Starbucks Fridge (or Cabinet, Etc.) Magnets

Make some fridge magnets for your favorite coffee hound.

- A Starbucks Frappucino (the kind you purchase at the grocery store that comes in a bottle, not the kind you get at Starbucks that comes in a cup)
- a strong magnet* see below
- some sort of adhesive (I used double-sided foam tape)

Optional/Possible:
-packing/duct/masking tape (about 1.5 inches wide)

If you are using a harddrive magnet, you may need
- 2 crescent wrenches.

Magnet:
For the magnet, I used a standard harddrive magnet. If you don't know how to procure one, you can also just buy a magnet from some place like www.amazingmagnets.com.

I will include brief instructions for getting the magnet off of the metal plate onto which it is attached by default.

NOTE: You will want to make sure that the magnet you are going to use will sit inside the lid of the frappucino with a little clearance. This will make it possible to remove the magnet from the face of the fridge without too much effort (since these magnets are STRONG!)

After polishing off the contents of the Frappucino Bottle (yum!) you'll need to prepare the lid to be a fridge magnet. Since the bottle has been sitting on a shelf for a while, it should have a rather nasty coating of dried/congealed frapuccino on it. You'll want to scrub that off, so as not to attract ants/mould/etc, and then dry it so it is ready to accept whatever fixative you have chosen to bind the magnet to it.

If you are using a magnet that you have cleverly removed from a harddrive, you will need to remove it from the metal plate to which it is affixed. Here is the easiest way I have found of accomplishing this:

1. find two good points to which you can clamp the crescent wrenches.
2. bend away from the magnet
3. Repeat from other mount points as necessary

Eventually, you'll get a bent plate with the magnet detached from it in at least two places. You can then use either your fingers or a bladed instrument to pry it up.

Note that this will probably tear the metal coating on the magnet and reveal the rare-earth material inside. Don't worry about this. You'll just affix that side of the magnet to the lid

Now you just need to firmly attach the magnet to the back of the lid. Here are the steps I used for double-sided foam tape. Feel free to adapt this step to fit your medium (hot glue, epoxy, soldering, whatever floats your boat)

1. Cut a piece of tape big enough to cover the vast majority of your magnet.
2. Apply tape to magnet (if you followed the previous step to prepare a harddrive magnet, and you tore the metal coating on the magnet, then apply the tape to the side with the torn metal.)
3. Trim the tape so that it doesn't stick out too much from the sides of the magnet.
4. Mount the magnet in the lid. NOTE: If you're anal like me, you'll probably want to align the magnet so that it is symmetrically oriented to the centerline of the lid.
5. Wait a few seconds/minutes for the 'fixative' to 'cure'.

Just for added security, I added a tape backing to my magnets.

1. Cut a piece of tape about 1.5 inches square.
2. Place it over the magnet so that it covers it and has room to grip the inner lip of the lid.
3. Use a plastic spoon, or some similar tool, to the tape down around the magnet.

Use your new Starbucks magnets to attach pictures and shopping lists to your refrigerator, filing cabinet, or whatever.