Thank you so much for your reply. I envisaged a low powered circuit that controlled two relays switching them alternately on and off and that the relays would then control the electromagnets I wasn't so concerned about the electromagnet side of things at this stage, just the ability to switch the relays. I could sort of understand that an astable multivibrator would be what I was after, but I need to be able to adjust the switching times between
about 1 cycle every three seconds to about 5 cycles a second and working the timing out is, I'm afraid, a long way past my capabilities.
I saw an astable multivibrator circuit that switched LED's alternatively on and off but could not see how the solve the variable speed side of things.
Sorry if I wasn't clear in my first post, but it is just the problem of the variable switching circuit that I am trying to address.
Many thanks again for your reply