SuperMagnetMan magnet N55 TiN implant
I intend this post to be a blog over my recent SMM TiN N55 magnet implant. First, some background:
I was able to get an early batch of SMM magnets through emailing a rep. These magnets are extremely powerful(I can’t compare to M31 since I’ve never owned one), however, on every side of the magnets, It appeared to have have soot on one side around the edge. I was concerned it might be exposed magnet at first, however, after some saline and scratch tests, it appeared that the soot rubbed off and revealed TiN underneath. I felt confident for implantation, though I’m ordering some FDA8 epoxy to coat some magnets for a future implant in my other finger on my other hand.
Day 0: After selecting a magnet with the least amount of soot and the most formidable coating, I scrubbed down the table and began. I sterilized with 91% isopropyl alcohol and providone-iodine. Using the gloves included in cyberise.me’s lidocaine kit, I performed a digital nerve block and a local numming on my left ring finger. Next, I used a rubberband as a tourniquet. Then I used a scalpel to dig a deep hole(probably too deep, the scalpel almost pierced through the other side of the pad of the finger.) I took the selected magnet out of the isopropanol and put it in the pocket using by hand. I used a sterile floss wand and used the stick to push the magnet in all the way. Finally, I used some steristrips and a band-aid to close up.
After the numming wore off, it started to hurt but I could actually feel the magnet turning when I approached magnetic fields. As of writing this now though, I think my body has blocked pain from my finger(as well as all the nerves I sliced through dying) since it’s no longer painful but I can’t sense magnetic fields anymore.
Comments
Day 1: No pain unless provoked(I had to work so there was a lot of provoking and I also forgot to take pain killers). Little to no sensation
http://imgur.com/rYNl0bo
Day 2: No pain unless significantly provoked. Little to no sensation.
http://imgur.com/Glrsl8f
http://imgur.com/VSFD6HF
Is everything still going well?
@dieselpwr I chose the best looking magnet I could out of the bunch and so far it’s held up well. I’m sure if I did this with any of the other ones it would’ve been fine butI wanted to be sure.
So I've ordered the same magnets (twice, actually, losing the first 10 to experimentation). Of my first 10, I had a number fail the saline test (take this with a grain of salt, it was after abrasive cleaning). Some of them developed what looks like rust, one ended up with a kind of...bump? on the surface. Upon arrival (2 days after I ordered it with the "slow" shipping method!), the TiN coating was looking a bit rough under microscope, and some of the magnets had what looked to be large gray (thinned?) patches, particularly along the edges.
I didn't feel good at all about that sooty ring, either, and initial attempts to clean it off resulted in damage to coatings. I also tried coating with FDA2T resin. I don't know that I'd call that a failure, but I'm not going to end up using it. My coating had some bubbles in it, and I'm not feeling confident that no dust got stuck to the coating.
After several trials, I've settled on a method that involved a microfiber cloth, some 14um diamond paste, some 3um diamond paste, and about a half-hour of lapping and polishing. With this method, I've ended up with 4 great looking magnets which after 24 hours in saltwater, show no signs of degradation. I chose the cleanest ones I had and polished them with the paste. They now have no dark sooty rings around them, and the roughness on the surface is much decreased. They're not quite mirrors, but definitely smoother.
All in all, I now have 4 pristine-looking TiN magnets (and 6 others) for 20$, and without that scary looking unknown residue. Exciting stuff! I'll tack on the before and after shots.
Files wouldn't upload for some reason. Here ya go. The plan right now is to implant on Saturday, barring any dramatic turn.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4Q9AmjTBNNqaVpXMDc2QnU1Nm9XaTZDbWZIaWdhWXRHZHNV/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4Q9AmjTBNNqMUloRlg1cm9SWExoaVhsRDdnRlJfcEtGVTU4
Those magnets look really good! How many magnets of one package failed salt water test?
Thanks :D I'm quite excited. With the polishing? not sure yet. Will update tomorrow.
Great post, very insightful, thanks! Placed an order for 10, going to use a reshipper to cut back on the crazy shipping fee. If anyone in NZ wants a couple I can probably hook you up in a bit.
@nothot How did you apply the Epoxy coating?
Ok :)
So I polished the 4 best looking magnets in the 10 pack, put them in a tall glass of warm, salty water with a few drops of soap, and let them sit for the better part of 3 days. After which I had 4 completely pristine magnets, they appear totally clean, with no sign of oxidation at all. So I numbed up and implanted one of them. Given the results of the saline test, and the general clean appearance even under microscope, I'm feeling very confident in my coating!
Also, I had tried cleaning a different magnet in other ways (I actually don't recall exactly which methods i used to try and remove that soot at first), then double coating it with fda2t. Total failure. Looks HORRIBLE. Major corrosion upon exposure to saline. Apparently that method would need more refinement.
Attached are photos of all four magnets after 3 days in saline, and a closeup of the opposing side of the one I implanted. They look really excellent. The finger is about 12 hours after insertion. Not much to see, the incision is quite invisible, and no irritation elsewhere so far. It's still a bit numb as I type this. Cheers :).
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1wowvmDF6JYgWm5sDCIGleTaUNu3CRjIP
https://drive.google.com/open?id=154vG6kCysq3e7DNtD0zOe4Di9LMXDnqs
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1LdhLsSopgpGZ3OaHO7JOE0U74eLXkExl
Well, I'm working on a writeup tonight.. looks like I'm not going to finish it till tommorow. First off though: The N55 claim is bunk. It's no different from an N52 in strength. We'll see how well the coating holds up though.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/12m6nD2eEmlAalE0YvbCHVidFr7hWGGYL/view?usp=drivesdk
The incision site looks good.
Vaseline? I’ve never heard of that being used. Why not antibiotic ointment?
To be honest the method you used to determine if the coating was sound isn't effective. The bulging is likely from your body pushing out the NdFeB, and depending on how deep you put the magnet you may see small black "bubbles." I'd recommend removing the magnet and testing it adequately, as it likely has already failed. If it hasn't, you got lucky and your research can be used to create more magnets.
> @Rytcd said:
> 1 week later. Seems to be bulging more than I'd noticed before. Slight paleness over magnet.
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> To be honest the method you used to determine if the coating was sound isn't effective. The bulging is likely from your body pushing out the NdFeB, and depending on how deep you put the magnet you may see small black "bubbles." I'd recommend removing the magnet and testing it adequately, as it likely has already failed. If it hasn't, you got lucky and your research can be used to create more magnets.
I think you're jumping the gun pretty hard on this one. There doesn't appear to be any swelling or angry colors (bodies that want stuff out tend to have those) , i was simply saying i hadn't noticed before that there was, in fact, a visible bump of a subdermal magnet. More a point of observation than one of concern. I'm curious whether it will soften up in time.
The method I used is well-documented to be effective at showing coating failures, even as it has been well documented to be overly simple and flawed, due to lack of organic processes. I could have done in vivo testing, on mice, say, but that's a lot of trouble. I could have simply left them in solution longer, but it didn't really seem necessary, and I still have others soaking to give me an indicator.
All this to say: thanks, but it seems to be healing nicely. I'll stick with it for now.
It's not the end of the world if they break down anyways. No, neodymium probably isn't good for you but it won't hurt you. The most that is gonna happen if it is in fact corroding is that you'll lose sensitivity. Big whoop.