General Forum

There are some cards that are actually magnets...off the top of my head I can think of an insert and a parallel, not to mention the ProMags brand, all of which reside in my collection to some degree. I've been leery to scan them, because I know electronics and magnets usually do not mix, with the electronic device usually not working anymore after coming into contact with a magnet. Yet I've seen magnets get scanned on here before, including cards from the sets that are in my collection. 

I'm wondering if any of the people who have scanned magnets have had any ill effects on their scanners afterwords. Or are the magnets issued in cards dull enough that they can be scanned? After all, they did go across checkout lines/upc readers when in packs with no damage to the store. 

I don't want to damage my scanner...I don't have $100 budgeted in to replace it. 

For now I've been setting them aside when I come across them in my collection, but I would like to scan them...and get them posted here. 

Thanks for any insight.

Billy, I've scanned magnets for the Wacky Packages inserts and haven't seen any problems with my machine. I'm betting on the low power (not like the magnets I remember from high school science class that could pick up a few pounds of nails and other stuff).

Refrigerator magnets are not strong enough to damage a scanner Billy.  I wouldn't leave one in contact with a disk drive or memory card for long periods of time, but it won't hurt anything to scan them.

-Tom

Thanks guys, good to know! I don't have too many so I should be able to get them posted in a few days. I will do one per 9-card scan just to be safe, lol. The parallel I referenced in my original post was posted by you Tom, I was given a copy of the 1996 Traks magnet parallel of one of the Ted Musgrave cards. The ones that need scanning are basketball cards, though. I remember those big time magnets too. They were fun. Back in those days it predated electronics being everywhere though, I had never even heard of a scanner in those years!

I've scanned all my ProMags.  I've loaded as many as would fit on my scanner bed and never had a problem.

Also, my scanner is an all-in-one printer. And they sell magnetic sheets for printing your own magnets.  So I doubt magnets have any effects on printer/scanners.

I would avoid having any magnets, no matter how weak, anywhere near a tablet, phone, or computer. Yes, this is the equivalent to putting your seatbelt on to drive from the garage to the end of the driveway to pick up the paper, a bit of overkill, but if a deer runs across your driveway... better safe than sorry.

Computer hard drives have powerful rare-earth magnets in them. It takes powerful electromagnetic fields (degaussers) to affect hard drives.  Tablets have solid-state drives which are not affected by magnets.

Is there a Magnet Database website, with magnet collectors who would be authorities on the subject?

I've scanned the ones I had with no issue. Thanks again! 

Never thought to look for a magnet database...

Don't forget to scan the back!