How to Make a Fidget Slider: DIY Magnetic Guide (2026)

A magnetic fidget slider is about the simplest satisfying thing you can build at a kitchen table. Two flat pieces, a handful of disc magnets, glue, and something slippery between them. Machined sliders cost what they cost because each one is CNC-cut, which is exactly why the author of one Instructables build decided to make his own out of wood with "a knockoff Dremel" (Instructables).

This guide pulls together what the makers of the better free designs actually wrote: the parts, the magnet sizes, the steps, and the mistakes they admit to.

Two ways to build one

If you have a printer, print. The pocket depths come out right every time. If you don't, the wood build is very doable. It just rewards patience.

Parts list

For a wooden slider (from the Instructables supplies list):

• Wood, 30 mm wide x 50 mm long, 10 mm thick (two pieces)
• 5 mm diameter magnets, 2.5 mm thick
• 5 mm drill bit and a rotary tool
• Two smooth plastic pieces, "preferably PTFE but any smooth plastic works"
• Wood glue and 2-part epoxy
• The printed PDF pattern from the project

For a 3D-printed slider, the parts list is shorter: the printed pieces, magnets, and a drop of CA glue.

• MagSlide: twelve 6 x 2 mm round magnets. Suggested print settings are 0.20 mm layers, 15–25% infill, 3 perimeters, no supports.
• Lucky Clover (6x2mm): ten 6 x 2 mm magnets in a 35 x 35 x 4 mm body.
• Luca Bartoli's three-part slider: seven 6 x 2 mm magnets, with files for ten magnet sizes from 4 x 1 mm to 10 x 2 mm.
• RJS3DPRINTS' sliders: originally 7 x 2 mm magnets.

How to size and lay out the magnets

A few rules come straight out of these designs.

Buy the magnet the design was drawn for. Every printed design sizes its pockets to one magnet. Luca Bartoli ships separate base and button files for each size, which tells you how little tolerance there is. If you already own magnets, pick a design that matches them, not the other way round.

The two halves carry matching magnets. The base and the moving piece each get a set of pockets, and the slider stops where the two sets line up. More places where they line up means more stops along the slide. For how magnet count and grade change the feel of finished sliders, see our magnetic fidget slider guide.

Distance matters as much as size. Magnets lose pull quickly as the gap between them grows. The designer of the Keychain-Ready Worry Slider put the 8 x 2 mm magnets "only 0.5 mm away from the sliding faces," and calls the result "a fairly aggressive hold." A thin layer is a strong click; a thick one is a soft click or no click.

Step by step: the wooden build

This follows the Instructables project closely.

1. Cut the two pieces. Print the PDF pattern, stick it to the wood, cut both pieces and sand them to the pattern lines.
2. Drill the magnet pockets. Drill only as deep as the magnets are thick. For 5 x 2.5 mm magnets, that means a 5 mm bit to 2.5 mm deep. The author drilled all the way through by accident and recommends you don't.
3. Fit the magnets. He ended up with a 4.7 mm hole, which press-fit the 5 mm magnets without glue. With a true 5 mm hole, put a drop of 2-part epoxy in each pocket.
4. Shape a grip. Optional. He wrapped sandpaper around a thick marker and sanded a "+" pattern for an "eroded pebble" look.
5. Add slick faces. Rough up the wood and the back of the plastic, then epoxy the plastic on. His plastic came from a protein powder jar, since those and "beauty product containers" often have a PTFE coating inside.
6. Finish. He used coconut oil, but suggests a few coats of spray lacquer for something handled every day.

Step by step: the 3D-printed build

1. Print flat. Print the base and slider flat on the bed. Luca Bartoli recommends a concentric top pattern.
2. Check the thin spots. The Lucky Clover's designer suggests his custom layer heights because "the design is a bit thin" above the magnets.
3. Decide: glue or capture. Glue magnets into open pockets, or pause the print to drop them in. Teque5's captured-magnet Clover pauses the print at 2.6 mm so you can drop the magnets in (ten 6 x 2 mm magnets in all), with "no gluing or pressing magnets into place anymore."
4. Set polarity. Luca Bartoli's example: all base magnets with S facing up, all button magnets with N facing down.
5. Glue sparingly. MagSlide says to "check polarity before gluing" and use "a small drop of CA glue if needed."
6. Slide together and test before you print a second one in a nicer color.

The YouTube channel Moxious documents a full design attempt, including a first version he gave up on, in Designing and 3D Printing a Magnetic Fidget Slider. The build uses 5 x 2 mm magnets and PLA at 100% infill. It's worth watching the postmortem before you design your own.

Common failures and fixes

The pieces push apart. A magnet is upside down. It happens to everyone once. Test each magnet against its partner before any glue goes in. On captured-magnet prints, get this wrong and the part is scrap, which is why Luca Bartoli says to pick the open "Classic" version if you've never embedded parts mid-print.

The pieces fall apart in your hand. The pull is too weak. In the wooden build, a thick plastic face put too much distance between the magnets and "the pieces fall apart too easily." Luca Bartoli also warns that on his covered version, "small and thin magnet versions can have too weak magnetic force." Use thinner facing, a larger magnet size, or the uncovered version.

The hold is so strong it won't slide. The opposite problem. The keychain worry slider designer says he may add "a 'softer' version with increased distance," and notes the trade-off: that "may increase the risk of losing the component not attached to the keyring." Weak enough to slide, strong enough to stay together is a narrow window.

The magnets won't stay in. Oversized pockets. Either print or drill slightly under size for a press fit, or use epoxy (wood) or CA glue (printed parts).

It feels gritty or sticky. The slide faces are too rough. The Instructables author found one plastic piece "just not enough surface" and recommends two thin, slippery PTFE pieces. On printed sliders, Teque5 says a textured bed "makes the fidget more slippery."

You chipped a magnet. Neodymium magnets "can peel, chip, crack or shatter if allowed to slam together," and K&J Magnetics also notes they "are not easily drilled or machined" (K&J Magnetics). Don't try to drill or file a magnet to fit. Fix the hole. For swapping magnets later, FidgetThings' video shows its preferred method using a small metal box, and says "any small metal box or magnetic surface should work" (YouTube).

Magnet safety: read this before you order

Small, strong magnets are the one genuinely dangerous part of this project.

• Swallowing. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says swallowed high-powered magnets "can attract to each other, or to other material that attracts to magnets, through internal body tissue," causing "perforations, twisting and/or blockage of the intestines, infection, blood poisoning and death." CPSC estimates 26,600 magnet ingestions were treated in U.S. emergency rooms from 2010 through 2021 (CPSC).
• Teens, too. CPSC has warned about teens swallowing magnets by accident while using them to mimic mouth piercings. It lists abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea as symptoms, and says to seek immediate medical attention if you suspect a child swallowed one (CPSC).
• Your bench. Keep the bag of spare magnets sealed and counted. A 6 x 2 mm disc that rolls off the table is easy to lose and easy for a small child to find.
• Pinches and eyes. K&J Magnetics warns that fingers can be pinched between magnets and recommends eye protection because shattering magnets can throw fragments. Their page also says strong magnets can affect pacemakers and other implanted devices.
• Captured isn't child-safe. Luca Bartoli's own note on his covered version: the magnets are sealed, but "the entire button is still small enough to be swallowed."

When to buy instead

A DIY slider teaches you what you like: how many stops, how strong the snap, how slick the slide. The limits show up fast, though. Printed plastic is light, a printed pocket is only as accurate as your printer, and every change means a new print. If you want a machined version, our materials guide and magnetic vs mechanical comparison cover what you're paying for.

And if the part you enjoyed most was tuning where the stops go, that's the idea behind echoPi, an EDC fidget slider we're building with real, programmable clicks: you choose how many clicks and where they sit instead of re-drilling. It's in development, with no price or date yet. You can hear it in the play area or join the list.