushless motor with a ring magnet. All-flash servers carry far fewer magnets, so the count depends on the build.
Cart of hard drives: a rare-earth magnet. Every hard disk drive carries a pair of voice-coil magnets, commonly neodymium. Drives like these are sanitized or destroyed before any recovery begins.
Industrial shredder: no permanent magnet. An industrial shredder turns its cutting shafts through a gearbox from an induction motor and hydraulics: no permanent magnet, and a great deal of steel.
Degausser: no permanent magnet. A degausser erases drives with a powerful electromagnet: a copper coil energised for an instant. It holds no permanent magnet of its own.
UPS battery cabinet: no permanent magnet. An uninterruptible power supply is a cabinet of lead-acid or lithium cells and power electronics: apart from its small cooling fans, no motor and no permanent magnet, but batteries that need their own careful handling.

Motor bay

Industrial induction motor: no permanent magnet. A large industrial induction motor is copper windings on a laminated stator and a steel rotor: no permanent magnet. Its copper is a recovery stream of its own.
Crate of servo motors: a rare-earth magnet. Servo motors are built for torque in a small frame, which commonly means neodymium magnets on the rotor. Grade and mass depend on the motor.
Pallet of EV motor rotors: a rare-earth magnet. An electric-vehicle traction motor rotor carries tiles of magnet under a retaining sleeve, commonly neodymium-iron-boron. Grade and mass depend on the motor.
Eddy-current separator: a rare-earth magnet. An eddy-current separator spins a drum of alternating magnets to throw non-ferrous metals clear. The drum is commonly built from neodymium magnets, which is what makes it fast and strong.
Overhead belt magnet: another kind of magnet. An overhead belt magnet pulls steel out of a stream with a block of ferrite magnets in a steel frame: strong, heavy, and not a rare-earth source.
Transformer: no permanent magnet. A transformer is copper windings around a laminated steel core, cooled in a finned tank: no permanent magnet.
Mobile robots: a rare-earth magnet. A mobile robot’s wheels are driven by compact brushless hub motors, which commonly use neodymium magnets. The design depends on the robot.
Magnetic sweeper: another kind of magnet. A magnetic floor sweeper is a bar of ferrite magnets on wheels, for picking screws and swarf off the floor: a magnet, but not a rare-earth one.

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