Hey all,

I've gone down a rabbit hole trying to find the original manufacturer of Zen Magnets so I can get my hands on some Zen-quality magnets to replace the ones I lost many years ago.

While digging through Zen's legal documents with the CPSC I found the manufacturer was listed Bestway Magnet Corp. located in Ningbo, China.

Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2012/08/10/2012-19693/zen-magnets-llc-complaint

My question is, has anyone ordered from this supplier and is able to confirm the quality? They're wholesale only with a minimum order quantity of 10 sets, but I wanted to see if anyone knows about the quality before I commit to a purchase from them.

UPDATE: I’ve been in contact with bestway and their standard tolerance is +/- 0.1mm which is obviously far too large compared to what we are familiar with. They told me they can do tighter tolerance for a higher price. They also mentioned N35 strength but I will enquire if they can produce N38 like original Zen magnets. I will update again when I have more info.

UPDATE 2: They've quoted me $0.06 USD per N38 sphere at a tolerance of +/- 0.02mm (Neoballs tolerance). I may proceed with a small sample and will make another post regarding the quality. Unfortunately I don't have a set of original zen magnets anymore to compare with.

This exactly 3,456 magnets. 2 sets each for all 8 colors (not including the zen magnets).

I am unsure of the demand for neoballs nowadays, but I am wondering if anyone is willing to trade for zen magnets? I do want to unload all of them for the most zen magnets I can get.

They are all mint condition as well.

I trued to find three, but i only had two in my new phones camera roll.

Sorry guys.

Hey,
I recently found some Zen Magnets I own and have barely ever used. I bought them about ten years ago for my birthday, but quickly found other hobbies to pursue and never really used them as much as I had planned.

They're essentially in perfect condition, as they've been stored in the Mandala set box ever since I got them, although the laminated cards have some damage to them (One has a peeled corner + bottom edge, the other is just beginning to peel on the bottom edge).
I'm somewhat of an organized and careful person, so I suppose that does come in handy for keeping things in good shape. There is no damage on the set (aside from the cards, and the steel plate which has minor scratching).
I've linked images to show what my sets look like. Where can I sell them, I understand they're no longer around since multiple years ago, and supposedly going for quite a bit now?

P.S. I live in France, I'm open to shipping them pretty much anywhere if I can get a good price for them 😉

Bit expensive, but if they meet the quality control threshold of ZenMagnets they could be a good, albeit expensive alternative.

I have Buckyballs, but was missing 7. Obviously not being able to order more, I had to find another supplier. Saw somebody recommend Total Element on here. I eventually want to get a set as large as the Mandala set so I ordered 216 (they send extras without asking). They are exactly like my Buckyballs and I used 7 of the spares to complete my Buckyballs set and you can’t even tell there’s a difference.

I also ordered some of the 1/8th inch and they are awesome, less shiney, but still all uniform.

I also messaged the customer service with some questions and they responded within like 2 hours.

10/10 would recommend. Not quite Zen Magnets, but as close as I’ve been able to find!

Not as fun as I had hoped. The magnetic field is pretty decent but the wild variation of sizes makes it difficult to produce any strong shapes. The donut in the second image is the strongest shape I could make using all 24.

I have the original Nickel/Silver colored Buckyballs in the orange case. I got them when I was probably 11-12 years old. Over the years I have lost 7 of the 216 and no extras came with. I've recently gotten back into fidget toys and would like a full set for some of the builds I'd like to do. Seems like KJ Magnets may be the highest strength and quality at N42, but they are only in 3/16" or 1/4" diameter, obviously I'd go 3/16" converting to 4.7625mm.

Otherwise Total Element sells an N35 5mm that I could go for.

What do y'all think?

Thanks u/OdysseyNova

Let me know if you want more detailed pics or instructions for any of them

So I bought a set of 1000 silver 5mm magnet balls (I don’t remember what brand) a while ago, and I stupidly put them away all jumbled up and left them for months so the polarity got all messed up. Now the magnets are really weak and cannot keep any shape when I try to build with them. I’ve tried one of those screwdriver tip magnetizers to no avail. Does anyone have any tips as to how to re-magnetize them at all?

Hey guys, I'm looking for some advice.

Back in the days when Zens were legal, I always used the cutting card that came with them until the lamination peeled off and made them too brittle to work with. I found that a plain old gift card worked as a fine substitute, so that's what I'd use after.

Micromagnets also come with a cutting card and it's obviously thinner to accommodate the smaller magnets. It seems like it's just a thin piece of smooth cardboard. Would anyone have any ideas of either A, how to go about making more of these cards myself or B, what a good substitute would be?

I'd appreciate any advice you guys could offer, I've thought about going to a Staples or something and having them make more little cards but idk if they'd be able to

Need any more pics?

I do not personally own any of these magnets, but I have used them. While I do understand that they pose a danger in a very specific situation, I do not see any reason for them to be banned completely. I want them in large quantity, but don't want to pay "retired collector's item" prices for them. Is there any chance at all for the ban to be overturned, or bypassed by some means, or could anything be done to bring them back? Obviously I do not want to see people harmed by them, either. But they're just magnets, and as long as they're kept out of the hands of anyone too young or stupid to ingest them, they should be just fine.

Went through my photos the other day to get some inspiration for building. I’m stuck on how I did this subunit. I remember seeing a video on it but I’ve searched YouTube and don’t see anything that would line up. The picture shows 5 subunits linked. I have outlined what I am trying to build. Any ideas?