What to do with parts from a microwave

[windozeuser]

Hey, I was wondering what I can do with all the parts from an old microwave.


Thanks, any cool ideas/projects are welcome.

 

[Dean Huster]

Not a lot since they are some pretty specialized parts. If the maggie is bad (or even if it isn't), you can scrap it for the magnet for playing. The transformer could be broken down for some of the wire, but it's not a good idea to try plugging it in to the mains, for it is capable of some lethal voltages. There should be a few snap-action switches ("microswitches") that would be useful and a mountain of hardware as well as a motor or two. If an older mechanical timer, it could be useful for some projects, such as a timer for lawn watering or automatic shutoff of a clothes iron or soldering iron in case you forget. Some of the sheet metal can be cut, bent and used for project boxes, covers and panels.

Dean

 

[Exo]

but it's not a good idea to try plugging it in to the mains, for it is capable of some lethal voltages.

Yeah, working on a microwave can get you killed before even YOU know it.

 

[ljcox]

Caution, see Audio's comments in



Len

 

[Dean Huster]

A maggie can be very dangerous even when removed from the equipment: drop it on your toes, let it fall on your head ....

The thread which was referred to above reminds me of the time that I heard the story (it may have been lore) about the Electronics Technician - R (radar) training school in San Diego in the late 1960s, where they had an SPS-10 air search radar -- the one used on aircraft carriers for long-range stuff -- for a trainer. It was normally disabled so that the maggie could not actually be brought on-line. The story goes that one day, someone disabled the disabling, lit up the SPS-10 and swept the antenna in a circle. We're talking a full megawatt of microwave power, the Navy Exchange was right across the street, and the radar brightened up every fluorescent light in the building and set off every flashbulb (remember those?) in the camera department. Truth or fiction? We'll never know.

I do know that in the barracks, regardless of whether I was listening to AM, FM or cassette tape, when the smaller radars that were fully operational were lit off in a nearby classroom, my electronics went "beep" with each sweep of the antenna.

Dean

 

[ljcox]

We had similar issue. In the late 1960s we were testing an electronic telephone exchange on the 14 floor of a city building. The processor was failing every minute or so. Eventually it was realised that the processor was failing every time a radar beam from the airport (about 10 km away) swept across our building.

Some shielding solved the problem.

Len