On July 9, 2016 at 09:59, highfigh said...
I tried the wet noodle and the chain/magnet didn't attract very well, so I went out and bought a piece of chain that's not only stronger, it's heavier and drops into a hole better. I use a small rare earth magnet taped to the tip of a push rod and it doesn't come off, In fact, the chain balls up on the end. I have a flexible wire that does the same as a wet noodle end.
Home Depot carries ball chain in at least a couple of diameters. My favorite is more than 1/8" in diameter. Be sure when you buy it that you check with a magnet to be sure it's steel, not brass.
Somewhere I found some bare aluminum wire, more than 1/16" thick, and used Goop to glue a rare earth magnet to the end. What's cool about this is that it can be bent to go around a corner inside a wall, then grab the chain. I learned one day to put a large carabiner on one end when dropping the chain into a wall.
