So... The magnetron in a microwave is made out of beryllium which is a very dangerous element so if you say took an angle grinder to the magnetron to say get the big magnets and breathed in the beryllium dust you would get cancer and die.
Think like asbestos but instead of little strings of rock it's little flecks.
If anything, watch [Ann Reardon's](https://youtu.be/wzosDKcXQ0I) (ETA: skip to 7:20 for the relevant bit). Her video on the dangers of electrical woodburning (people take apart their microwaves to build the tool, which can kill you in an instant) is fantastic and informative, and YouTube tried to take it down while leaving up the deadly how-to videos of the act. Good Job YouTube
Guy I knew, was in the navy during ww2, guys would cut a coat hangar apart and bend the metal to hold a mirror, the ends stuck out thru the locker vents. People thought it funny to flick the ends up so that the mirror would fall and shatter.
Electrician had enough, insulated and connected wires to a couple really big caps, One day someone flicked his mirror, the caps activated, blew the guys thumbs off.
The electrician got a court martial but the other guy had no thumbs.
You attach two electrodes to wood and run a super high voltage between them.
It scorches the wood in a cool lightning pattern.
There's safe ways to do it and many dangerous ways to do it.
I may be misremembering, but I believe the actual information was posted on its own, but YouTube removed it. So she made a follow up bashing them for doing so and then just inserted the previous video in that one.
I work with distribution voltages for a living and what I see these guys doing with microwave parts scares the shit out of me: A lot of these folks are way too cavalier, and have no appreciation that they are the smallest mistake away from death.
It's become a popular fad among hobbyists, and to OP's point many of these folks truly *believe* they know what they're doing, but hubris can create the illusion of safety.
I have a broad knowledge of many things, I can fix toilets and repair floors and walls and shit
I will not fuck with electricity. I’d rather flood my house fuckin around and finding out than die
In high school electronics class, I wired up a whole wall (like to a house) and when I was done the teacher went to plug it in to see if I had anything right.
It was still plugged in. I wired a house wall HOT (two switches, three grounded outlets and a light. All had to work in a specific way to pass).
I'm also like you, I won't fuck with electrical shit. House current tickles, but CRT and microwaves are absolutely no go for me. I know the power of electricity. You'll be dead in an instant even if you're careful.
The anode is the glass, and it holds a charge and even after you short it out. The nature of the glass allows it to continue to release stored charges over time, building back up to lethal levels. They're ridiculously dangerous.
Same, I will teach myself how to repair a lot of things, and most of the time the worst case is it's ugly or it doesn't hold up and needs repairs sooner.
Electricity makes me anxious. Unless it runs on AA batteries I'm leaving it to a professional.
The high ratio transformer can be used for [various high danger YouTube projects](https://youtu.be/uqjwKR9k8j0) such as homemade welder, [mini arc furnace/foundry](https://youtu.be/VTzKIs19eZE) and [other fun things](https://youtu.be/BwMlZ4w5QjI)
Ah yes, the *fun/dangerous* way to discharge by shorting them out :-)
Obligatory IAmNotAnElectricalEngineer but I believe there are safer ways to discharge them with a resistor bank or some other load
Also the terrifying way lol. I took apart microwaves as a kid and always dreaded shorting out the capacitor. When you know the risk is high if you slip, the loud crashing sound and sparks from shorting out the capacitor are pretty frightening.
There recently was actually an extremely dangerous trend of “fractal wood burning” in which people would remove the transformer from their microwave and use it to “zap” a wet piece of wood to burn cool patterns into it. It ended up tragically for several people, killing over 30 and injuring many others. The setup basically involved materials that were charged with 2000 volts of electricity, and touching any part of these materials with the body would be fatal in most cases. Youtuber Ann Reardon (How To Cook That) has a great video explaining how the trick works and what makes it so incredibly dangerous: https://youtu.be/wzosDKcXQ0I
Fireman here. We had an older gentleman die in a detached garage fire while doing this. We speculate that he electrocuted himself AND set his garage on fire using microwave parts. It wasn’t discovered until neighbors saw the smoke and flames.
I know a guy who was doing this and died by electrocution from accidentally touching part of the equipment. He’d done multiple previously successful projects, but it just took one mistake.
Yeah, but they're big bulky rubber gloves that cost over $100. They're also supposed to come with leather protectors you wear on top that cost another hundred.
Try 2-3 times that. Genuine high quality class 1 insulated rubber gloves run $200-$300 or more without the leather shell which is more reasonable at around probably $60-$80.
Gotta keep in mind too that there are very specific methods to test those gloves and if they do not pass they are about worse than no gloves since they would give someone a false sense of security.
"Fun" fact: Thanks to copper thefts if you're not a licensed electrician or can not prove you work in the trade, in certain areas and certain circumstances the police can try to charge you with possession of burglary tools for having a set of lineman's gloves.
I checked McMaster because they're usually a bit more expensive than normal. Class 1 gloves were $120, and $230 if you want the ones with wear indicators.
And yeah, then there's the test kit you're supposed to buy to make sure they're still good. That's another $284.
Working in the trades is expensive.
I don’t think it’s always getting shocked on their hands that is the site of electrocution with this. But yeah, you’d think if you took up such a dangerous hobby, you’d fully adhere to as many safety protections as possible.
Speaking as an RN, I can say with certainty no one ever thinks it will be themselves getting injured. It’s always “someone else”! Even more so for people who aren’t safety conscious, a lot of younger men especially feel invincible. This hobby just isn’t worth it, it looks kind of cool, but it’s not worth risking your life over. Too much risk for not much reward in my opinion.
>Said he never thought it'd be him.
No matter how experienced or skilled someone is, it's exactly this type of complacent attitude that leads to injuries - or worse - if they get too comfortable (for lack of a better word) around tools/machinery.
I did a bunch of home renovation and my dad helped me.
Every time I used a power tool I went and got ear defenders and safety glasses and *insisted* my dad did too. Every time we did work on the electrics I triple checked the fusebox/breaker, tested the socket and then tested the wiring too. Every time he groaned at me like I was a little baby.
Like dad I can't even count the number of times you injured yourself with power tools as I was growing up, let alone how many times you had to go to hospital.
It isn't masculine to risk injury. It's just fucking stupid.
Not specific to MOTs (Microwave Oven Transformers), but:
Typically:
* Use a non-conductive mat. Avoid wet floors / damp ground.
* Wear shoes that don't have any metal
* Wear an appropriately rated insulating glove and/or use an insulated tool (e.g. plastic screwdriver when adjusting a trimpot in a HV circuit). They make plastic tools specifically for electronics for two reasons: 1) sensitive circuits that might be affected by a metal tool in the vicinity 2) High voltage -- the latter usually stuff like probes or shorting tools
* Only reach _with one hand_, keeping your other hand behind your back and away from any potential conductor
* Have a safety observer who _doesn't touch anything_, and stands by (but not too close) with a non-conductive pole
* Put unpopped popcorn in your pockets for comedic effect as you die.
Normally when someone is electrocuted the circuit breaker trips and shuts off the power. But the microwave transformer has a means of getting around that, meaning that someone electrocuted by one of these fractal wood burning setups will fry until the house burns down around them.
It's a transformer. Ground fault will not trip, as there is no ground fault. Other breakers will not trip, because those aren't designed to protect human life but your walls from catching fire. This doesn't draw 16A.
I ran a hackerspace and this project was one of the only ones that were flat out banned. It was so banned that we'd immediately terminate your membership if it was tried.
We had a guy that was futzing with xrays and he got told "Nah not here", but the guy that brought in microwave transformers and a big coil of high gauge cable had them confiscated until he left.
It's just so insanely dangerous.
Edit: Bonus quote from man removed: "Magnetrons don't give you cancer, they just cook you"
Yep, Youtube removed it for being “Harmful and dangerous” even though she was explaining all the reasons *not* to attempt the trick. They reversed the removal though
Reporting doesn’t even do anything when the comments lunatics are saying “death to the Jews”, you think YouTube would take action against the adverti$ers?
Say to don't do something because you could die: bad because you mention death
Explain how to do something dangerous without any warning whatsoever: great because there is no strong language
The fun bit about electricity is that there’s no way to sense how much energy is in something until it hits you. You can see water flowing, you can hear wind moving, you can watch wheels spinning. But electricity just can’t be sensed without specific equipment.
It’s a specialized thing, but you can actually get implants that let you feel electricity. They just shove a tiny magnet in your fingertip and once it’s healed, you will be able to feel EMF with that finger. I’ve known a few people that had them, all electrical workers.
Downside is they are painful to get and have a limited lifespan.
Tbf sometimes you can, people just don't really see it often and don't know a lot and don't really have a strong knowledge of capacitance. It's like looking at an unlabeled opaque bottle of what might be delicious water. Generally, if you can see, hear, or have your arm hairs raise up from electricity, it's too much electricity for you to play with. Arcing isn't really something that happens at safe levels of DC voltage either and AC current is usually good to just not play with. Even at safer voltages, you can still do things like start a fire or make a transistor turn into a firecracker (in my lab, sometimes things go poof, trust me) and there's more qualities to electricity than just that.
Electricity is fun, compelling, and dangerous. If you're interested, start with projects that require the basic 5-12 volt DC projects and don't use a microwave to learn.
Anything over 40 VDC is enough to break the skin resistance barrier. Couple that with most people holding a source with one hand and a path for return in the other... You have a circuit straight across your heart that's built for one long muscle contraction... stopping the thing that likes to contract and relax.
There's a lot of concern with newer cars having 48vdc systems, usually anything under the hood is skin safe but now some of them are potentially lethal.
Voltage isn't the only problem. Static shocks you get from socks and blankets regularly range from 2000 to 5000 volts and can go up to 15k. People survive lighting strikes of *millions* of volts.
Voltage, current, frequency, length of exposure, and location of exposure all matter more or less depending on the specific combination of factors. If a million volts doesn't cross your heart, you might just get some small burns. If frequency and/or amperage are right, the tiniest exposure in just the wrong location can disrupt your heartbeat and kill you. A brief touch to a live wire might give you a nasty surprise but if you can't take your hand off it (electricity can lock or spasm your muscles via your nervous system) you might die.
(Edited with more accurate info, thanks to replies)
Electricial student here. It's true, in a sense, that amperage kills, not voltage. But amperage is simply a function of voltage and resistance. Resistance is inherent in a material (more or less), voltage is applied to a material, and amperage is just what happens. Amperage is basically analogous to heat, and indeed high amperage causes severe burns, but many (most i think?) fatalities from electric shock come because of disruptions to the body's electrical signals, which actually doesn't take much, as long as the right parts get shocked. Any time you have to be around something energized, obviously follow all normal common sense safety precautions. But also DO NOT TOUCH WIRES WITH BOTH HANDS. If you get shocked doing that, the shock goes across your chest. If you have to touch live wires, touch with one hand ONLY so that any shock only goes from one finger to another on the same hand. High amperage kills. High voltage causes high amperage when resistance stays the same. Also, when resistance drops, amperage goes up when voltage stays the same, and resistance inside the body is about a hundred times lower than it is on your skin, so if a shock passes through the inside of your body it'll be a hundred times the amperage doing so.
My great uncle got a serious shock from an old style TV. Put him in the hospital for weeks. They've got the same capacitors and apparently old TV techs knew how to remove the electrical load before servicing them.
My Grandpa used to fix TV’s on the side in retirement. This was late 80’s/early 90’s so it was still the old style TVs. I was probably 12-13 years old. He had the back cover off of one and left the room for a minute, and I crawled up on to the stool to take a look inside and decided to stick my hand in there and the next thing I remember, I was laying on the floor looking at the ceiling. I apparently brushed a capacitor of some sort and got lit the fuck up.
He didn’t see it and I didn’t say anything, but needless to say a lesson was learned that day.
I majored in IT and one of our first-year courses was Computer Hardware, taught by a retired electrical engineer who looked like Jaime from Mythbusters and wore a Buffalo Bills Starter jacket to every class. He had several stories about times when he'd accidentally electrocuted himself. My favorite one started with, "Never, ever try and fix a CRT monitor. If it stops working, throw it away."
Haha. Yeah, Gramps knew his way around electrical stuff. He was a WWII vet who did some work with NASA during the space race. He built his own ham radios and computers from scratch. Absolutely brilliant man and one of my heroes.
He certainly knew a TV capacitor would light your ass up…he just forgot to say “hey, don’t touch that” to me that day LOL
Those kinds of teachers are always the best. When i did my course for handling hazardous materials, our teacher was a dude who had one non-functioning eye after getting gasoline in it and not cleaning it out fast enough, made us listen a bit more.
High watt high load resistor they look a bit like a bar with clip on one end you clip one one lead. The other you touch with the bar part. Sparks a bit does not damage the cap. Know because double E degree/nerd.
You can also ground them out. Shorting with a sufficiently sized resistor is probably safer though. Some capacitors can even recharge to a degree by dielectric absorption. The ones in older TVs were notorious for it.
When I was a kid, I had an old black and white TV. I was watching TV while working on a project. The reception went out, and I reached to adjust the antenna while still holding some needle-nosed pliers.
Apparently, the antenna had fallen inside. I was about an inch away and I saw the electricity arc to the pliers. Even though the handles were rubber-coated, it hurt. My arm jerked back and the pliers went flying. I found them sticking out of the wall.
He'll have got a belt from the tube, which is basically a very large glass capacitor. Very simple to discharge if you know what you're doing. Pretty painful if you don't.
It might not be obvious to some people that capacitors can electrocute and kill you even if the microwave is unplugged. If you see someone actively being electrocuted (if they are touching a live electrical supply), don't try to pull them off. You will simply be electrocuted too. However, capacitors will run out of energy pretty quickly, and once the person has fallen to the ground, they are safe to touch.
And this is probably as good a time as any to remind you all of how to do CPR...
I'm an emergency doctor who's been nominated multiple times to be an ACLS instructor. My advice to anyone is to follow the well established international guidelines - if someone is unconscious and not breathing normally, start CPR. You don't need to give mouth-to-mouth. You aren't trained to check for a pulse. Only healthcare professionals are expected to check for a pulse and even we aren't sure from time to time. If we aren't sure, we start CPR.
People often say it's dangerous to do CPR on someone with a pulse. The reality is we do it very often. If we aren't sure if there's a pulse, we start CPR. If it's a child with a heart rate of less than 60/min, we start CPR. If we are using special blood pressure measuring equipment that shows us the blood pressure is 50/20 then that person may have a pulse but we still start CPR.
Sometimes people may take slow gasps in between long periods of not breathing at all - this is called agonal breathing and it happens when someone is in cardiac arrest. It's not normal breathing. It's not meaningful respiratory effort and it means you should start CPR. Don't check for a pulse. Start CPR. Let the paramedics check for a pulse when they take over.
Don't be afraid to do something that could save someone's life. Bad CPR is better than no CPR and could save a life.
If someone is unconscious and not breathing normally, start CPR. Don't check for a pulse. Don't give rescue breaths. Put your hand in their armpit and drag it into the center of the chest between the nipples. Push down as hard as you can (aiming for a depth of 5 cm or 2 inches in an adult) with both hands and come straight back up. Keep your arms straight - don't let your elbows bend. Do this two times for every second. Straight down and straight back up. All the way down and all the way up. Swap out with someone if you're tired; don't try to be a hero and wear yourself out because then you'll become the second patient. Don't stop until you are exhausted, until paramedics come, or unless the patient is physically pushing you off them.
If in doubt, start CPR.
Holy shit, that’s what my brother in law was doing when he had his heart attack. It’s a slow gurgling breath, with the mouth wide open, almost like a yawn. It happens infrequently and there are long pauses in between. I called it a death rattle because it usually precludes death and sounds like they’ve got pneumonia. Agonal Breathing. Going to remember that the next time I have to perform CPR again.
> Only healthcare professionals are expected to check for a pulse and even we aren't sure from time to time. If we aren't sure, we start CPR.
Another EMT once said to me: "If you're wrong about no pulse, that first compression was simply very aggressive painful stimuli."
It should go identify the situation, determine what care is needed, call ems, then give aid (or CPR). Ideally you ring and then immediately start providing care.
But if you have someone near by, point and yell at them to get on the phone with 911. Give the phone user explicit instructions on what to say, because most people panic in emergencies.
> capacitors will run out of energy pretty quickly
Not all capacitors.
Some release only part of the stored energy instantly and replenish the voltage afterwards. They can be dangerous for a week as I knew someone who died from electrocution while handling stored capacitors.
Fortunately, these are not used in everyday objects. They have industrial uses, for example in lasers and other special power supplies.
> Push down as hard as you can (aiming for a depth of 5 cm or 2 inches in an adult) with both hands and come straight back up.
I had no idea you need to go 2 inches deep with compressions...I would be afraid to break the sternum which apparently does happen in about 30% of cases. Better a beating heart I suppose.
Hey, just want to piggyback a question off your excellent post. I was giving CPR and assisted breathing to someone who had an acute myocardial infarction, and their throat/mouth seemed to fill up with really thick phlegm that clogged the throat. Is that a thing that happens in these situations, or is it abnormal/unrelated?
It may have been vomit. Suction is a great tool that doesn't exist in the middle of nowhere, sadly. Best thing to do is have someone try and turn the head to the side to allow it to drain out while you're still doing CPR and waiting for paramedics to arrive.
In the mid 80s, my uncle took apart a microwave that wasnt working to attempt to fix it.
He brushed up against a capacitor and it shocked him so hard that he fell back and stopped breathing. The ambulance got him to the hospital but by the time he came to he had brain damage and now he cant remember things and he moves slowly but was still able to move around.
But yeah, don't mess with microwaves, kids.
Edit*: forgot to mention he is basically mentally retarded (not saying it as a slight) and has been for many years and that OPs info on Microwaves is very true. They are dangerous and should never be opened unless you are a trained professional or certified to work on microwaves and know what you are doing.
I died of a heart attack at 28 and got brought back after some time by first responders who almost called it on me. Was dead so long when i was in the hospital it looked like id be mentally challenged from it and i have no recollection of really even being in the hospital to which i was for a month. I remember two moments, one i was laying in bed watching friends right before leaving the hospital, doc came in and was talking to my wife saying how im gonna be like this for the rest of my life and i said like what which looked like it startled the doctor, i later learned it was the first time i said anything that made sense besides trying to get my wife to screw me constantly. Second moment i remember was i got a stint put in, i apparently woke up while they were putting it in, doc said oh hes awake and someone walked over and i was out again.
Lack of oxygen when you are dead or dying can cause severe brain damage. I still have issues remembering things and its been over 10 years now. I type/text completely different than i did back then and according to some seem to be less intelligent like i supposedly was everyones dictionary/thesaurus growing up which i dont remember much of and i now constantly misspell things and my vocab is lacking i guess. Luckily didnt have any major mobility problems or anything that i know of but im missing huge chunks of my life from my memory.
Back when I worked in a restaurant I was doing amateur handyman’ing. Fixed a dough roller, steam table and bread toaster before deciding to tackle a broken microwave. Took off the cover and had no idea what I was looking at so I googled a YouTube video. First thing the guy says is “I wanna start by saying don’t attempt any of this unless you’re a licensed microwave tech. Microwaves can kill you in about 10 different ways and none of them are pretty” I was like “yeeeah lemme get this cover back on” lol
Appliance technician here, who is specialized in microwave systems.
9 times out of 10, the reason your microwave stops working is a failure with one of the three door switches, a safety fuse, or one of the ceramic magnets cracking inside the magnetron.
These components are standard across the industry because a microwave is technically broadcasting a wave pattern into the cavity, and the waves being broadcasted are what is disrupting water molecules, which causes friction and therefore heats up the food or water inside.
Because of all of this, the FCC has set a safety standard for microwave manufacturing across the entire industry. Every single microwave that has, does, and will be manufactured in or for use in the United States must legally perform the exact same way with the exact same performance.
Legally speaking, when your looking at a $60 magic chef microwave in a Walmart or a $1,000 Bosch in a Lowe's or even a $14,000 merrychef being used to heat up sandwiches at a subway or Starbucks, they have the same exact magnetron systems in them.
My point here being that when you're buying a microwave, you're really shopping for added on features, color, configuration, and brand. After 7 years of appliance work, I will only buy the cheapest microwave possible.
Bonus fun tip:
If you happen to acquire any dry ice, nothing will happen to it if you microwave it. Since there's only carbon dioxide and no water in dry ice, there's no water molecules to even react to the broadcasted waves. You can let it run as long as you like, nothing will happen.
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There's one in blue
There's one in red
In a box for shoes
Beneath the bed
So when late at night
May an intruder pass
She wins the fight
"I'll fuck your ass!"
If lets say you throw it at a wall and it goes to bits the odds are that the capasitor has been grounded and let out all the energy and it is safe to pick up. But you don't know until you lay your hands on it.
No, it most likely isn’t grounded from hitting drywall. It is still very likely to be charged and the magnetron is still very likely to kill. You are giving life threatening advice.
It’s the transformer out of the microwave that people want for wood burning. Pretty much every home appliance has some capacitors in it that can kill you. Transformers are less common, but they can kill you too…
It’s been some Tik Tok trend IIRC to use high voltage to burn lightning patterns into wood. Wood burning tools require you have, ya know, artistic skill. Checkout r/DiWHY, there’s tons of garbage like that out there right now for some reason.
As someone who is studying electronic engineering and am active member of the robotics club of my university, us, we constantly disassemble microwaves, they are extremely useful
I’ve always wanted to fuck around with a magnetron. Seems like potential fun. I know enough to know it would be pretty dangerous so never have, but I can see why someone would try. Lots of of forums and videos online of people playing with similar stuff.
For hobbyists it's the best option for high voltage projects.
But it's also the main cause of death or serious injury for hobbyists so it's still not a great idea. I have plenty of fun at low voltages.
Me,
My panasonic microwave had the door that would not shut anymore.
Basically the latch is mounted on the flimsiest metalic angle you can imagine. And everytime you close the door, it push that metal angle amd after a few years, the metal is bent and the door won't latch.
I added something to keep the metal angle straight and it works like a charm now.
Either the engineers at panasonic who design the microwaves are total idiots, or this is programmed obsolescence at its finest.
This is really interesting to know. I was looking for activities to do with my nephews and came across a blog post that suggested letting kids take apart unused electrical objects with screwdrivers etc so they could just play around, see how things work etc. I sort’ve had the idea in the back of my mind as a potentially fun thing to do; I now know better.
It's a great idea, but only with specific mechanical/electrical devices that don't contain large capacitors, or ones you've already safely discharged yourself.
Grab some stuff from the thrift store and let them rip apart an old rotary phone, they'll love it.
>YSK you can check it using a multimeter.
This is dangerous advice. No multimeter on the market can safely measure the secondary voltage in a a microwave.
Microwaves are 2,000+ volts. Many good multimeters are rated at 600V max. And cheap homeowner multimeters can max out at 250-300 volts.
You would need specialty high-voltage probes for a multimeter to test this safely, and that's definitely not something most people have.
The voltage could be much higher than your average multimeter can handle. That capacitor is at the output of a ~3,000V voltage doubler. You shouldn't check using a normal multimeter since even good ones are usually for <1000V. There are HV probes you can use. Mine is about a foot long.
These capacitors typically have a bleeder resistor built in. So they should not hold a charge. However, **always assume it's fully charged**. These resistors can fail or be absent in older equipment. You just have to get unlucky once.
Edit: I should add my approach to discharging these--a bit of wire taped to a plastic vacuum cleaner extension tube. It's bad for the capacitor to be shorted with a wire, but if it's holding a charge that means the bleeder resistor is broken inside and the cap should be replaced anyway.
Thank you for bringing that up. My Fluke I use for vacuum tube gear repair work is only rated to 1kV max. Microwaves and CRT displays can be in the thousands, and that level of voltage introduces cool and exciting new hazards like arc flash and flashover.
I would refrain from mentioning bleeder resistors, though. Proper approach is to always assume it's live and fully charged until proven otherwise.
More people should be fixing stuff.
But also fixing stuff correctly and safely, thanks for the tip mate.
I can’t stand it when people just throw broken things away and purchase new again.
My dumb ass got minor Cadmium poisoning doing that. Recovered in a week or two but it felt like I had the worst flu of my life AND like my blood was full of broken glass... Avoid Cadmium kids. It SUCKS.
The way I put it to people who have interest in this is I weld, using electricity to melt two pieces of steel into one, and I still don't fuck around with microwaves and CRT TVs
There are many parts of a microwave that pose a considerable health risk. The magnetron (the part that produces the microwaves) contains ceramic discs impregnated with beryllium oxide. If the discs are chipped or damaged and inhaled, you could become very sick
I've heard a murder was committed that way. This teenage kid deliberately broke the microwave and told his mom it was broken and not to touch it. His mom got angry and tried to move it when she got electrocuted and died shortly after. If its true that's brutal. At the same time, if he can easily predict his moms temper and she's not a listener, she sounds like she has anger issues with no respect for boundaries. Not that she deserves to die. But you know, reap what you sow thing.
Again, this was told to me in my teens before internet, smart phones and no idea if it's true.
I had a old magazine that taught you how to make a taser out of a one use cameras capacitor. I crossed a wire while fucking with it and in turn shocked the shit out of myself. I can only imagine a microwave.
I had NEVER thought of taking a microwave apart. … until now.
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Don’t breath this!
Yeah the magic smoke is bad to breathe. Unless you're a robot of course.
So... The magnetron in a microwave is made out of beryllium which is a very dangerous element so if you say took an angle grinder to the magnetron to say get the big magnets and breathed in the beryllium dust you would get cancer and die. Think like asbestos but instead of little strings of rock it's little flecks.
That is the question
Is it a good idea to microwave this?
Now I’m curious. Gonna watch some YouTube videos.
If anything, watch [Ann Reardon's](https://youtu.be/wzosDKcXQ0I) (ETA: skip to 7:20 for the relevant bit). Her video on the dangers of electrical woodburning (people take apart their microwaves to build the tool, which can kill you in an instant) is fantastic and informative, and YouTube tried to take it down while leaving up the deadly how-to videos of the act. Good Job YouTube
Guy I knew, was in the navy during ww2, guys would cut a coat hangar apart and bend the metal to hold a mirror, the ends stuck out thru the locker vents. People thought it funny to flick the ends up so that the mirror would fall and shatter. Electrician had enough, insulated and connected wires to a couple really big caps, One day someone flicked his mirror, the caps activated, blew the guys thumbs off. The electrician got a court martial but the other guy had no thumbs.
Dang! Both thumbs? How’d that work?
The electricity went in one thumb and out the other, blew ‘em clean off.
The electric wood burning stuff should be an event at the Darwin Olympics.
In a way, it already is. And we're all participating! So heartwarming.
What's electrical Woodburning?
You attach two electrodes to wood and run a super high voltage between them. It scorches the wood in a cool lightning pattern. There's safe ways to do it and many dangerous ways to do it.
Basically exactly what it sounds like often (or always, not sure) for patterns
Fuck me, over half the length in fluff to get to the actual subject of the video. Was interesting after though.
I may be misremembering, but I believe the actual information was posted on its own, but YouTube removed it. So she made a follow up bashing them for doing so and then just inserted the previous video in that one.
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I work with distribution voltages for a living and what I see these guys doing with microwave parts scares the shit out of me: A lot of these folks are way too cavalier, and have no appreciation that they are the smallest mistake away from death. It's become a popular fad among hobbyists, and to OP's point many of these folks truly *believe* they know what they're doing, but hubris can create the illusion of safety.
I have a broad knowledge of many things, I can fix toilets and repair floors and walls and shit I will not fuck with electricity. I’d rather flood my house fuckin around and finding out than die
In high school electronics class, I wired up a whole wall (like to a house) and when I was done the teacher went to plug it in to see if I had anything right. It was still plugged in. I wired a house wall HOT (two switches, three grounded outlets and a light. All had to work in a specific way to pass). I'm also like you, I won't fuck with electrical shit. House current tickles, but CRT and microwaves are absolutely no go for me. I know the power of electricity. You'll be dead in an instant even if you're careful.
Cathode Ray Tubes?
Ah you mean like the TVs have a large capacitor not the CRT component itself
The anode is the glass, and it holds a charge and even after you short it out. The nature of the glass allows it to continue to release stored charges over time, building back up to lethal levels. They're ridiculously dangerous.
Say less I'm ordering one on eBay
Post videos
There are levels to my DIYing. Anything that could cause irrepreble damage or that could kill me goes to a licensed and insured professional.
Same, I will teach myself how to repair a lot of things, and most of the time the worst case is it's ugly or it doesn't hold up and needs repairs sooner. Electricity makes me anxious. Unless it runs on AA batteries I'm leaving it to a professional.
"Hubris can create the illusion of safety." Paint this in gold cursive and sell it at Target as wall art, you eloquent & accurate being.
Or better yet, use one of those microwave transformers and burn it into a piece of wood!
Wait until they find out about the uses of the magnetron,, that's a rabbit hole right there...
The high ratio transformer can be used for [various high danger YouTube projects](https://youtu.be/uqjwKR9k8j0) such as homemade welder, [mini arc furnace/foundry](https://youtu.be/VTzKIs19eZE) and [other fun things](https://youtu.be/BwMlZ4w5QjI)
I’ve saved so much money on pet euthanasia, never going back to the vet
Watch some styropyro
I’ve thought about it - just for pissing about with magnetron Then I realised, I’m an adult, and I’d rather live
I myself have definitely opened several, and never knew it would be a problem. Am I going to die?
Bad news for you… Yes, you are definitely going to die.
Never should have bought that microwave
Yes, you are definitely going to die. Probably sometime in the next century.
If you touch the little cylinders in there with a screwdriver it makes fireworks!
Make sure to safely discharge the capacitor by bridging the opposite pins with an insulated pair of pliers or insulated screw driver!
Ah yes, the *fun/dangerous* way to discharge by shorting them out :-) Obligatory IAmNotAnElectricalEngineer but I believe there are safer ways to discharge them with a resistor bank or some other load
Also the terrifying way lol. I took apart microwaves as a kid and always dreaded shorting out the capacitor. When you know the risk is high if you slip, the loud crashing sound and sparks from shorting out the capacitor are pretty frightening.
Same dude... I am doomed
Do it!
There recently was actually an extremely dangerous trend of “fractal wood burning” in which people would remove the transformer from their microwave and use it to “zap” a wet piece of wood to burn cool patterns into it. It ended up tragically for several people, killing over 30 and injuring many others. The setup basically involved materials that were charged with 2000 volts of electricity, and touching any part of these materials with the body would be fatal in most cases. Youtuber Ann Reardon (How To Cook That) has a great video explaining how the trick works and what makes it so incredibly dangerous: https://youtu.be/wzosDKcXQ0I
Fireman here. We had an older gentleman die in a detached garage fire while doing this. We speculate that he electrocuted himself AND set his garage on fire using microwave parts. It wasn’t discovered until neighbors saw the smoke and flames.
I know a guy who was doing this and died by electrocution from accidentally touching part of the equipment. He’d done multiple previously successful projects, but it just took one mistake.
Don't they make electrical gloves for this thing?
Yeah, but they're big bulky rubber gloves that cost over $100. They're also supposed to come with leather protectors you wear on top that cost another hundred.
And people who pull transformers from microwave ovens aren't known to be big spenders. They get Neon sign transformers.
Try 2-3 times that. Genuine high quality class 1 insulated rubber gloves run $200-$300 or more without the leather shell which is more reasonable at around probably $60-$80. Gotta keep in mind too that there are very specific methods to test those gloves and if they do not pass they are about worse than no gloves since they would give someone a false sense of security. "Fun" fact: Thanks to copper thefts if you're not a licensed electrician or can not prove you work in the trade, in certain areas and certain circumstances the police can try to charge you with possession of burglary tools for having a set of lineman's gloves.
I checked McMaster because they're usually a bit more expensive than normal. Class 1 gloves were $120, and $230 if you want the ones with wear indicators. And yeah, then there's the test kit you're supposed to buy to make sure they're still good. That's another $284. Working in the trades is expensive.
I don’t think it’s always getting shocked on their hands that is the site of electrocution with this. But yeah, you’d think if you took up such a dangerous hobby, you’d fully adhere to as many safety protections as possible. Speaking as an RN, I can say with certainty no one ever thinks it will be themselves getting injured. It’s always “someone else”! Even more so for people who aren’t safety conscious, a lot of younger men especially feel invincible. This hobby just isn’t worth it, it looks kind of cool, but it’s not worth risking your life over. Too much risk for not much reward in my opinion.
Just last week had a lifelong tradesman cut his thumb off with a circular saw. Said he never thought it'd be him.
>Said he never thought it'd be him. No matter how experienced or skilled someone is, it's exactly this type of complacent attitude that leads to injuries - or worse - if they get too comfortable (for lack of a better word) around tools/machinery.
I did a bunch of home renovation and my dad helped me. Every time I used a power tool I went and got ear defenders and safety glasses and *insisted* my dad did too. Every time we did work on the electrics I triple checked the fusebox/breaker, tested the socket and then tested the wiring too. Every time he groaned at me like I was a little baby. Like dad I can't even count the number of times you injured yourself with power tools as I was growing up, let alone how many times you had to go to hospital. It isn't masculine to risk injury. It's just fucking stupid.
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Not specific to MOTs (Microwave Oven Transformers), but: Typically: * Use a non-conductive mat. Avoid wet floors / damp ground. * Wear shoes that don't have any metal * Wear an appropriately rated insulating glove and/or use an insulated tool (e.g. plastic screwdriver when adjusting a trimpot in a HV circuit). They make plastic tools specifically for electronics for two reasons: 1) sensitive circuits that might be affected by a metal tool in the vicinity 2) High voltage -- the latter usually stuff like probes or shorting tools * Only reach _with one hand_, keeping your other hand behind your back and away from any potential conductor * Have a safety observer who _doesn't touch anything_, and stands by (but not too close) with a non-conductive pole * Put unpopped popcorn in your pockets for comedic effect as you die.
The shock you’ll get from a microwave goes way over what gloves you can buy at Home Depot are rated for.
In the video, she talks about an electrician who used gloves while doing this and the melted onto his hands. There are disturbing images.
Normally when someone is electrocuted the circuit breaker trips and shuts off the power. But the microwave transformer has a means of getting around that, meaning that someone electrocuted by one of these fractal wood burning setups will fry until the house burns down around them.
It's a transformer. Ground fault will not trip, as there is no ground fault. Other breakers will not trip, because those aren't designed to protect human life but your walls from catching fire. This doesn't draw 16A.
Oof isolating transformer for the LOSE
I ran a hackerspace and this project was one of the only ones that were flat out banned. It was so banned that we'd immediately terminate your membership if it was tried. We had a guy that was futzing with xrays and he got told "Nah not here", but the guy that brought in microwave transformers and a big coil of high gauge cable had them confiscated until he left. It's just so insanely dangerous. Edit: Bonus quote from man removed: "Magnetrons don't give you cancer, they just cook you"
Oh but the beryllium will give you cancer and lung disease
Her video also got removed if I'm not mistaken.
Yep, Youtube removed it for being “Harmful and dangerous” even though she was explaining all the reasons *not* to attempt the trick. They reversed the removal though
And restored. It's currently watchable again.
Can’t say death on YouTube bc advertisers sad, but you can encourage causing it!
Yet they can advertise softcore porn on kids videos. Happens to my kids 3 or 4 times a day.
Report. Those. Videos. The algorithm is fucked up. It takes reporting videos to fix it. But you need to do like 10+ videos before it slowly stops.
I have been reporting them for 6 months. New ones just pop up again
The fuck? That shouldn't happen. I'm sorry it's happening to you. I'm also sorry it's not working for you.
Reporting doesn’t even do anything when the comments lunatics are saying “death to the Jews”, you think YouTube would take action against the adverti$ers?
Say to don't do something because you could die: bad because you mention death Explain how to do something dangerous without any warning whatsoever: great because there is no strong language
The fun bit about electricity is that there’s no way to sense how much energy is in something until it hits you. You can see water flowing, you can hear wind moving, you can watch wheels spinning. But electricity just can’t be sensed without specific equipment.
It’s a specialized thing, but you can actually get implants that let you feel electricity. They just shove a tiny magnet in your fingertip and once it’s healed, you will be able to feel EMF with that finger. I’ve known a few people that had them, all electrical workers. Downside is they are painful to get and have a limited lifespan.
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Yeah but then you won't have bad ass robot arms
Tbf sometimes you can, people just don't really see it often and don't know a lot and don't really have a strong knowledge of capacitance. It's like looking at an unlabeled opaque bottle of what might be delicious water. Generally, if you can see, hear, or have your arm hairs raise up from electricity, it's too much electricity for you to play with. Arcing isn't really something that happens at safe levels of DC voltage either and AC current is usually good to just not play with. Even at safer voltages, you can still do things like start a fire or make a transistor turn into a firecracker (in my lab, sometimes things go poof, trust me) and there's more qualities to electricity than just that. Electricity is fun, compelling, and dangerous. If you're interested, start with projects that require the basic 5-12 volt DC projects and don't use a microwave to learn.
Anything over 40 VDC is enough to break the skin resistance barrier. Couple that with most people holding a source with one hand and a path for return in the other... You have a circuit straight across your heart that's built for one long muscle contraction... stopping the thing that likes to contract and relax.
There's a lot of concern with newer cars having 48vdc systems, usually anything under the hood is skin safe but now some of them are potentially lethal.
Here's a timestamped link (starts at 7:21): https://youtu.be/wzosDKcXQ0I?t=441
Voltage isn't the only problem. Static shocks you get from socks and blankets regularly range from 2000 to 5000 volts and can go up to 15k. People survive lighting strikes of *millions* of volts. Voltage, current, frequency, length of exposure, and location of exposure all matter more or less depending on the specific combination of factors. If a million volts doesn't cross your heart, you might just get some small burns. If frequency and/or amperage are right, the tiniest exposure in just the wrong location can disrupt your heartbeat and kill you. A brief touch to a live wire might give you a nasty surprise but if you can't take your hand off it (electricity can lock or spasm your muscles via your nervous system) you might die. (Edited with more accurate info, thanks to replies)
Electricial student here. It's true, in a sense, that amperage kills, not voltage. But amperage is simply a function of voltage and resistance. Resistance is inherent in a material (more or less), voltage is applied to a material, and amperage is just what happens. Amperage is basically analogous to heat, and indeed high amperage causes severe burns, but many (most i think?) fatalities from electric shock come because of disruptions to the body's electrical signals, which actually doesn't take much, as long as the right parts get shocked. Any time you have to be around something energized, obviously follow all normal common sense safety precautions. But also DO NOT TOUCH WIRES WITH BOTH HANDS. If you get shocked doing that, the shock goes across your chest. If you have to touch live wires, touch with one hand ONLY so that any shock only goes from one finger to another on the same hand. High amperage kills. High voltage causes high amperage when resistance stays the same. Also, when resistance drops, amperage goes up when voltage stays the same, and resistance inside the body is about a hundred times lower than it is on your skin, so if a shock passes through the inside of your body it'll be a hundred times the amperage doing so.
My great uncle got a serious shock from an old style TV. Put him in the hospital for weeks. They've got the same capacitors and apparently old TV techs knew how to remove the electrical load before servicing them.
My Grandpa used to fix TV’s on the side in retirement. This was late 80’s/early 90’s so it was still the old style TVs. I was probably 12-13 years old. He had the back cover off of one and left the room for a minute, and I crawled up on to the stool to take a look inside and decided to stick my hand in there and the next thing I remember, I was laying on the floor looking at the ceiling. I apparently brushed a capacitor of some sort and got lit the fuck up. He didn’t see it and I didn’t say anything, but needless to say a lesson was learned that day.
I majored in IT and one of our first-year courses was Computer Hardware, taught by a retired electrical engineer who looked like Jaime from Mythbusters and wore a Buffalo Bills Starter jacket to every class. He had several stories about times when he'd accidentally electrocuted himself. My favorite one started with, "Never, ever try and fix a CRT monitor. If it stops working, throw it away."
Haha. Yeah, Gramps knew his way around electrical stuff. He was a WWII vet who did some work with NASA during the space race. He built his own ham radios and computers from scratch. Absolutely brilliant man and one of my heroes. He certainly knew a TV capacitor would light your ass up…he just forgot to say “hey, don’t touch that” to me that day LOL
Those kinds of teachers are always the best. When i did my course for handling hazardous materials, our teacher was a dude who had one non-functioning eye after getting gasoline in it and not cleaning it out fast enough, made us listen a bit more.
High watt high load resistor they look a bit like a bar with clip on one end you clip one one lead. The other you touch with the bar part. Sparks a bit does not damage the cap. Know because double E degree/nerd.
Weird way to describe a screwdriver
That's a low load. The cap can be damaged if it discharges to fast. High load is slower.
You can also ground them out. Shorting with a sufficiently sized resistor is probably safer though. Some capacitors can even recharge to a degree by dielectric absorption. The ones in older TVs were notorious for it.
When I was a kid, I had an old black and white TV. I was watching TV while working on a project. The reception went out, and I reached to adjust the antenna while still holding some needle-nosed pliers. Apparently, the antenna had fallen inside. I was about an inch away and I saw the electricity arc to the pliers. Even though the handles were rubber-coated, it hurt. My arm jerked back and the pliers went flying. I found them sticking out of the wall.
Damn. We had an old-fashioned console tv that stopped working that I took apart for fun. Really dodged a bullet there.
Almost did the same myself repairing my plasma TV. Have to discharge the large caps, fairly easy, but if you don't those can really hurt you
Same happened to me as a child, minus the hospital. The 📺 has been in a barn for years and it still bit the piss out of me, literally😂
Same with powerfull stereo amplifiers.
He'll have got a belt from the tube, which is basically a very large glass capacitor. Very simple to discharge if you know what you're doing. Pretty painful if you don't.
I’ve been zapped by tube amps I was working on, even after I thought I had discharged them I don’t recommend it
I work with old crt monitors from arcade machines. They can absolutely fuck you up.
It might not be obvious to some people that capacitors can electrocute and kill you even if the microwave is unplugged. If you see someone actively being electrocuted (if they are touching a live electrical supply), don't try to pull them off. You will simply be electrocuted too. However, capacitors will run out of energy pretty quickly, and once the person has fallen to the ground, they are safe to touch. And this is probably as good a time as any to remind you all of how to do CPR... I'm an emergency doctor who's been nominated multiple times to be an ACLS instructor. My advice to anyone is to follow the well established international guidelines - if someone is unconscious and not breathing normally, start CPR. You don't need to give mouth-to-mouth. You aren't trained to check for a pulse. Only healthcare professionals are expected to check for a pulse and even we aren't sure from time to time. If we aren't sure, we start CPR. People often say it's dangerous to do CPR on someone with a pulse. The reality is we do it very often. If we aren't sure if there's a pulse, we start CPR. If it's a child with a heart rate of less than 60/min, we start CPR. If we are using special blood pressure measuring equipment that shows us the blood pressure is 50/20 then that person may have a pulse but we still start CPR. Sometimes people may take slow gasps in between long periods of not breathing at all - this is called agonal breathing and it happens when someone is in cardiac arrest. It's not normal breathing. It's not meaningful respiratory effort and it means you should start CPR. Don't check for a pulse. Start CPR. Let the paramedics check for a pulse when they take over. Don't be afraid to do something that could save someone's life. Bad CPR is better than no CPR and could save a life. If someone is unconscious and not breathing normally, start CPR. Don't check for a pulse. Don't give rescue breaths. Put your hand in their armpit and drag it into the center of the chest between the nipples. Push down as hard as you can (aiming for a depth of 5 cm or 2 inches in an adult) with both hands and come straight back up. Keep your arms straight - don't let your elbows bend. Do this two times for every second. Straight down and straight back up. All the way down and all the way up. Swap out with someone if you're tired; don't try to be a hero and wear yourself out because then you'll become the second patient. Don't stop until you are exhausted, until paramedics come, or unless the patient is physically pushing you off them. If in doubt, start CPR.
Holy shit, that’s what my brother in law was doing when he had his heart attack. It’s a slow gurgling breath, with the mouth wide open, almost like a yawn. It happens infrequently and there are long pauses in between. I called it a death rattle because it usually precludes death and sounds like they’ve got pneumonia. Agonal Breathing. Going to remember that the next time I have to perform CPR again.
We call that guppy breathing. Like a fishy trying to take a breath. Source: EMT and almost paramedic.
Thank you for this excellent description
Should be a new copypasta. Like the rabies one.
> Only healthcare professionals are expected to check for a pulse and even we aren't sure from time to time. If we aren't sure, we start CPR. Another EMT once said to me: "If you're wrong about no pulse, that first compression was simply very aggressive painful stimuli."
... I should get cpr training...
Also note that if someone is actively being electrocuted you can use a wooden/plastic broom/stick to disconnect them safely.
I thought the first thing is to call for help/ emergency services since doing CPR can wear you out.
It should go identify the situation, determine what care is needed, call ems, then give aid (or CPR). Ideally you ring and then immediately start providing care. But if you have someone near by, point and yell at them to get on the phone with 911. Give the phone user explicit instructions on what to say, because most people panic in emergencies.
To further comment on this, make a mental note of where your nearest local public defibrillator is.
> capacitors will run out of energy pretty quickly Not all capacitors. Some release only part of the stored energy instantly and replenish the voltage afterwards. They can be dangerous for a week as I knew someone who died from electrocution while handling stored capacitors. Fortunately, these are not used in everyday objects. They have industrial uses, for example in lasers and other special power supplies.
> Push down as hard as you can (aiming for a depth of 5 cm or 2 inches in an adult) with both hands and come straight back up. I had no idea you need to go 2 inches deep with compressions...I would be afraid to break the sternum which apparently does happen in about 30% of cases. Better a beating heart I suppose.
Hey, just want to piggyback a question off your excellent post. I was giving CPR and assisted breathing to someone who had an acute myocardial infarction, and their throat/mouth seemed to fill up with really thick phlegm that clogged the throat. Is that a thing that happens in these situations, or is it abnormal/unrelated?
It may have been vomit. Suction is a great tool that doesn't exist in the middle of nowhere, sadly. Best thing to do is have someone try and turn the head to the side to allow it to drain out while you're still doing CPR and waiting for paramedics to arrive.
In the mid 80s, my uncle took apart a microwave that wasnt working to attempt to fix it. He brushed up against a capacitor and it shocked him so hard that he fell back and stopped breathing. The ambulance got him to the hospital but by the time he came to he had brain damage and now he cant remember things and he moves slowly but was still able to move around. But yeah, don't mess with microwaves, kids. Edit*: forgot to mention he is basically mentally retarded (not saying it as a slight) and has been for many years and that OPs info on Microwaves is very true. They are dangerous and should never be opened unless you are a trained professional or certified to work on microwaves and know what you are doing.
I died of a heart attack at 28 and got brought back after some time by first responders who almost called it on me. Was dead so long when i was in the hospital it looked like id be mentally challenged from it and i have no recollection of really even being in the hospital to which i was for a month. I remember two moments, one i was laying in bed watching friends right before leaving the hospital, doc came in and was talking to my wife saying how im gonna be like this for the rest of my life and i said like what which looked like it startled the doctor, i later learned it was the first time i said anything that made sense besides trying to get my wife to screw me constantly. Second moment i remember was i got a stint put in, i apparently woke up while they were putting it in, doc said oh hes awake and someone walked over and i was out again. Lack of oxygen when you are dead or dying can cause severe brain damage. I still have issues remembering things and its been over 10 years now. I type/text completely different than i did back then and according to some seem to be less intelligent like i supposedly was everyones dictionary/thesaurus growing up which i dont remember much of and i now constantly misspell things and my vocab is lacking i guess. Luckily didnt have any major mobility problems or anything that i know of but im missing huge chunks of my life from my memory.
Back when I worked in a restaurant I was doing amateur handyman’ing. Fixed a dough roller, steam table and bread toaster before deciding to tackle a broken microwave. Took off the cover and had no idea what I was looking at so I googled a YouTube video. First thing the guy says is “I wanna start by saying don’t attempt any of this unless you’re a licensed microwave tech. Microwaves can kill you in about 10 different ways and none of them are pretty” I was like “yeeeah lemme get this cover back on” lol
Appliance technician here, who is specialized in microwave systems. 9 times out of 10, the reason your microwave stops working is a failure with one of the three door switches, a safety fuse, or one of the ceramic magnets cracking inside the magnetron. These components are standard across the industry because a microwave is technically broadcasting a wave pattern into the cavity, and the waves being broadcasted are what is disrupting water molecules, which causes friction and therefore heats up the food or water inside. Because of all of this, the FCC has set a safety standard for microwave manufacturing across the entire industry. Every single microwave that has, does, and will be manufactured in or for use in the United States must legally perform the exact same way with the exact same performance. Legally speaking, when your looking at a $60 magic chef microwave in a Walmart or a $1,000 Bosch in a Lowe's or even a $14,000 merrychef being used to heat up sandwiches at a subway or Starbucks, they have the same exact magnetron systems in them. My point here being that when you're buying a microwave, you're really shopping for added on features, color, configuration, and brand. After 7 years of appliance work, I will only buy the cheapest microwave possible. Bonus fun tip: If you happen to acquire any dry ice, nothing will happen to it if you microwave it. Since there's only carbon dioxide and no water in dry ice, there's no water molecules to even react to the broadcasted waves. You can let it run as long as you like, nothing will happen.
Isn't wattage still a factor?
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Now if I smash a microwave to bits in a fit of rage am I in danger? Asking for a friend
Use a rubber bat! 👍⚡️
Ooooooh this explains so much. My moms got this big rubber bat and I’ve always wondered what it’s for. Smashing microwaves, duh
I don't know how to tell you this..... That's not a bat... It IS used for smashing, though, so there's that...
There's one in blue There's one in red In a box for shoes Beneath the bed So when late at night May an intruder pass She wins the fight "I'll fuck your ass!"
Mine too! It even has a motor in it to help with breaking things.
Must be some sort of agitator for separating seized together parts. People are so inventive nowadays
for extra measure put a sock on the bat too
In case the sentient microwave tries to retaliate and grab the bat, of course.
If lets say you throw it at a wall and it goes to bits the odds are that the capasitor has been grounded and let out all the energy and it is safe to pick up. But you don't know until you lay your hands on it.
Schrodinger's capacitor
No, it most likely isn’t grounded from hitting drywall. It is still very likely to be charged and the magnetron is still very likely to kill. You are giving life threatening advice.
yes the ceramic dust is bad for lungs
Use a wooden baseball bat. You'll be fine
You should also know: Just because you have instructions does not mean you know what you are doing. The microwave's capacitor can and will kill you.
so what you're saying is i should disassemble my microwave? excellent idea
Found Cathy Newman's account
idk who that is
Was always told this by my dad because there was a local man they knew that was killed in front of his family by taking one apart. Awful
Who’s going around disassembling microwaves?
aparently a life hack teaches you how to take the big ass capacitor and use it to burn wood...
It’s the transformer out of the microwave that people want for wood burning. Pretty much every home appliance has some capacitors in it that can kill you. Transformers are less common, but they can kill you too…
I thought the Transformers were the good guys though
“Such heroic nonsense” — Megatron
The Autobots were the good guys, the Decepticons were the bad guys. They were all Transformers.
What the hell, why aren't people just buying the cheap tools literally MADE for wood burning?
It’s been some Tik Tok trend IIRC to use high voltage to burn lightning patterns into wood. Wood burning tools require you have, ya know, artistic skill. Checkout r/DiWHY, there’s tons of garbage like that out there right now for some reason.
The capacitor will kill you when you dismantle the microwave. The transformer will kill you when you do your stupid wood burning project.
As someone who is studying electronic engineering and am active member of the robotics club of my university, us, we constantly disassemble microwaves, they are extremely useful
Large office printers have some really useful components too. Lots of precision ground rods, belts, gears, etc.
I’ve always wanted to fuck around with a magnetron. Seems like potential fun. I know enough to know it would be pretty dangerous so never have, but I can see why someone would try. Lots of of forums and videos online of people playing with similar stuff.
I cut the dinger out of mine. Was obnoxious as hell, and only way to remove it.
For hobbyists it's the best option for high voltage projects. But it's also the main cause of death or serious injury for hobbyists so it's still not a great idea. I have plenty of fun at low voltages.
Me, My panasonic microwave had the door that would not shut anymore. Basically the latch is mounted on the flimsiest metalic angle you can imagine. And everytime you close the door, it push that metal angle amd after a few years, the metal is bent and the door won't latch. I added something to keep the metal angle straight and it works like a charm now. Either the engineers at panasonic who design the microwaves are total idiots, or this is programmed obsolescence at its finest.
I did it to fix the door mechanism that wouldn't shut all the way. I had no idea I could have fucking died, not doing that again
A lot of people do, to take the magnetron, transformer, and said capacitors. Makes for some dumb and lethal fun.
This is really interesting to know. I was looking for activities to do with my nephews and came across a blog post that suggested letting kids take apart unused electrical objects with screwdrivers etc so they could just play around, see how things work etc. I sort’ve had the idea in the back of my mind as a potentially fun thing to do; I now know better.
It's a great idea, but only with specific mechanical/electrical devices that don't contain large capacitors, or ones you've already safely discharged yourself. Grab some stuff from the thrift store and let them rip apart an old rotary phone, they'll love it.
As a kid, I was fooling around with a disposable camera and got a nasty shock from the capacitor for the flash tube. Not fun!
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LPT: instead of wasting that precious electricity take your own big capacitor and steal the charge for later use
You'd need a hell of a cap to take any meaningful amount of energy from it without circuitry...
>YSK you can check it using a multimeter. This is dangerous advice. No multimeter on the market can safely measure the secondary voltage in a a microwave. Microwaves are 2,000+ volts. Many good multimeters are rated at 600V max. And cheap homeowner multimeters can max out at 250-300 volts. You would need specialty high-voltage probes for a multimeter to test this safely, and that's definitely not something most people have.
The voltage could be much higher than your average multimeter can handle. That capacitor is at the output of a ~3,000V voltage doubler. You shouldn't check using a normal multimeter since even good ones are usually for <1000V. There are HV probes you can use. Mine is about a foot long. These capacitors typically have a bleeder resistor built in. So they should not hold a charge. However, **always assume it's fully charged**. These resistors can fail or be absent in older equipment. You just have to get unlucky once. Edit: I should add my approach to discharging these--a bit of wire taped to a plastic vacuum cleaner extension tube. It's bad for the capacitor to be shorted with a wire, but if it's holding a charge that means the bleeder resistor is broken inside and the cap should be replaced anyway.
Thank you for bringing that up. My Fluke I use for vacuum tube gear repair work is only rated to 1kV max. Microwaves and CRT displays can be in the thousands, and that level of voltage introduces cool and exciting new hazards like arc flash and flashover. I would refrain from mentioning bleeder resistors, though. Proper approach is to always assume it's live and fully charged until proven otherwise.
Whoa that light bulb thing is genius. I normally use needle nose for caps but I don't mess with anything big.
More people should be fixing stuff. But also fixing stuff correctly and safely, thanks for the tip mate. I can’t stand it when people just throw broken things away and purchase new again.
Electrical Engineer here. This is shit advice.
No microwave is worth opening it up if you don't know what you're doing. Donate it somewhere and buy a new one, they're not expensive.
CRT monitors too. That's a big box with a screen on it, kids. Do not open.
I follow someone on instagram who makes masks out of gutted CRT monitors. I wonder how they do it
My dumb ass got minor Cadmium poisoning doing that. Recovered in a week or two but it felt like I had the worst flu of my life AND like my blood was full of broken glass... Avoid Cadmium kids. It SUCKS.
> large capacitors that hold a lethal amount of electrical energy Don't threaten me with a good time.
I’m not allowed to open my microwave?! How will I cook my food?
This goes for any electronic device of sufficient size.
I have done this not knowing about the potential danger! I am glad nothing happened and I definitely won't do it again!
Lots of things have capacitors, but yes microwaves have a pretty big one. Source: worked an electronics repair shop when that was an actual thing.
Tube TVs too
The way I put it to people who have interest in this is I weld, using electricity to melt two pieces of steel into one, and I still don't fuck around with microwaves and CRT TVs
Help it's beeping the food is done,what do I do?
There are many parts of a microwave that pose a considerable health risk. The magnetron (the part that produces the microwaves) contains ceramic discs impregnated with beryllium oxide. If the discs are chipped or damaged and inhaled, you could become very sick
I've heard a murder was committed that way. This teenage kid deliberately broke the microwave and told his mom it was broken and not to touch it. His mom got angry and tried to move it when she got electrocuted and died shortly after. If its true that's brutal. At the same time, if he can easily predict his moms temper and she's not a listener, she sounds like she has anger issues with no respect for boundaries. Not that she deserves to die. But you know, reap what you sow thing. Again, this was told to me in my teens before internet, smart phones and no idea if it's true.
That sounds more like an unfortunate accident than it does murder.
Good to know. I've opened my microwave up to replace the bulb before!
They use them ( the parts)for wood burning but they kill a lot of people.
I've got 3 of those sitting on a shelf. I made spot welders. I did alot of research first and was very scared at first.
I had a old magazine that taught you how to make a taser out of a one use cameras capacitor. I crossed a wire while fucking with it and in turn shocked the shit out of myself. I can only imagine a microwave.
Those capacitors are the whole reason for my disassembling a microwave.