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I'm looking to purchase an EdgePro Apex system. I have a work table made of a sheet of tempered glass.
In your use and observation, do you think that I can take two 80lb pull magnets which are small bars, glue them to the underside of my table, and then place the Apex base over those magnets?
Well, that is a yes and no answer. The unit by itself, pic as in post #6 is non-magnetic.
I have one. I have various heavy-duty neo magnets such as you mentioned. The only metal "available" where the suction cups are..is the two metal screws the are mounted in the base of that unit...and the suction cups screw onto those. BTW, those two screws are held in with retaining screws and are probably NOT MUCH HOLDING POWER AT ALL.
The two legs closest to the operator have some small amount of ferrous material in the bottom of each leg, and the rubber protective cups appear to be glued on...
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When the unit is set up using those suction cups, the "nylon?" base sits ~1/2" above the glass plate. Those two screws are ~2.2" APART, CENTER TO CENTER.. YOU CAN AFFIX A FERROUS (IRON?) PLATE TO THAT BASE (USING WHATEVER METHOD YOU CHOOSE).
That plate can be 1/2" wide by 2" long by 1/2" thick and will slide right in between those two screws (just take off the suction cups)...if you cannot extract those screws with vise-grips, or whatever. Now you can use those new magnets that you have...under the glass. The holding power will, of course, be influenced by the thickness of your existing glass plate. I would think that a 1/4" sheet of tempered glass would be no problem... 1/2" thick glass. Don't know.
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Now comes the REAL MAGIC of those magnets. "Mount" one of them to the underside of the work-surface plate that your knife blade sits on. I just measured the mag that I use, and it appears to be 3/4" circular by maybe 1" deep. I think it's about an 80-pounder or so.
NOW...your knife blade will be very "secure" when you place it on the work-surface, and lighter knives can be sharpened without even holding onto the knife. The big advantage is that the blade is always secure on the work-surface...which is difficult to maintain using your fingers only.
In my case, this has resulted in my finished edges being much "nicer" and a good deal sharper than I had experienced previously.
I took that 3/4" circular cylinder of magnet and wrapped it in a bit of tape and jammed it up into the space directly under the work-surface. It has held just fine for many knives at this point.
This was NOT my idea...I read it here six months ago...don't know who wrote that post but bless his heart.
The front legs on the unit will still slide around a bit, but no worse than the original design intends. You get get really fancy and utilize the 0.2" wide space that exists in each front leg. Those legs are solid on three sides, but you could stick ferrous material in those legs also, and then perhaps you'd really have the solidity that you are seeking.
Note that the metal plate that you mount between the suction cups have to be very close to 1/2" thick, or you will have to "recalibrate" your included angles...as given by the colored dots red, green, blue, yellow, etc. on the vertical rod. That 1/2" is measured when the suction cups are pushed down solidly onto the glass plate.
Anyway, good luck, and glad that I am finally able to thank that kind person who first told me about using magnets to hold your blade in place.
best of luck.
don
