You need to verbally explain why and show how to manually discharge the microwave capacitor prior to removing the transformer. There is enough stored power to electrocute someone whether it is plugged in or not.
@@namaan123 Not his responsibility. Anyone that does not understand how electricity works should not mess with this anyway. Plain and simple. I knew someone trying to make a wood burner from a old microwave and it killed him. Luckily I thought he was a idiot before and he only improved the gene pool as far as U am concerned. I think it is a sue happy world and it is freaking common since try at your own risk. Would you watch a youtube video showing openheart surgery and try to save a buck on your wife if she needed it? You people drive me nuts.
In his defense nowhere in his title does it state that this is instructional video or a how to. In which case anybody that doesn't have a basic understanding of current, voltage, capacitors, transformers, inductors etc shouldn't be trying to replicate this process in the first place.
25 year electrician here; Although impressed with the OP's ingenuity and craftsmanship, I sincerely wish there were a stern warning on how extremely dangerous playing around with transformers, capacitors, and a few other components found in appliances/machines are and how they are absolutely lethal if you do not KNOW precisely what you are doing. Please be careful out there folks. Electricity is brutally unforgiving to ignorance & complacency.
I once wired a 10 step transformer backwards. The magic smoke leaked out, everything pretty much liquefied, then left smoldering residue. Lesson learned, USE LOW VOLTAGE WHEN TESTING.
Step 1: Get old microwave. | Step 2: Purchase welder. | Step 3: Acquire full line of machine tools. | Step 4: turn old microwave into a wood burner or welder.
I don't think these are meant to be DIY for the masses, but just an engineer providing entertainment of what they can do with their expertise dealing with recycled electrical components. You'll probably wanna get an electrical engineering degree or some type of certification in dealing with electric components before embarking on such an enterprise. I love these types of videos and I wish I had such skills!
Remember, if you've got lathes and welders and assorted tools and materials, don't throw out an old microwave because you can use part of it to make a wire hot.
@@Shockmeslow Can't buy the satisfaction of creating one though. And for sure your Harbour Freight tool won't look anywhere as neat or cool as this one 😝
But learning and understanding such things develops respect and knowledge, ignorance on the other hand creates danger and higher risk. I understand what you mean though. There should be a lot of attention to the risks and dangers in these sort of videos.
Goes without saying that it is extremely dangerous to handle a high voltage source like this. These guys know what they are doing, but they haven't explained any of the safety measures they put in place. Working with microwave oven electronics is no joke and should be taken very seriously.
I guess in this case it goes vice versa, meaning they use the transformer to produce high current with a normal voltage level. So it is pretty safe unless you touch those electrodes.
As shown this is equivalent to an arc welder that is being intentionally shorted out. You could get burnt by the thin copper wire fairly easily, but there's essentially no risk of electrocution if it's constructed as shown (with a grounded cage around the transformer. The highest voltage is whatever is coming out of the plug, so it's no more dangerous than a toaster. If the transformer isn't modified, however, (when he cuts the thin wires off and replaces them with a few loops of very thick wire) then the thing is an electrocution waiting to happen - high voltage, no way for grounding the high voltage side to trip a breaker, exposed conductors = bad, bad news.
I don't think these guys are aware that the magnetron contains a fair amount of beryllium oxide, which is brittle and toxic to breathe. They're not handling these microwaves safely.
Another good tip, salvage the magnets from the magnetron tube. They're thin, but strong donut shaped magnets that fit perfectly inside the bottom on an oil pan and will collect and hold any metal fragments from being recirculated back through the engine.
If anyone tried this and is not experienced with electrical equipment, please be careful, microwaves have large capacitors that can discharge if handled improperly and injure or cause death.
Great job except, running a power cord through a hole in a bare metal sheet is a no-no! Over time it will chafe through to the conductors and shorting mains power. Buy yourself a cheap gromet or a flexible sleeve and a "P" clip to secure the cord on the inside of the enclosure for strain relief!
@@Michael-Archonaeus In his defense, one might go meet meet the maker rather more quickly if one followed the examples of mains power routing in this video.
Finally a video for those of us who have been stockpiling copper billet. Thanks Grandpa for the advice you gave me as a young lad!!! Now all I need is a machining lathe and a broken microwave.
You can easily get what you need. Just go to any college apartment block at the end of the year. They leave their old machine lathes in the parking lot when they move out.
This is dumb There are 8 million viewer no one will ever try to do this It's hard and useless and a waste of many These projects are for YT videos only and not worthy in real life so stop talking about safety
There’s no way you can die from 3 V unless you just burned through your body for some reason. You can stick your tongue to the electrodes and it won’t do anything but when you put some kind of metal to it that heats up.
As a comment said, its enough stored electricity in the microwave to make anyone trying to remove it without guidance a deadly shock. Cool project, but it would be more useful as a point welder. For an experienced person this would be pretty safe, but as an tutorial for newbies its a death sentence
Wow, I am blown away didn’t know you could use the transformers inside of microwaves for things, but never what you used for a spot welder and a brander that was awesome to watch. Thank you for the video. Can’t wait to see new videos. It just popped up on my RUclips page so I clicked on it John .
@@3nigma.3nc recognizing danger still requires recognition. Although reading everyone's comments about stored charges in the capacitor I am curious how this dude didn't die
This is so dangerous a friend of mine died using one microwave transformer tying to do experiments like frying food with electricity or those "wood patterns" people makes. He must have been experimenting with crouching on the floor, got electrocuted, and fell on the thing he was doing. The family says when they found his body, he was irecogniscible and the thing almost causes a fire. I didn't know him well but he always was nice to me, he was an electrician so he always had components and tools lying around. I would have never expected him to go down that way.
Good on you knowing how to complete the project just think about the idiots out there that think they are qualified to do this , ie 12 year old teenagers???
Bless him ‼ at least there a few of us,, reasonably intelligent humans, , , with the requisite, mechanical proclivity, talent/creativity, , environmental respect/ecomical frugality , , , of salvaging&recycling/repurposing fully functional components of nonfunctional, apparatus , , , given the economy of ready accessable protected storage facility, , , but to posess the requisite self control to realize the necessity, ,of considering cost of. storage vs. the cost of purchasing new, similar components, whenever needed ,, ,,, nonmanditory, , accumulation/collections can become extremely/prohibitively , expensive to store, ,after a time ,, , ,, , &relocating such accumulations/ collections can be financially& physically demanding!!! AND, , such accumulating collecting Can readily become addicting!!! one MUST confront the, , fact that collection is rarely cost-effective. I'm speaking from personal experience !!!
I feel like the amount of time it takes to make this machine, and the danger it puts people in during the construction, makes it more reasonable to go out and buy one brand new. Not to mention I have no clue what he did in the video because there was no narration or explanations to anything he did. But that is impressive that he can build that stuff and I would want him with me during a zombie apocalypse!
The video illustrates the construction techniques in an amazingly precise and efficient way. I'm truly impressed. But then I know how to use tools to make and repair things. This is probably baffling for a novice, but these are a long way from novice projects.
Relatively few viewers will know what the few smaller parts are and the specs they must meet. Even fewer will watch this and be able to visualize the wiring diagram that is not provided. The only people who are likely to take this project all the way to the point of powering thing up are the ones who understand how it works and know what all the parts are. Omitting details was probably intentional.
that was a really cool video , I love that he's so meticulous about his project ! and yes like alot of people saying down in the comments , you can buy a wire thingy or whatever for less than a 100$ but how cool is it to make something so nice and well made by hand as efficient as that tool and also from an old microwave mainly !!! he has tools and showing people at least how to be creative so show some respect people !
..it didn't really explain anything, and is overly complex for what it is. The video is designed to to be needlessly long and sensational to maximize revenue..it's almost as bad as 'ancient aliens'.
It's sad how many people watch this and don't realize the improper and oftentimes unsafe use of shop equipment. Not to mention that you can purchase a better spot welder for what this build would cost.
@@LadySalemRaven So Dave, you don't know one end of a screwdriver from the other, do ya? Any DIY person finds these vids to be instructive and entertaining. Naysayers are usually people without these specific talents.
Videos like this are exactly why we need like:dislike ratios! I have the extension installed to see them. I do not normally look at the comments and I thought this project looked interesting (I am no electrician and do not have a mechanical mind), but I saw the ratio was a bit low and checked the comments. It turned me off from even attempting something like this. Cool project, appreciate the video, but I am glad I saw the ratio.
@@kuturak I agree. I skipped through the video, it took me less than 2 minutes it was a waste of my time. But hey, it has over 9 mil. views. It looked interesting so it hooked me into clicking it.
@@DIGIPIX55 He doesn't... He'd know not to heat heatshrink with a flame like he did near a component like a relay, and also use earthing in metal cases, use grommets for live wires entering a piece of sheet metal, and use the proper tools for crimping on the termination lug points for heavy duty cabling...
25year M.Electrician, Physics Hobbyist and genuinely nuts. I must compliment the fantastically Clean Work, nicely shot/edited and look forward to more projects to share.
06:10 you could have avoided: it is very bad for young people. Also there is no warning about the danger of the charged HV capacitor PS : Furthermore, if the magnetron is broken, beryllium is released which is very dangerous for the lungs 
@@theRhinsRanger The capacitor in microwave ovens is shorted by a 10-MOhm resistor, so it should discharge itself within a minute of turning the power off. However, you don't want to bet your life on that, do you? High-voltage resistors can fail. So you need to actively discharge the capacitor to be safe. Rules number one and two in working with high voltage: keep one hand in your pocket (to make sure you don't touch HV with one hand and ground with the other), and wear insulated shoes (so your feet don't complete the circuit either). So put on a pair of insulated shoes and ONE dry rubber glove (the heavy kind, not a surgical glove), grab a pair of needle-nose pliers with insulated handles, put your un-gloved hand in your pocket, and hold the two points of the pliers against the two terminals of the capacitor to connect them. Do it again. If you have a voltmeter, it wouldn't hurt to use the probes to measure the DC voltage on the capacitor, as long as you hold both probes with one hand. Warning: some high-voltage capacitors can actually charge back up to dangerous voltages by themselves, so it's wise to (a) discharge and measure a second time after a minute or two and (b) short the two terminals together with a wire after discharging to make sure it stays safe.
@@paulkolodner2445 I've literally disassembled dozens of microwaves (something like 40) for a project, never had a single one store residual charge by the time I was finished disassembling it. Aside from the built in discharge resistor caps always have some internal leakage, they will self discharge with time. Besides that I've never heard of hv caps 'self charging' in what situation did you have this occur?
This is great.. And sure.. One wouldn't want to stumble along with this.. And truthfully.. I think any younger kid/adult that tried this.. Would never make it to the end out of being forever impatient. And say ol boy does already have a spot welder.. But is tired of "friends" asking him to barrow it.. Now he has a loaner tool to hopefully pacify said friend... And look at the bright side.. If the machine did fail.. He doesn't have to worry about said friend asking to barrow anymore tools. Good build.. My favorite is how smooth and efficient you pull it off. People just don't understand the satisfaction from using a tool that you built yourself.. And be able to complete a job or some work using that tool with zero hangup...nothing is better as far as tools go..
You need a cable grommet (or similar plastic retention) for the mains cable entry to protect it from being cut through by the sharp metal case hole and potentially making the entire metal case live at 110/220v if the house earth is bad.
More than just the grommet. I would have applied some fiberglass tape to each of the inside edges of the transformer core window so they couldn't bite into the secondary winding's insulation.
The first one is even worse... you hold on a plastic, that is melting @5:51 and right below that there are metal parts that have like 10 000v? because the wires go trough the transformer... and because the wires go trough the transformer, if you get shocked the house ground/fuse won't know a thing... to it everything seems ok edit: It wouldn't have 10kv because the upper winding was removed and replaced with heavy wire, but still.. this is in no way safe
For some reason I like that enclosure made for that transformer on the first one, is pretty nice and simple yet robust enough and looks good. I like how you held the mesh on.
So I built the first one and the fire brigade wants to know what started the fire so I gave the chief inspector a link to your video. My mum isn't happy but our insurance will buy us a new house that's brand new so it all works out in the end! I know she didn't like our old loo anyways. Great video!
Many are stating the various hazards with making this sort of video, all the things that should have been included, etc. I agree with all of them. But if we look at this as an idea video for someone who is electrically qualified (there are millions of us out there) then it is the perfect level of detail, plus it remains entertaining for viewers who will never try this but still find it interesting. Practical repurposing of everyday items into much more expensive tools is a very valuable bit of knowledge for folks that pursue various home engineering projects. People saying this should be banned should be banned themselves.
Unfortunately you have to account for everyone nowadays. I’m still confused on why gas cans say “FLAMMABLE”. If you don’t already know that I doubt you know how to read.
Needs a gigantic disclaimer at the start of the video at the very least, there is only a "do not try this at home" at the bottom of the description. This is dangerously negligent and videos like this have got people killed before and will in future.
Fun to do. Quite a lot of work to rescue just the transformer. Although if you build something yourself you can also repair it, which is worth a lot. Wicked skills man, keep it up.
There really should be safety warnings in this video. Taking apart a microwave can be very dangerous especially if you aren't aware of the hazards such as the capacitor and the magnetron. Safety in hobbies should not be dismissed.
Yeah. I was a total idiot and never knew what those safety Allen keys screws were for. I wish they said on the key you buy at the store if you use this to take apart electrical devices chances are they used those screws to keep people out! I was an idiot and just opened up a microwave and proceeded to take it apart and throw away all the inside components. Later I read about the cancer dust and was like well I don't think it was close to my face at any point....not that close anyways. But I had a legit nervous brakedown for like 6 months paranoid I was going to get skin burns or skin cancer etc because my dumba$$ didn't read any of the warning labels. At least I didn't cut anything apart like this guy.
Discharging the capacitors is number one safety mask is another precaution needs to be taken seriously. I think I would just make a low voltage high current transformer you can make a fast charge battery charger.if you use the transformer as it is you could power a Tesla coil but you better know what you are doing. My friend made one with a neon transformer but the glass capacitor broke he made the plates too large and the cap arced around the other side and cracked the glass. Making larger insulator's is not going to affect the capacity but is much safer. Well lesson learned and I have no clue if he ever fixed the project. High voltage is nothing to play with. 73
Yea, there is "Don't try this at home!", but that really doesn't convey the risk of something like like fucking with a microwave power supply if you don't already know exactly what you are doing.
yeah, some of this stuff is beyond dumb, the plastic welder? what? just fucking what? boxes it all in and then leaves towo huge copper contacts sticnking out the front? the guy isnt well.
It's "slightly dangerous". But it's high current, not high voltage. So not the "incredibly dangerous" that's the usual level of the microwave rebuild projects and The Craft Project That Shall Not Be Named.
@@andydingley3746 It's not the voltage that kills, it's the current. 20-25mA AC is considered dangerous, 40mA already harm the heart. 130 mA DC is considered deadly.
@@Ssshrugs Yes but if the voltage is too low, it will not induce a large current in your body. V/R=I Since your skin has a high resistance you need a decent voltage to get a high current. Thats why a 12V car battery won't even shock you even though it can deliver a lot of amps.
Do you think, the video should be removed from RUclips? I'm not in favor of removing any video from RUclips. However, from the comments that I am reading this is not a good video because it can be extremely dangerous.
I especially like watching you run the big 1/0 cable and loop it through the transformer, even it up, and then cut two pieces off the wire instead of pulling it back through and giving you one long piece to reuse for something else later.
@@raymondtyler88 that one flew right over your head bud. He's complaining about the guy not feeding the cable through so he wouldn't waste it by cutting leftovers on both sides, but have one long piece instead. That cable isn't cheap.
Just a little tip, when you're drilling something on a lathe start the hole with a center drill, it doesn't matter if your tailstock is a little out of alignment, it will always drill a perfectly centered hole in your stock, then you follow up with the drill bit. Great project though, MOTs can do so many things it's incredible. There should have been a PSA about avoiding the microwave capacitor though, those can cause lethal shock even when the microwave is off and unplugged. I've never seen plastic body panel repair like this though, it's a great idea, the wire keeps the cracks held together, pretty nifty. Though to be honest I always cringe a little when I see a MOT secondary get chopped out, I'm a High Voltage hobbyist and I don't really do low voltage high current stuff lol. I just built a 1.7KJ capacitor bank with a MOT charge circuit, should be pretty fun😁.
You're a falling star, man... that's why we don't see as many as before when we look at the sky😃 I made one myself and it's working fine. But I didn't include that relay on my assembly. Could you send me the specs of that item, plase? Mostly appreciated. Regards.
You posted two great things my friend. Advice on the CAP is spot on and I forgot about center punching when end drilling myself and will be doing that later on! So thank you for posting. :)
The caps have a discharge resistor built in, so long as you aren't taking it apart right after it was plugged in it's not a worry. I suppose you'd have to be cautious if you're in the habit of testing electronics before scrapping them, personally I get mine straight from a junk heap so there's never residual charge to worry about.
With respect..I wish young kids could see and understand this project..it incorporates electrics, metalwork, spot welding process and recycling all in 14 minutes !!! Totally Handy we need people like you to train our youngsters..Top marks Great presentation....
@@georgestyer2153my point is that microwave transformers can be dangerous in unpredictable ways even when you're practicing good safety. I could enumerate the ways but let's just say it's not the number one killer of electronics hobbyists because they were being reckless. There's a lot of things that can go wrong that are impossible to go wrong in other still dangerous electronics projects. I get that this is high current and low voltage which is somewhat safer but high current comes at the risk of lines being unable to turn off. Insulation can melt and suddenly you're dealing with 120v. Breakers don't always trip when they're supposed to. There are projects that most people should not be doing in a garage because they have a normal garage and even good safety is not enough, you need impeccable obnoxious levels of safety. Could someone do this safely? absolutely. However I would never trust a kid or teen even under tight supervision with a microwave transformer. Even people with field experience who know how to work safely have gotten bit by this one because it is unintuitive all the ways that things can go wrong. If you don't have experience with high current / high voltage in a job setting I would pass on this one. Speaking from experience, I took down my videos on microwave transformers. I realized after that I was fine only due to an abundance of caution and even then you're leaning on the due diligence of the electricians who built your house and your own willingness to test everything. High current means that a breaker trip can be a house fire has already started. If you're in a shop with trained professionals maybe you'll be okay, but people try this in their garage and sometimes they're not.
In life we tend to think of genius as someone who is a scholar or mathematician. While that may be true, genius is also apparent in so many other aspects of life. This video to me is genius as I would have no idea as how to go about putting all the facets of the build into a working conclusion. Thanks for sharing, Amazing.
why wait to the second build i didn't see it but someone mentioned they put the cable through just a metal hole without a gromit and it had the potential to short out I did mention an earth ground wire on this one somewhere in the comments they mentioned the metal was sharp so this might be the only one built id do it to this one probably but I am kinda lazy, oh she'll be right mate 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤔🙄🤔🤔🤔🤣🤣🤣🙃🙃🙃
@@abcdefgh1279 strain relief wow I've never heard these terms used for electronics I like it, you can touch the mains but its a bit shocking I've managed to do it 3 times its a shocking experience but it let's you know your alive 🤯
I find it quite funny that this guy does have access to lots of really expensive devices, but apparently not to a simple heatgun for shrinking heat shrinks ...
Awesome! You should look into "air assist" kits made for CO2 laser engravers. They're self contained air pump systems designed to discharge a positive flow of pressurized air out though a small hose with a jet nozzle at the end. You could route the hose along the electrical leads and mount the nozzle inside the handle aimed out at the work, so anytime the power is on and you're branding into wood, the constant jetblast of air instantly extinguishes any open flames that flare up, plus it burns a much nicer, more defined line into the wood because the stream of air cools down the materials work surface, and prevents the red hot wire from "singeing" the wood around the area where you're actually burning the lines.
Perfect, when I build a workshop, buy about £10,000's worth of tools. Then I won't throw the microwave away to make something that you can buy for £100.
Pretty cool. But some explanations would be nice. Not everyone know what you’re doing. Also, a disclaimer and a brief mention of safety when those moments are important are needed. 👍
Yes. I appreciate that everyone does not speak english however I do find content with no voice over, or at least subtitles , very frustrating. In any case, thanks for the content
Honestly the amount of times I could have died cause I took apart microwaves when I was little and didn’t know you need to discharge the capacitor Honestly not just microwaves I did other dumb stuff as a kid like putting wires in the plug and thinking how funny it was that sparks flew all over the carpet and my bed then proceeding to do it 10 to 15 more times it’s a miracle nothing ever got burnt down it’s also a miracle I didn’t get electrocuted cause the wire had no casing
Has everyone in these comment section got thousands of pounds/dollars spare to buy all the tools you'd need to complete these projects? Nevermind almost committing suicide in the process. This should be banned.
I clicked on this video because I saw a discarded microwave on the curb earlier, but the farther the video went the more I was like, "Yeah... I don't have any of this stuff..."
Discharge the capacitor... if you value your life! Also it looks kinda fun to smash stuff up and while not overly dangerous it is a waste, and you may potentially damage the transformer in the process. Certainly the small printed circuit board with the mains filter on it can be re-used. There are also useful things like cooling fans, microswitches and other stuff in there. All that said, the video was very well done and I learned a lot. The spot welder looks great!
@@aceofspades856 In the time before now, the most effective way to do it, was using an incandescent bulb in a socket with the ends of the 2 wires stripped. If you do not have such a device, disconnect the device, let it sit for a while (Most serious devices have a high ohm resistor across these capacitors, they will not draw any significant current under normal use, but they will be able to discharge the capacitor in some minutes) After than, just take a piece of insulated wire with both ends stripped and short out the capacitor. Be aware that it might create a spark if the capacitor is still charged.
Cool project in the end, but you should have grounded the metal cover by connecting it to earth. In the event a wire comes loose in your setup, it could touch that casing and make it live. Always ground your enclosure by tying it to mains earth.
My personal favourite was no PPE whilst using the drill press (and probably everything else). Remember kids, when using powerful plant equipment to remove material, sharp pieces may fly off and pierce your eyeballs
exactly. also there is no grommet protecting the cable where it passes through the metal case so there is a good chance that the metal case will cut through the insulation making the whole case live.
@@snapperhead273 Just saw the no grommet part... This was enough to make me snap and downvote. 2 of 2 builds both with deadly faults lurking, both easily avoidable.
GR?EAT BUILDS!!!!!! I really like how you show how easy it can be to build these tools from scrap and other inexpensive items, without having thousands of dollars worth of other tools. The end result is a tool that would be worth several hundred dollars.
Well I might be wrong, but I think he simply removed the transfo to use it in low voltage-high current applications in order to generate and use the high heat it can produce ;)
And here’s why you should NEVER pull a microwave apart & mess with the capacitor or transfer. The electric current built up in then DOES NOT DISSIPATE! If you mishandling or accidentally touch the wires, the shock won’t merely knock you across the room. The charge built up inside can burst blood vessels & rupture the heart. It’s the equivalent of about 50 defibrillators cranked to the max & used on you all at once!
Actually most modern microwave capacitors have something called a _bleed resistor_ which will "_SLOWLY_" dissipate the *_CHARGE_* . They can sometimes fail and it is best practice to wear insulating gloves and some type of PPE when disassembling a microwave. However you can usually discharge the _cap_ with an insulated screwdriver or chicken stick. I first recommend LEARNING AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE BEFORE attempting this.
The current inside a microwave dissipates immediately when the microwave turns off. The charge inside its capacitors may not do so. Current and charge are not the same.
Trust me, there is a lot of dumb, really dangerous stuff going on in this video, avoid this "lifehacky" content if you want to make stuff Dangerous stuff here includes Not mentioning how much of a death trap microwave parts are Using a power tool on a piece of work spinning in a lathe Not using lathe, lathe drill correctly Throwing around microwave, one of the parts inside can break and release toxic dust if not handles carefully
Yes like the theory behind this useful gadgets,but on ebay you can buy them very cheap from china.you spent more in materials building something you can get for 40 to 100 bucks.Depending the gadget
@@pauleohl very true,, but I suspect that trying to build a capacitive discharge spot welder is beyond what most garage mechanics should be working on.
Very nice video. I had never considered cutting out the secondary and rewiring for super low voltage/high current. There are some other ways to re-imagine a working microwave if you're handy enough to build a waveguide. When you can fabricate for yourself both mechanically and electronically the world is yours.
There's one more: Mechanically, electronically and 'micro controller firmware - lly '. Of course there's nothing electronic about this project - just mechanical and basic electrical. (The relay is not electronic. Purely electro mechanical device.)
While this is safer than using the high voltage secondary, it's still a dangerous project that should only be attempted by people with ample electronics knowledge and safety. WATCH OUT FOR THE HIGH VOLTAGE CAPACITOR WHEN DISSASEMBLING ANY MICROWAVE!
@@CoolAsFreya If the microwave oven hasn't been powered for some time, like a few hours, there is a resistor across the capacitor to ensure it remains discharged when the magnetron is not running. Just to be extra safe in case it is holding some charge, it can easily be discharged by shorting a screwdriver between the two contact terminals on the cap.
Nice. For the spot welder there should be a grommet / gland / strain-relief for the mains entry cable 12:23 as the casing metal will cut into the cable. And the earthing connector isn't connected to the cabinet 12:47, the Earth ring is just floating inside the cabinet. It should be firmly affixed to the metal casing for when the hot wire cuts through... ;)
@@WmSrite-pi8ck jeez - you won't need the earth for function but for safety reasons. Like @Clark Mills said the mains could easily contact the housing because of no grommet or strain relief when the sheet metal cuts the insulation - then you're toast without the earth properly connected.
1:34 I'd want some sort of insulator between those two conductors. If those fittings rotate, for whatever reason, you will release the magic smoke and fire instantly and catastrophically.
First of all, the fittings touching doesn't bypass the switch. Second, it is just switched mains going into a transformer, no magic smoke is used. Third, shorting the thick connectors may actually reduce the device's ability to draw power across the transformer. Without the higher impedance load, the induced current dumps less power and thus requires less work from mains power.
I’m a retired structural design engineer and making flat patterns were a necessity to get accurate bends of any angle. It’s pretty hard to see how he did that without making one.
I was all like "I have a broken microwave! Let's see..." Then I saw I'd need significantly more tools and, more importantly, skill to do anything like this.
@@foobarbazbaa5598 its for branding. You know, shapes? Not just a curvy line. Also did you notice there was a second creation? Seems a lot more useful. But like adam said, these take skills. And should only be attempted by people with the knowledge to do so.
I see it as a demonstration of ingenuity and resourcefulness. They are really not making use of specialized or unusual tools, apart from their brains. Try something out like this, and you will probably learn a lot.
*Me as I started watching:* "Oh good, I have a broken microwave I've been wanting to do something with" *Me after watching:* "Do you want another one for one of your videos?"
The most amazing parts of the video are when he remembered to put the heat shrink tubing over the cables before attaching the connectors and/or soldering. I can't even count how many times...
@@udance4ever You have to remove/de-solder the connections. It's an annoying inconvenience that happens all the time. It's a long running joke for anyone that's ever done it (pretty much everyone).
The "Broken Microwave" parts are only 5% of this build. Be nice to have a tool & die shop fall on me too! Another great video with a title that just may be stretched beyond reality. How about "Microwave Spot Welder for under $200 (pluss a Tool & Die Shop) ? ? ?
Never saw that repair method for plastics before... I'm guessing that you could use it for more than just car bumpers. The spot welder seems to work well!
This is an extremely heavy duty version of a plastic repair tool you can get off the shelf, there's different shapes of metal inserts you can use for different angles of plastic. Extremely useful tool for people that like fixing stuff
Nice. What a great recycling for an otherwise perfect transformer. I love the spot welder construction. Pure genius! Assuming the primary has 250 turns on it, the secondary is about 3 volts at most. This is a voltage step down and a current step up. Even though it has likely 100-amp capacity 3 volts won't even be felt on the output - unless you have the same conductivity as metal - so robots stay clear.
@@FullThrottleRacing535 I live in the states my guy, no such thing as a cheap welder. My point still stands, the moment heavy machinery was brought in most people became excluded from being able to do this. I thought this would be a video that showed me something cool I could do with a microwave that would extend the usefulness I got out of it.
Fascinating. Love the recycling bit. Some good suggestions for the build, but this guy is a great engineer, fabricator, artist, and recycler. That is a unique skillset.
@@rakieletters No danger huh? For example, exposed high voltage screws are no danger? Or no ground connected to the metal externals? I am an electrician, please educate me in my field of expertise.
Nice construction jobs man . I thought it was about the dangerous charges in the Caps like in old TV sets and microwaves . You could construct your own wave guide tubes and leave the microwave circuitry as is and make a friggin microwave ray gun . WHOA ! :O)
Yes, let me break out my "rudimentary lathe" and make some custom copper electrodes... LOL The case for the transformer alone was worth the watch on this one... Couldn't stop laughing though when I saw what the end product was... Who needs cold bailing wire to fix our cars now? We just use high-temp bailing wire.
While it all looks really cool, reusing parts like this is only for those who already have a lot of other stuff as well (which cost money!). This video shows some parts of a microwave, and also shows a lot of other parts not from a microwave + tools! It really is for the handy toolman :)
I have really limited electronics experience but even I know those transformers will fkn fry you if you're not careful. You can't just slap a bit of lo fi hip hop on and go ripping one of those out of a microwave without explaining the inherent dangers. Sick projects tho, just hope no clueless people try it without reading the description lol.
🚴🚴🚴 Check out our other video HERE: ruclips.net/video/GQ0lIjsZ_38/видео.html
Extremely talented, this is not your typical project. Very cool btw. As soon as I saw the gauge of wire I knew it was going to be good. 😍👍🙌
Showing instructions on this without going over safety precautions is extremely irresponsible.
You can d!e from misusing a microwave in dozens of ways, some not even including the transformer
mine steea11 wörqx -:-
alldi€ ^ ^
öh decäydce
´think ^ ^ is gr8 but hm star wär€$ ?
😊@@dinkvjr
You need to verbally explain why and show how to manually discharge the microwave capacitor prior to removing the transformer. There is enough stored power to electrocute someone whether it is plugged in or not.
yeah, pretty irresponsible here, if there was ever a need for a disclaimer, this would be it
@@namaan123 Not his responsibility. Anyone that does not understand how electricity works should not mess with this anyway. Plain and simple. I knew someone trying to make a wood burner from a old microwave and it killed him. Luckily I thought he was a idiot before and he only improved the gene pool as far as U am concerned. I think it is a sue happy world and it is freaking common since try at your own risk. Would you watch a youtube video showing openheart surgery and try to save a buck on your wife if she needed it? You people drive me nuts.
A little heads up on the dangers of disturbing the insulators in the magnetron wouldn’t go amiss either.....
In his defense nowhere in his title does it state that this is instructional video or a how to. In which case anybody that doesn't have a basic understanding of current, voltage, capacitors, transformers, inductors etc shouldn't be trying to replicate this process in the first place.
Here is your disclaimer:
BEWARE - GOING OUTSIDE, STAYING INSIDE OR DOING ANYTHING AT ALL MAY RESULT IS PERSONAL INJURY.
25 year electrician here; Although impressed with the OP's ingenuity and craftsmanship, I sincerely wish there were a stern warning on how extremely dangerous playing around with transformers, capacitors, and a few other components found in appliances/machines are and how they are absolutely lethal if you do not KNOW precisely what you are doing. Please be careful out there folks. Electricity is brutally unforgiving to ignorance & complacency.
DANGER WILL ROBINSON!!!😮☠️☠️☠️
Yeah, the warning is on the sticker
What you just said is articulate, it is intelligent, and it is logical!!
I once wired a 10 step transformer backwards.
The magic smoke leaked out, everything pretty much liquefied, then left smoldering residue.
Lesson learned, USE LOW VOLTAGE WHEN TESTING.
I got zapped a few years ago from a capacitor in an old ceiling fan I had removed for my dad. We were replacing it with a new fan
Step 1: Get old microwave. | Step 2: Purchase welder. | Step 3: Acquire full line of machine tools. | Step 4: turn old microwave into a wood burner or welder.
I don't think these are meant to be DIY for the masses, but just an engineer providing entertainment of what they can do with their expertise dealing with recycled electrical components. You'll probably wanna get an electrical engineering degree or some type of certification in dealing with electric components before embarking on such an enterprise. I love these types of videos and I wish I had such skills!
Remember, if you've got lathes and welders and assorted tools and materials, don't throw out an old microwave because you can use part of it to make a wire hot.
LOL. Like that comment. But....amazing what people do, if they have the right tools
😁🤣
Imagine how fast that could re-heat a cold mug of coffee... ☕ ⚡
@@Shockmeslow Can't buy the satisfaction of creating one though. And for sure your Harbour Freight tool won't look anywhere as neat or cool as this one 😝
@@Shockmeslow How's that saying go about teaching a man how to fish? Ahhh, nevermind.
As a electrician I would’ve never advised anyone to do this in their hobby:-) high voltage components are to be respected.
🐈
id imagine you arnt much fun at parties🥳
Yeeeee doggy sumna beech I blurb en ko evrythang
But there is a sticker, so it is safe.
But learning and understanding such things develops respect and knowledge, ignorance on the other hand creates danger and higher risk. I understand what you mean though. There should be a lot of attention to the risks and dangers in these sort of videos.
Goes without saying that it is extremely dangerous to handle a high voltage source like this. These guys know what they are doing, but they haven't explained any of the safety measures they put in place. Working with microwave oven electronics is no joke and should be taken very seriously.
I guess in this case it goes vice versa, meaning they use the transformer to produce high current with a normal voltage level. So it is pretty safe unless you touch those electrodes.
As shown this is equivalent to an arc welder that is being intentionally shorted out. You could get burnt by the thin copper wire fairly easily, but there's essentially no risk of electrocution if it's constructed as shown (with a grounded cage around the transformer. The highest voltage is whatever is coming out of the plug, so it's no more dangerous than a toaster.
If the transformer isn't modified, however, (when he cuts the thin wires off and replaces them with a few loops of very thick wire) then the thing is an electrocution waiting to happen - high voltage, no way for grounding the high voltage side to trip a breaker, exposed conductors = bad, bad news.
@@ButterfatFarms it almost went without saying but then he said and at that point it had come and gone with saying
I don't think these guys are aware that the magnetron contains a fair amount of beryllium oxide, which is brittle and toxic to breathe. They're not handling these microwaves safely.
Oh, Ok ! With that advice I'll give it a Go !
Another good tip, salvage the magnets from the magnetron tube. They're thin, but strong donut shaped magnets that fit perfectly inside the bottom on an oil pan and will collect and hold any metal fragments from being recirculated back through the engine.
This probably the most valuable information out of this whole video.
Salvaged transformer can be valuable. I kept a magnet from a klystron tube, that sucker will rip a tool out of your hands
@@marcopolo9446 only do it if u know what u are doing. Or it may endup badly
Oil filter has entered the chat...
Put the magnets on the outside of the pan. I doubt if stuck to tge inside bottom theyd come loose but not worth the risk
If anyone tried this and is not experienced with electrical equipment, please be careful, microwaves have large capacitors that can discharge if handled improperly and injure or cause death.
You mean you're not supposed to open it with a sledgehammer?
@@evanflagg8386 I think a ax would be safer.🪓
It's a small mf value, but hi voltage.
@@vortexan9804 hi in current.
I never had a problem.
I taken many apart.
Great job except, running a power cord through a hole in a bare metal sheet is a no-no!
Over time it will chafe through to the conductors and shorting mains power.
Buy yourself a cheap gromet or a flexible sleeve and a "P" clip to secure the cord on the inside of the enclosure for strain relief!
Henry, you do have a point there👍
@@repentandbelieveinJesusChrist3 There's a time and a place. Wrong video.
@@Michael-Archonaeus AMEN
@@Michael-Archonaeus In his defense, one might go meet meet the maker rather more quickly if one followed the examples of mains power routing in this video.
@@abrahamevangelista4215 You're right LOL
Finally a video for those of us who have been stockpiling copper billet. Thanks Grandpa for the advice you gave me as a young lad!!! Now all I need is a machining lathe and a broken microwave.
😆🤣😂
You can do all the machining shown in the video with hand drill and a grinder. Use your brain Waldo .
You can easily get what you need. Just go to any college apartment block at the end of the year. They leave their old machine lathes in the parking lot when they move out.
. . . and a death wish. Good luck mate.
I liked how he used the drill press to make the tips for the spot weldr.
Now I just need a drill press and somewhere to keep and use it!
This video is exactly why I throw out broken microwaves.
Why is it ppl get tatooz?
People have died doing this!
I made it to 1:05 before I checked out and gave this stinker a thumbs down like the other 43 thousand people and counting who feel the same way. Nope.
@@mikemiller659???
I threw out a perfectly good microwave after watching this video. I don't know why.
Update from heaven… this killed me
This is dumb
There are 8 million viewer no one will ever try to do this
It's hard and useless and a waste of many
These projects are for YT videos only and not worthy in real life so stop talking about safety
I was going to say it looked like a Doctor Kevorkian special.
Death by boredom
There’s no way you can die from 3 V unless you just burned through your body for some reason. You can stick your tongue to the electrodes and it won’t do anything but when you put some kind of metal to it that heats up.
lol
As a comment said, its enough stored electricity in the microwave to make anyone trying to remove it without guidance a deadly shock. Cool project, but it would be more useful as a point welder. For an experienced person this would be pretty safe, but as an tutorial for newbies its a death sentence
blah blah blah
I think point welder is too difficult...a relay might be to slow...and power mosfets are tricky!
@@frostyjim2633 Yeah, what's the worst that could happen? I die, well that wasn't that bad of a result
@@na9565 lol, that depends on your Life A/ D
Correct. The capacitor can hold 3-5000 volts causing instant death.
This single video contained more work than I have done in my entire life. I need a nap after watching.
😂😂
LOL 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
😂😂😂 I agree
Wow, I am blown away didn’t know you could use the transformers inside of microwaves for things, but never what you used for a spot welder and a brander that was awesome to watch. Thank you for the video. Can’t wait to see new videos. It just popped up on my RUclips page so I clicked on it John .
My step son is dead because of this, don't do this
I tried this… in 2049. I don’t know how to get back!
Blahaha😂
Try it again, maybe you'll go back in time another 50 years.😮
@@lilysnana😂😂😂😂
Just reverse the process.. duh..
You gotta wait for a supernova and then put foil in a microwave at the same time
This is why we DO throw out old microwaves.
😁
It's such a humbling feeling to watch someone work and not have the slightest idea on what they're doing. There's so much to learn still
I prefer to use the word terrifying, especially when dealing with high voltage microwave transformers and capacitors but okay.
@@3nigma.3nc recognizing danger still requires recognition. Although reading everyone's comments about stored charges in the capacitor I am curious how this dude didn't die
So, old micro parts, 6000 dollars worth of tools, 70 hours labor...and you can have a neat little...welding machine?
Yeah pretty much....
@mysilentnoise4510 thank you for answering my ???
PLASTIC welding machine
Add 3 years at polytech and you are in the ballpark.
Don’t forget the RUclips views
This is so dangerous a friend of mine died using one microwave transformer tying to do experiments like frying food with electricity or those "wood patterns" people makes. He must have been experimenting with crouching on the floor, got electrocuted, and fell on the thing he was doing. The family says when they found his body, he was irecogniscible and the thing almost causes a fire.
I didn't know him well but he always was nice to me, he was an electrician so he always had components and tools lying around. I would have never expected him to go down that way.
We are only Human, one mistake it's all it takes and we are gone.
Not a great attudide to have , this is very dangerous
@@homienat3374 : Still it was a mistake from his friend and I have seen it countless times. it will continue to happen.
Just shocking.
Good on you knowing how to complete the project just think about the idiots out there that think they are qualified to do this , ie 12 year old teenagers???
My dad was always keeping the parts and pieces of whatever. Organized, too. I love this stuff!
Bless him ‼ at least there a few of us,, reasonably intelligent humans, , , with the requisite, mechanical proclivity, talent/creativity, , environmental respect/ecomical frugality , , , of salvaging&recycling/repurposing fully functional components of nonfunctional, apparatus , , , given the economy of ready accessable protected storage facility, , , but to posess the requisite self control to realize the necessity, ,of
considering cost of. storage vs. the cost of purchasing new, similar components, whenever needed ,, ,,, nonmanditory, , accumulation/collections can become extremely/prohibitively , expensive to store, ,after a time ,, , ,, , &relocating such accumulations/ collections can be financially& physically demanding!!! AND, , such accumulating collecting Can readily become addicting!!! one MUST confront the, , fact that collection is rarely cost-effective. I'm speaking from personal experience !!!
I feel like the amount of time it takes to make this machine, and the danger it puts people in during the construction, makes it more reasonable to go out and buy one brand new. Not to mention I have no clue what he did in the video because there was no narration or explanations to anything he did. But that is impressive that he can build that stuff and I would want him with me during a zombie apocalypse!
Either that, or far, far away during a zombie apocalypse...
@@theredscourge yeah this guy would be one of the rare people to die from a self inflicted accident during a zombie apocalypse
Yeah him and his shop full of tools. Can you carry all that in a bugout bag. No.
The video illustrates the construction techniques in an amazingly precise and efficient way. I'm truly impressed. But then I know how to use tools to make and repair things. This is probably baffling for a novice, but these are a long way from novice projects.
Relatively few viewers will know what the few smaller parts are and the specs they must meet. Even fewer will watch this and be able to visualize the wiring diagram that is not provided. The only people who are likely to take this project all the way to the point of powering thing up are the ones who understand how it works and know what all the parts are. Omitting details was probably intentional.
that was a really cool video , I love that he's so meticulous about his project ! and yes like alot of people saying down in the comments , you can buy a wire thingy or whatever for less than a 100$ but how cool is it to make something so nice and well made by hand as efficient as that tool and also from an old microwave mainly !!! he has tools and showing people at least how to be creative so show some respect people !
..it didn't really explain anything, and is overly complex for what it is. The video is designed to to be needlessly long and sensational to maximize revenue..it's almost as bad as 'ancient aliens'.
That's some serious dedication to video editing. 3 camera angles for the glue.👏👏👏
It's sad how many people watch this and don't realize the improper and oftentimes unsafe use of shop equipment. Not to mention that you can purchase a better spot welder for what this build would cost.
Along the amount of time it took to build it!
This video is obviously stylized and not really an instructional. I hope everyone gets that
Not to mention the 2.5k benchtop lathe.
These videos should be banned, censored, and taken down. Throw them in the bin with firearms video
@@LadySalemRaven So Dave, you don't know one end of a screwdriver from the other, do ya? Any DIY person finds these vids to be instructive and entertaining. Naysayers are usually people without these specific talents.
Videos like this are exactly why we need like:dislike ratios! I have the extension installed to see them. I do not normally look at the comments and I thought this project looked interesting (I am no electrician and do not have a mechanical mind), but I saw the ratio was a bit low and checked the comments. It turned me off from even attempting something like this. Cool project, appreciate the video, but I am glad I saw the ratio.
@@kuturak I agree. I skipped through the video, it took me less than 2 minutes it was a waste of my time. But hey, it has over 9 mil. views. It looked interesting so it hooked me into clicking it.
But how else will they hide public opinion on the interweb to the machiavelian things going? Who cares if the general public gets electrocuted lol
I look at it like watching Jimi Hendrix playing. I can enjoy it while knowing I can't do it. This guy obviously has massive experience.
@@DIGIPIX55 He doesn't... He'd know not to heat heatshrink with a flame like he did near a component like a relay, and also use earthing in metal cases, use grommets for live wires entering a piece of sheet metal, and use the proper tools for crimping on the termination lug points for heavy duty cabling...
It has 2:1 like to dislike ratio
25year M.Electrician,
Physics Hobbyist and genuinely nuts.
I must compliment the fantastically Clean Work, nicely shot/edited and look forward to more projects to share.
06:10 you could have avoided: it is very bad for young people. Also there is no warning about the danger of the charged HV capacitor
PS : Furthermore, if the magnetron is broken, beryllium is released which is very dangerous for the lungs

I see Dead ignorant people 😒
Who the hell cares. Simple. If you do not know what you are doingleave it alone. Tired of youtube police in comments.
what is the best way to discharge the HV capacitor safely, in your own words?
@@theRhinsRanger The capacitor in microwave ovens is shorted by a 10-MOhm resistor, so it should discharge itself within a minute of turning the power off. However, you don't want to bet your life on that, do you? High-voltage resistors can fail. So you need to actively discharge the capacitor to be safe. Rules number one and two in working with high voltage: keep one hand in your pocket (to make sure you don't touch HV with one hand and ground with the other), and wear insulated shoes (so your feet don't complete the circuit either). So put on a pair of insulated shoes and ONE dry rubber glove (the heavy kind, not a surgical glove), grab a pair of needle-nose pliers with insulated handles, put your un-gloved hand in your pocket, and hold the two points of the pliers against the two terminals of the capacitor to connect them. Do it again. If you have a voltmeter, it wouldn't hurt to use the probes to measure the DC voltage on the capacitor, as long as you hold both probes with one hand. Warning: some high-voltage capacitors can actually charge back up to dangerous voltages by themselves, so it's wise to (a) discharge and measure a second time after a minute or two and (b) short the two terminals together with a wire after discharging to make sure it stays safe.
@@paulkolodner2445 I've literally disassembled dozens of microwaves (something like 40) for a project, never had a single one store residual charge by the time I was finished disassembling it. Aside from the built in discharge resistor caps always have some internal leakage, they will self discharge with time. Besides that I've never heard of hv caps 'self charging' in what situation did you have this occur?
Nailed it!
*house up in flames in the background*
So we took an old magnetron, and with thousands of dollars of tools, made it, a tool. Nice work.
No magnetron was harmed in the making of this video.
Transformer
This is great.. And sure.. One wouldn't want to stumble along with this.. And truthfully.. I think any younger kid/adult that tried this.. Would never make it to the end out of being forever impatient. And say ol boy does already have a spot welder.. But is tired of "friends" asking him to barrow it.. Now he has a loaner tool to hopefully pacify said friend... And look at the bright side.. If the machine did fail.. He doesn't have to worry about said friend asking to barrow anymore tools. Good build.. My favorite is how smooth and efficient you pull it off. People just don't understand the satisfaction from using a tool that you built yourself.. And be able to complete a job or some work using that tool with zero hangup...nothing is better as far as tools go..
You need a cable grommet (or similar plastic retention) for the mains cable entry to protect it from being cut through by the sharp metal case hole and potentially making the entire metal case live at 110/220v if the house earth is bad.
More than just the grommet. I would have applied some fiberglass tape to each of the inside edges of the transformer core window so they couldn't bite into the secondary winding's insulation.
The first one is even worse... you hold on a plastic, that is melting @5:51 and right below that there are metal parts that have like 10 000v? because the wires go trough the transformer... and because the wires go trough the transformer, if you get shocked the house ground/fuse won't know a thing... to it everything seems ok
edit:
It wouldn't have 10kv because the upper winding was removed and replaced with heavy wire, but still.. this is in no way safe
For UL approval, you need a proper clamping strain relief.
Cable Gland, to be precise ....
it's a good thing you showed up
For some reason I like that enclosure made for that transformer on the first one, is pretty nice and simple yet robust enough and looks good. I like how you held the mesh on.
Just ignore the two exposed bolts on the bottom of the ‘wand’ section.
This video is exactly the reason why I toss out broken microwaves
With the prices these days, I would rip out the copper and sell that.
🤣🤣🤣
I couldn't and wouldn't build such a device, that being said it was an entertaining watch and your craftmanship is top notch. thank you for posting.
So I built the first one and the fire brigade wants to know what started the fire so I gave the chief inspector a link to your video. My mum isn't happy but our insurance will buy us a new house that's brand new so it all works out in the end! I know she didn't like our old loo anyways. Great video!
😂👌
Title: This is why we don't toss out broken microwaves
Guy: Immediately tosses out almost entire microwave
the only valuable part of the microwave is the magnetron. That is the part he removed. Once it is removed, the rest is no longer a microwave.
@@marks6663 actually he's only using the transformer, , not the magnetron
@@marks6663 tsk tsk tsk....
Many are stating the various hazards with making this sort of video, all the things that should have been included, etc. I agree with all of them. But if we look at this as an idea video for someone who is electrically qualified (there are millions of us out there) then it is the perfect level of detail, plus it remains entertaining for viewers who will never try this but still find it interesting.
Practical repurposing of everyday items into much more expensive tools is a very valuable bit of knowledge for folks that pursue various home engineering projects. People saying this should be banned should be banned themselves.
Unfortunately you have to account for everyone nowadays. I’m still confused on why gas cans say “FLAMMABLE”. If you don’t already know that I doubt you know how to read.
@@jamin8901 Nah, just disclaimers and we're all good. Otherwise the competent couldn't come anywhere near YT.
Needs a gigantic disclaimer at the start of the video at the very least, there is only a "do not try this at home" at the bottom of the description. This is dangerously negligent and videos like this have got people killed before and will in future.
Fun to do. Quite a lot of work to rescue just the transformer. Although if you build something yourself you can also repair it, which is worth a lot. Wicked skills man, keep it up.
There really should be safety warnings in this video. Taking apart a microwave can be very dangerous especially if you aren't aware of the hazards such as the capacitor and the magnetron. Safety in hobbies should not be dismissed.
Yeah. I was a total idiot and never knew what those safety Allen keys screws were for. I wish they said on the key you buy at the store if you use this to take apart electrical devices chances are they used those screws to keep people out! I was an idiot and just opened up a microwave and proceeded to take it apart and throw away all the inside components. Later I read about the cancer dust and was like well I don't think it was close to my face at any point....not that close anyways. But I had a legit nervous brakedown for like 6 months paranoid I was going to get skin burns or skin cancer etc because my dumba$$ didn't read any of the warning labels. At least I didn't cut anything apart like this guy.
Discharging the capacitors is number one safety mask is another precaution needs to be taken seriously. I think I would just make a low voltage high current transformer you can make a fast charge battery charger.if you use the transformer as it is you could power a Tesla coil but you better know what you are doing. My friend made one with a neon transformer but the glass capacitor broke he made the plates too large and the cap arced around the other side and cracked the glass. Making larger insulator's is not going to affect the capacity but is much safer. Well lesson learned and I have no clue if he ever fixed the project. High voltage is nothing to play with. 73
@@netmaster88 hell ya...
Yea, there is "Don't try this at home!", but that really doesn't convey the risk of something like like fucking with a microwave power supply if you don't already know exactly what you are doing.
yeah, some of this stuff is beyond dumb, the plastic welder?
what? just fucking what?
boxes it all in and then leaves towo huge copper contacts sticnking out the front?
the guy isnt well.
This is an incredibly dangerous build. Safety is taking a back seat to aesthetics here and should NOT be copied.
It's "slightly dangerous". But it's high current, not high voltage. So not the "incredibly dangerous" that's the usual level of the microwave rebuild projects and The Craft Project That Shall Not Be Named.
@@andydingley3746 It's not the voltage that kills, it's the current. 20-25mA AC is considered dangerous, 40mA already harm the heart. 130 mA DC is considered deadly.
@@andydingley3746 Current kills, not voltage
@@Ssshrugs Yes but if the voltage is too low, it will not induce a large current in your body.
V/R=I
Since your skin has a high resistance you need a decent voltage to get a high current.
Thats why a 12V car battery won't even shock you even though it can deliver a lot of amps.
Do you think, the video should be removed from RUclips? I'm not in favor of removing any video from RUclips. However, from the comments that I am reading this is not a good video because it can be extremely dangerous.
I especially like watching you run the big 1/0 cable and loop it through the transformer, even it up, and then cut two pieces off the wire instead of pulling it back through and giving you one long piece to reuse for something else later.
I was bothered by the same thing.
Coiled wires build current
@@raymondtyler88 that one flew right over your head bud. He's complaining about the guy not feeding the cable through so he wouldn't waste it by cutting leftovers on both sides, but have one long piece instead. That cable isn't cheap.
Best microwave transformer video I have watched yet! Keep it up.
Just a little tip, when you're drilling something on a lathe start the hole with a center drill, it doesn't matter if your tailstock is a little out of alignment, it will always drill a perfectly centered hole in your stock, then you follow up with the drill bit.
Great project though, MOTs can do so many things it's incredible. There should have been a PSA about avoiding the microwave capacitor though, those can cause lethal shock even when the microwave is off and unplugged. I've never seen plastic body panel repair like this though, it's a great idea, the wire keeps the cracks held together, pretty nifty.
Though to be honest I always cringe a little when I see a MOT secondary get chopped out, I'm a High Voltage hobbyist and I don't really do low voltage high current stuff lol. I just built a 1.7KJ capacitor bank with a MOT charge circuit, should be pretty fun😁.
You're a falling star, man... that's why we don't see as many as before when we look at the sky😃
I made one myself and it's working fine.
But I didn't include that relay on my assembly. Could you send me the specs of that item, plase? Mostly appreciated. Regards.
You posted two great things my friend. Advice on the CAP is spot on and I forgot about center punching when end drilling myself and will be doing that later on! So thank you for posting. :)
i nodded off...
@@amiga2025 you must've been watching from a NASA employee break room, ehh? You're a funny person 😂
The caps have a discharge resistor built in, so long as you aren't taking it apart right after it was plugged in it's not a worry. I suppose you'd have to be cautious if you're in the habit of testing electronics before scrapping them, personally I get mine straight from a junk heap so there's never residual charge to worry about.
With respect..I wish young kids could see and understand this project..it incorporates electrics, metalwork, spot welding process and recycling all in 14 minutes !!! Totally Handy we need people like you to train our youngsters..Top marks Great presentation....
Until some kid ends up dying because he compeletely ignores all normal reasoning and thinks hes untouchable.
Microwaves are the number one killer of electronics hobbyists so maybe not "this" project.
@@ARVash Its all down to training not only in skills but safety
Neat woodwork too.
@@georgestyer2153my point is that microwave transformers can be dangerous in unpredictable ways even when you're practicing good safety. I could enumerate the ways but let's just say it's not the number one killer of electronics hobbyists because they were being reckless. There's a lot of things that can go wrong that are impossible to go wrong in other still dangerous electronics projects. I get that this is high current and low voltage which is somewhat safer but high current comes at the risk of lines being unable to turn off. Insulation can melt and suddenly you're dealing with 120v. Breakers don't always trip when they're supposed to. There are projects that most people should not be doing in a garage because they have a normal garage and even good safety is not enough, you need impeccable obnoxious levels of safety. Could someone do this safely? absolutely. However I would never trust a kid or teen even under tight supervision with a microwave transformer. Even people with field experience who know how to work safely have gotten bit by this one because it is unintuitive all the ways that things can go wrong. If you don't have experience with high current / high voltage in a job setting I would pass on this one. Speaking from experience, I took down my videos on microwave transformers. I realized after that I was fine only due to an abundance of caution and even then you're leaning on the due diligence of the electricians who built your house and your own willingness to test everything. High current means that a breaker trip can be a house fire has already started. If you're in a shop with trained professionals maybe you'll be okay, but people try this in their garage and sometimes they're not.
I kept my old microwave but threw out my Milling machine dammit
funny!
In life we tend to think of genius as someone who is a scholar or mathematician. While that may be true, genius is also apparent in so many other aspects of life. This video to me is genius as I would have no idea as how to go about putting all the facets of the build into a working conclusion. Thanks for sharing, Amazing.
With enough microwaves, I believe this guy could take us back to the future!
Funny man :-)
Great Scott! 1.21 Gigawatts!
We did it bro but only for a microsecond
But you still need a flux capacitor, and they're hard to find.
Very nice. Just one advise. On the second build it's very important to connect the mains ground wire (yellow/green) to the metal case.
It is also very dangerous not to use any strain relief for the mains cord touching the metal case!
why wait to the second build i didn't see it but someone mentioned they put the cable through just a metal hole without a gromit and it had the potential to short out I did mention an earth ground wire on this one somewhere in the comments they mentioned the metal was sharp so this might be the only one built id do it to this one probably but I am kinda lazy, oh she'll be right mate 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤔🙄🤔🤔🤔🤣🤣🤣🙃🙃🙃
@@abcdefgh1279 strain relief wow I've never heard these terms used for electronics I like it, you can touch the mains but its a bit shocking I've managed to do it 3 times its a shocking experience but it let's you know your alive 🤯
@@lawfullysuspicious1225 the ole 60 hz shuffle is a unique dance because its the only dance that has cuss words in it.
And all the nerds go wild!
I find it quite funny that this guy does have access to lots of really expensive devices, but apparently not to a simple heatgun for shrinking heat shrinks ...
He used one at 12:33
I thought the same thing In the first part of the video.
Free Energy , Rodney, FREE.
Imagine how much you could sell that for ?😉
Awesome! You should look into "air assist" kits made for CO2 laser engravers. They're self contained air pump systems designed to discharge a positive flow of pressurized air out though a small hose with a jet nozzle at the end. You could route the hose along the electrical leads and mount the nozzle inside the handle aimed out at the work, so anytime the power is on and you're branding into wood, the constant jetblast of air instantly extinguishes any open flames that flare up, plus it burns a much nicer, more defined line into the wood because the stream of air cools down the materials work surface, and prevents the red hot wire from "singeing" the wood around the area where you're actually burning the lines.
Perfect, when I build a workshop, buy about £10,000's worth of tools. Then I won't throw the microwave away to make something that you can buy for £100.
Pretty cool. But some explanations would be nice. Not everyone know what you’re doing. Also, a disclaimer and a brief mention of safety when those moments are important are needed. 👍
Yes. I appreciate that everyone does not speak english however I do find content with no voice over, or at least subtitles , very frustrating. In any case, thanks for the content
Yes, it's just showing off, basically.
Cool! I'm going to try this with an old microwave in my parents basement tomorrow!
Ahh! Remember that the capacitor in the microwave can KILL you if there’s still some charge left in it! Please watch a safety video on microwaves man
So was it fun and entertaining???
@@YoushouldloveyourselfNOW1738 not really. I actually ended up splitting an atom and I don't see what all the fuss is about. 2/5
Neat build. I'd recommend that you ground the metal enclosure around the transformer though.
I know the capacitor should have a bleed resistor on it, but I always short it out just in case.
Why is this the only comment I've found about this?
@@joshauatolly4065 Because everyone who didn't think of it themselves got electrocuted
Very often that bleed resistor is open circuit so to discharge the capacitor is absolutely vital.
Honestly the amount of times I could have died cause I took apart microwaves when I was little and didn’t know you need to discharge the capacitor
Honestly not just microwaves I did other dumb stuff as a kid like putting wires in the plug and thinking how funny it was that sparks flew all over the carpet and my bed then proceeding to do it 10 to 15 more times it’s a miracle nothing ever got burnt down it’s also a miracle I didn’t get electrocuted cause the wire had no casing
Has everyone in these comment section got thousands of pounds/dollars spare to buy all the tools you'd need to complete these projects?
Nevermind almost committing suicide in the process. This should be banned.
I clicked on this video because I saw a discarded microwave on the curb earlier, but the farther the video went the more I was like, "Yeah... I don't have any of this stuff..."
Discharge the capacitor... if you value your life! Also it looks kinda fun to smash stuff up and while not overly dangerous it is a waste, and you may potentially damage the transformer in the process. Certainly the small printed circuit board with the mains filter on it can be re-used. There are also useful things like cooling fans, microswitches and other stuff in there. All that said, the video was very well done and I learned a lot. The spot welder looks great!
How do you safely discharge the capacitor?
@@aceofspades856 In the time before now, the most effective way to do it, was using an incandescent bulb in a socket with the ends of the 2 wires stripped.
If you do not have such a device, disconnect the device, let it sit for a while (Most serious devices have a high ohm resistor across these capacitors, they will not draw any significant current under normal use, but they will be able to discharge the capacitor in some minutes)
After than, just take a piece of insulated wire with both ends stripped and short out the capacitor. Be aware that it might create a spark if the capacitor is still charged.
@@JohnDoe-bd5sz Thanks for your help. :)
Dude that dropped microwave slo-mo opening was a real surprise. Absolutely brilliant and boy did it get my attention!
Oh that looks safe. Let’s get the kids signed up for crafts class.
Cool project in the end, but you should have grounded the metal cover by connecting it to earth. In the event a wire comes loose in your setup, it could touch that casing and make it live. Always ground your enclosure by tying it to mains earth.
Exactly what I came down here to say - that monstrosity is terrifying without an earth connection.
My personal favourite was no PPE whilst using the drill press (and probably everything else). Remember kids, when using powerful plant equipment to remove material, sharp pieces may fly off and pierce your eyeballs
exactly. also there is no grommet protecting the cable where it passes through the metal case so there is a good chance that the metal case will cut through the insulation making the whole case live.
This is the reply i was looking for... He was so close to doing it safely.
I can overlook a fuse being missing, but no earth is unforgivable.
@@snapperhead273 Just saw the no grommet part... This was enough to make me snap and downvote.
2 of 2 builds both with deadly faults lurking, both easily avoidable.
Let's hope no one accidentally remove themselves from this realm with this project
Out of the 15 million viewers, it is statistically almost a certainty that at least someone got killed by trying to replicate the video.
GR?EAT BUILDS!!!!!! I really like how you show how easy it can be to build these tools from scrap and other inexpensive items, without having thousands of dollars worth of other tools. The end result is a tool that would be worth several hundred dollars.
I would have liked a little narrative to go with this video. Very good skills. I like how clean and neat you keep your shop.
Well I might be wrong, but I think he simply removed the transfo to use it in low voltage-high current applications in order to generate and use the high heat it can produce ;)
I can draw you a simple wiring diagram if you want to make it yourself.
And here’s why you should NEVER pull a microwave apart & mess with the capacitor or transfer. The electric current built up in then DOES NOT DISSIPATE! If you mishandling or accidentally touch the wires, the shock won’t merely knock you across the room. The charge built up inside can burst blood vessels & rupture the heart. It’s the equivalent of about 50 defibrillators cranked to the max & used on you all at once!
Just hose down the innards with salt water right after pulling the cover.
Actually most modern microwave capacitors have something called a _bleed resistor_ which will "_SLOWLY_" dissipate the *_CHARGE_* . They can sometimes fail and it is best practice to wear insulating gloves and some type of PPE when disassembling a microwave. However you can usually discharge the _cap_ with an insulated screwdriver or chicken stick.
I first recommend LEARNING AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE BEFORE attempting this.
The current inside a microwave dissipates immediately when the microwave turns off. The charge inside its capacitors may not do so. Current and charge are not the same.
Should explain more you could get someone hurt or killed
Had a coworker die in the kitchen from doing just that. Customer walked in to a dead appliance repair man.
I've never had someone so artfully make me feel so stupendously dumb.
The level of skill, artistry, vibe, creativity... all of it.
Nicely done.
Trust me, there is a lot of dumb, really dangerous stuff going on in this video, avoid this "lifehacky" content if you want to make stuff
Dangerous stuff here includes
Not mentioning how much of a death trap microwave parts are
Using a power tool on a piece of work spinning in a lathe
Not using lathe, lathe drill correctly
Throwing around microwave, one of the parts inside can break and release toxic dust if not handles carefully
Super Smart, Not many people have your skills! Plastic repair is great for obsolete parts! That is a great little spot welder!! Thanks for sharing!
Also for saving money. A lot of us do not want to buy expensive or new parts, for an aging-anyway car.
I like the spot welder.
That would be very handy for someone doing lite gauge projects.
Yes like the theory behind this useful gadgets,but on ebay you can buy them very cheap from china.you spent more in materials building something you can get for 40 to 100 bucks.Depending the gadget
It would be good for steel and stainless, but not aluminum or copper. You need capacitor discharge to spot weld aluminum or copper or brass.
@@pauleohl very true,, but I suspect that trying to build a capacitive discharge spot welder is beyond what most garage mechanics should be working on.
@@WesleyJolly i done set my garage.on fire
would work well for building battery packs
Very nice video. I had never considered cutting out the secondary and rewiring for super low voltage/high current. There are some other ways to re-imagine a working microwave if you're handy enough to build a waveguide. When you can fabricate for yourself both mechanically and electronically the world is yours.
It'd be great to meet some savant/ocd (who can't stop working on projects or he'll lose his mind) with those skills and help him write patents!
@@Cracktaculus the items he made are already in production, he cant patent them
There's one more: Mechanically, electronically and 'micro controller firmware - lly '. Of course there's nothing electronic about this project - just mechanical and basic electrical. (The relay is not electronic. Purely electro mechanical device.)
While this is safer than using the high voltage secondary, it's still a dangerous project that should only be attempted by people with ample electronics knowledge and safety. WATCH OUT FOR THE HIGH VOLTAGE CAPACITOR WHEN DISSASEMBLING ANY MICROWAVE!
@@CoolAsFreya If the microwave oven hasn't been powered for some time, like a few hours, there is a resistor across the capacitor to ensure it remains discharged when the magnetron is not running.
Just to be extra safe in case it is holding some charge, it can easily be discharged by shorting a screwdriver between the two contact terminals on the cap.
Bookmarking this for next time I need to fuse nails together!
Very cool and professional looking
Nice. For the spot welder there should be a grommet / gland / strain-relief for the mains entry cable 12:23 as the casing metal will cut into the cable. And the earthing connector isn't connected to the cabinet 12:47, the Earth ring is just floating inside the cabinet. It should be firmly affixed to the metal casing for when the hot wire cuts through... ;)
This is in Europe using 240volt mains...it doesn't need the ground wire connected because the AC circuit uses the neutral as a ground.
@@WmSrite-pi8ck jeez - you won't need the earth for function but for safety reasons. Like @Clark Mills said the mains could easily contact the housing because of no grommet or strain relief when the sheet metal cuts the insulation - then you're toast without the earth properly connected.
@@WmSrite-pi8ck Clearly you don't understand the purpose of a ground wire.
@@WmSrite-pi8ck That statement is entirely incorrect and lethally dangerous.
@@fillfreakin2245 come to think of it, why doesn’t Europe use a ground wire? I don’t think I’ve seen one anywhere in Europe.
1:34 I'd want some sort of insulator between those two conductors. If those fittings rotate, for whatever reason, you will release the magic smoke and fire instantly and catastrophically.
Not needed
Its not needed!
First of all, the fittings touching doesn't bypass the switch.
Second, it is just switched mains going into a transformer, no magic smoke is used.
Third, shorting the thick connectors may actually reduce the device's ability to draw power across the transformer. Without the higher impedance load, the induced current dumps less power and thus requires less work from mains power.
"This is why you never throw out a car" *builds the lost city of Atlantis*
lol
🤣🤣
I’m a retired structural design engineer and making flat patterns were a necessity to get accurate bends of any angle. It’s pretty hard to see how he did that without making one.
I was all like "I have a broken microwave! Let's see..."
Then I saw I'd need significantly more tools and, more importantly, skill to do anything like this.
And you end up with.. A wavy-hole-burning machine? I'm sure there must be some application for it but none that will ever cross my path :D
@@foobarbazbaa5598 its for branding. You know, shapes? Not just a curvy line. Also did you notice there was a second creation? Seems a lot more useful. But like adam said, these take skills. And should only be attempted by people with the knowledge to do so.
I see it as a demonstration of ingenuity and resourcefulness. They are really not making use of specialized or unusual tools, apart from their brains. Try something out like this, and you will probably learn a lot.
@@foobarbazbaa5598 The plastic 'welding' might be useful, not sure if you skipped past it to the burning lines into wood.
@@foobarbazbaa5598 sell it to a collision repair shop.
*Me as I started watching:* "Oh good, I have a broken microwave I've been wanting to do something with"
*Me after watching:* "Do you want another one for one of your videos?"
The most amazing parts of the video are when he remembered to put the heat shrink tubing over the cables before attaching the connectors and/or soldering.
I can't even count how many times...
what happens otherwise?
@@udance4ever You have to remove/de-solder the connections. It's an annoying inconvenience that happens all the time. It's a long running joke for anyone that's ever done it (pretty much everyone).
I know! That is so frustrating to realize that after you admire the perfect solder joint and then realize "oh shit!"
@@baysickleebuck such a polite answer. My dirty mind couldn't get out of the gutter-
That is why they make elechickens tape
This is a man with lots of free time...
The "Broken Microwave" parts are only 5% of this build.
Be nice to have a tool & die shop fall on me too!
Another great video with a title that just may be stretched beyond reality.
How about "Microwave Spot Welder for under $200 (pluss a Tool & Die Shop) ? ? ?
a tap and die set cost next to nothing.
@@Tommyfrommyspace Got a line on a lathe that costs nothing?
Never saw that repair method for plastics before... I'm guessing that you could use it for more than just car bumpers. The spot welder seems to work well!
This is an extremely heavy duty version of a plastic repair tool you can get off the shelf, there's different shapes of metal inserts you can use for different angles of plastic. Extremely useful tool for people that like fixing stuff
@@mlocke666 way more professional than the "zip tie stitching" the bumper back together. I'm just glad I drive a Jeep and zip ties work fine for me 😆
It’s called a plastic welder. Not sure what one would cost to buy.
Step one: This is why people are dying at home
All projects done very nicely,clean & Professionally made!
VERY NICE!!👍
Good to see someone who can use many different types of craft to put something handy together 👍 not many of us about
Nice. What a great recycling for an otherwise perfect transformer. I love the spot welder construction. Pure genius! Assuming the primary has 250 turns on it, the secondary is about 3 volts at most. This is a voltage step down and a current step up. Even though it has likely 100-amp capacity 3 volts won't even be felt on the output - unless you have the same conductivity as metal - so robots stay clear.
And remember, voltage makes your hair stand up, while amperage makes your heart stop. ;)
Always remember 110v @ 10a will hurt your heart and 12v @ 1000a will only hurt a wrench.
The moment you brought the lathe and welding machine is the moment this became a project that most of us can't do.
You can get a cheap welder that works for £100
@@FullThrottleRacing535 I live in the states my guy, no such thing as a cheap welder. My point still stands, the moment heavy machinery was brought in most people became excluded from being able to do this. I thought this would be a video that showed me something cool I could do with a microwave that would extend the usefulness I got out of it.
@@UtiNo6 Sorry bro but you can get a cheap welder in the states which will work perfectly fine, i agree about the other heavy machinery though
GREAT DEVICES and the best craftsmanship on any homemade project I've seen!!!!!
Then you must have a white stick.
My respect. Good ideas, good craftmanship and very good results.
Fascinating. Love the recycling bit. Some good suggestions for the build, but this guy is a great engineer, fabricator, artist, and recycler. That is a unique skillset.
Too bad that his creations are serious safety hazard and can potentially end someone's life...
@@BloPsy_Actual nah. This guy is confident and skilled enough. No danger. Too bad your butter knife can take a life.
@@rakieletters No danger huh? For example, exposed high voltage screws are no danger? Or no ground connected to the metal externals?
I am an electrician, please educate me in my field of expertise.
Fantastic! Next time I have a microwave go out on me, instead of discarding it, I'll buy 40k worth of equipment to make a flashy RUclips video!
This was so much more fascinating without reading the description first. I had no idea where it was going and was along for the ride.
Сварочный аппарат - крутой. Очень качественное видео. Смотреть одно удовольствие. Продолжай в том же духе!👍🏻
You do awesome work. but if it's about microwaves I believe I would have used the metal off of the microwave to make the cover.
Ver la facilidad con la que hace las cosas y lo increible que es haciendo ese trabajo con los materiales que uno derrocha me vuela la cabeza
Nice construction jobs man . I thought it was about the dangerous charges in the Caps like in old TV sets and microwaves . You could construct your own wave guide tubes and leave the microwave circuitry as is and make a friggin microwave ray gun . WHOA ! :O)
Yes, let me break out my "rudimentary lathe" and make some custom copper electrodes... LOL
The case for the transformer alone was worth the watch on this one... Couldn't stop laughing though when I saw what the end product was... Who needs cold bailing wire to fix our cars now? We just use high-temp bailing wire.
While it all looks really cool, reusing parts like this is only for those who already have a lot of other stuff as well (which cost money!). This video shows some parts of a microwave, and also shows a lot of other parts not from a microwave + tools!
It really is for the handy toolman :)
Stay tuned next episode is how to make an AR-15 out of a lunch box 🤣
It is also extremely dangerous.
@@everquestfan I bet they could, with one of those old school lunchboxes ;p
And if they could.. they better do not upload the video...
And those with a deathwish, do you know how many ways that could've gone wrong? He wasn't even wearing a gasmask.
@@genesisplus4325 Do they stop you getting electrocuted?
I have really limited electronics experience but even I know those transformers will fkn fry you if you're not careful. You can't just slap a bit of lo fi hip hop on and go ripping one of those out of a microwave without explaining the inherent dangers. Sick projects tho, just hope no clueless people try it without reading the description lol.
Yes you can! RUclips videos never lie.....